Editing Vulgar Latin (section)

== Sources ==

Evidence for the features of non-literary Latin comes from the following sources:<ref>{{harvnb|Elcock|1960|p=21}}</ref>

* Explicit mention of certain constructions or pronunciation habits by Roman [[Grammarian (Greco-Roman world)|grammarians]].
* Recurrent grammatical, syntactic, or orthographic mistakes in Latin [[epigraphy]].
** [[Curse tablets]], as a special kind of inscription.<ref>{{harvnb|Herman|2000|pp=20–21}}</ref>
* The insertion, whether intentional or not, of colloquial terms or constructions into contemporary texts. Special interest is given to:
** Private letters and documents from an ordinary context such as business records, lists and school exercises; these are rare but [[papyri]] from Egypt and tablets from [[Hadrian's Wall]] have been found.<ref>{{harvnb|Herman|2000|pp=20–22}}</ref>
** Technical works on medicine, agriculture and similar, where the demand for grammatical accuracy was lower, such as the ''[[Mulomedicina Chironis]]'', a veterinary treatise.<ref>{{harvnb|Herman|2000|pp=22–23}}</ref>
** Christian texts, as many originated from marginalised communities; including early Bible translations and funeral inscriptions.<ref>{{harvnb|Herman|2000|pp=23–25}}</ref>
** [[Late Latin]] texts from the sixth century onwards, which show changes, or the absence thereof, in local Latin under the influence of new educational practices and social structures.<ref>{{harvnb|Herman|2000|pp=23–25}}</ref>
* The pronunciation of Roman-era [[Loanword|lexical borrowings]] into neighboring languages such as [[Basque language|Basque]], [[Albanian language|Albanian]], or [[Welsh language|Welsh]].<ref>{{harvnb|Elcock|1960|p=21}}</ref>
* Modern Romance languages, the comparative analysis of which can be used to validate or disprove hypotheses about earlier changes in spoken Latin.<ref>{{harvnb|Herman|2000|p=26}}</ref>