[YG Conlang Archives] > [romconlang group] > messages [Date Index] [Thread Index] >
I had sort of got it into my head that in Proto-Romance -- or Western Proto-Romance, anyway -- Latin's noun case system had generally collapsed towards a 2-case system (the remnants of which are seen, for example, in Old French) before being pretty much erased at last. But I ran into statement (on a website, so it might not be completely gospel ;) that Catalan never had the 2-case system.
I'm not sure how to interpret this. Presumably they mean that by the time we see a language that is identifiably "Catalan", there is no remaining sign of a case system (as there was in, say, Occitan of the same period)? Speakers who spoke whatever form of Romance stood behind Catalan were presumably using cases of some kind, and not leaping directly from Classical Latin declensions to modern caseless Catalan? :)
On this topic, can anyone point to any good resources discussing the collapse of the Latin case system in Vulgar Latin and/or Proto-Romance?
Cheers, Carl -- Carl Edlund Andersonhttp://www.carlaz.com/