Consider the following data from four Romance languages. Then, answer the questions that follow.
| Spanish | Sardinian | French | Portuguese | English |
| /riba/ | /ripa/ | /riv/ | /ribә/ | embankment |
| /amiga/ | /amika/ | /ami/ | /amigә/ | female friend |
| /kopa/ | /kupa/ | /kup/ | /kopә/ | cup |
| /lεtra/ | /lεtεra/ | /lεt/ | /lεtrә/ | letter |
| /akto/ | /atto/ | /akt/ | /aktu/ | act |
| /libro/ | /libro/ | /liv/ | /livru/ | book |
| /famosa/ | /famoza/ | /famuz/ | /famozә/ | famous (fem.) |
| /fuεrte/ | /fourte/ | /four/ | /fourči/ | strong (masc.) |
| /desιr/ | /ditòεre | /dιr/ | /dizεr/ | to say |
| /otro/ | /altro/ | /ot/ | /oυtru/ | other (masc.) |
| /dose/ | /dodiči/ | /duz/ | /dozə/ | twelve |
| /dιrεkto/ | /dιrεto/ | /dιrεkt/ | /dιreιtu/ | straight (masc.) |
| /iho/ | /filyo/ | /fis/ | /filyu/ | son |
| /noče/ | /note/ | /nwi/ | /noιtə/ | night |
| /vεrdaθ/ | /vεrita/ | /vεrite/ | /vεrdadə/ | truth |
Given what you know about sound changes, reconstruct what the original Latin pronunciation must have been for each of these words. Think about the sound changes you know. What original sound could produce all five variations above by undergoing the common sound changes we discussed in class (assimilation, dissimilation, ellipsis, intrusion, metathesis, or consonant weakening)?
Normally, you don’t have to pay attention to changes in vowel sounds, but here do you notice a pattern in terms of what happened to final vowels in Portuguese? How do the final vowels in Portuguese relate to the final vowels in Spanish and Sardinian?
Not every language above changed as much as the others from the original Latin. Which is the closest to the original based on your answers to #1 above? Which would you expect to be closest in terms of geography? Which is closest geographically to Rome (the ancient capital of Latin culture)?