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<p style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:12pt"><span style="font-size:12pt">Dear LFG</span><span style="font-size:12pt"> members,</span></span></p>
<p style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:12pt"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-size:12pt">I am writing to inform you about an interesting development in Romance linguistics that
may be useful for your research</span><span style="font-size:12pt"> </span></span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-size:12pt">into lexical </span><span style="font-size:12pt">functionality in linguistics. </span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:12pt"></span><br>
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<span style="font-size:12pt"></span><font size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><font face="Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt">In 2017 the writing system of a Medieval manuscript </span></font><font face="Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-size:12pt">was
revealed to be proto-Romance: i.e. the ancestor to</span><span style="font-size:12pt"> the </span></span><span style="font-size:12pt">modern Romance languages. In addition, it is written with a proto-Italic alphabet. It is the only known document of this kind
and therefore has considerable linguistic </span></span></font><font face="Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt">and historic value. </span></font></span></font></div>
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<span style="font-size:12pt"></span><font size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt">Two papers have been issued, which explain the writing system and translate a number of excerpts as examples. They can be freely downloaded from the LingBuzz website.</span></font></div>
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<ol style="color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px">
<span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:12pt"></span><font face="Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,Helvetica,EmojiFont,Apple Color Emoji,Segoe UI Emoji,NotoColorEmoji,Segoe UI Symbol,Android Emoji,EmojiSymbols" size="3" color="black"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:12pt"></span></span></font>
<li><font face="Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,Helvetica,EmojiFont,Apple Color Emoji,Segoe UI Emoji,NotoColorEmoji,Segoe UI Symbol,Android Emoji,EmojiSymbols" size="3" color="black"><font face="Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt">Linguistic
Missing Links</span></font><font face="Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt">: </span></font><a href="http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003737" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><font face="Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt">http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003737</span></font></a><font face="Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"> </span></font></font></li><li><font face="Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,Helvetica,EmojiFont,Apple Color Emoji,Segoe UI Emoji,NotoColorEmoji,Segoe UI Symbol,Android Emoji,EmojiSymbols" size="3" color="black"><font face="Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt">Linguistically
Dating and Locating MS408</span></font><font face="Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt">: </span></font><font face="Calibri,serif,EmojiFont"><font face="Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt"><a href="http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003808" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-size:12pt">http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003808</span></a></span></font></font></font></li></ol>
<span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:12pt"></span><font face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont" size="3"><br>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont">The manuscript reveals that </span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:12pt">proto-Romance
was a combination of simplified spoken Latin injected with words from foreign and local languages. It resulted from migration, trade, slavery, royal marriage and exchange of idea so that people had a common language for communication across the Mediterranean:
a</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:12pt"> </span></span><i><span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont">lingua franca</span></i><span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont">. </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:12pt"><span style="font-size:12pt">When
the political map subsequently </span><span style="font-size:12pt">became more fixed </span></span><font face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">proto-Romance then evolved into the modern
Romance languages because different populations became relatively isolated. </span></font></div>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont">Thus, proto-Romance was a highly dynamic language due to socio-ecological pressures resulting from a requirement to communicate. It would therefore </span><span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont">have
had variants across the Mediterranean depending on the different populations involved. </span><span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont">The proto-Romance of the manuscript is very similar to Portuguese
and Catalan</span><span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont">, as it </span><font style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont">originated</span></font><font face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0); font-size:12pt"> from
the Crown of Aragon in the western part of the </span><font face="wf_segoe-ui_normal, Segoe UI, Segoe WP, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont" size="3"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">Mediterranean. </span></font></font></div>
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<font face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont"><font face="wf_segoe-ui_normal, Segoe UI, Segoe WP, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont" size="3"><br>
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<font size="3" style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont"><span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">From the point of view of LFG the language is an </span></font><font face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont"><span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">interesting</span></font><font size="3"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)"> case
study in rapid </span><font face="wf_segoe-ui_normal, Segoe UI, Segoe WP, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">transitional</span></font><font face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont"><font face="wf_segoe-ui_normal, Segoe UI, Segoe WP, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)"> linguistics,
as the lexical, syntactic and phonological </span></font><span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">elements</span><font face="wf_segoe-ui_normal, Segoe UI, Segoe WP, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)"> are </span></font></font></font><font face="wf_segoe-ui_normal, Segoe UI, Segoe WP, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont" size="3"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">hybridised
and formative. </span></font><span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont; color:rgb(0,0,0)">Anyone interested in the formation of the </span><span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont"><span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">Romance
languages should find the information useful for the scholarly study of language origins, interrelationships, </span><span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">evolution and functionality</span><span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">. </span></span></div>
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<font face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">Regards,</span></font></div>
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<font face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">G. E. Cheshire.</span></font></div>
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<font face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont" size="3"><span style="font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">University of Bristol.</span></font></div>
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