| − | The language of the Roman Empire from which the Romance languages are derived. These languages include French, Spanish, Romanian, Portugese, and Italian.
| + | An [[Indo-European]] language of the Italic family; its closest relatives were [[Umbric]] and [[Etruscan]], which are both extinct now. Latin was the language of the Roman Empire, from which all the Romance languages are derived. These languages include Spanish, Romanian, Portugese, and Italian. |
| | + | Latin grammar is marked by an extensive system of noun cases and verbal inflection. Noun cases are organized along nominative-accusative lines, with several other oblique cases also used. Verbal morphology distinguishes both case and aspect. Phonologically, Latin is generally similar to other western languages of the Indo-European family. However, Latin was innovative because it had a whole series of ejective stops. Interestingly, these consonants neither existed in Italic nor survived into the Romance daughter languages. |