You can compare this process to the versions of English spoken around NY by different communities: the older probably speak only a few words with heavy accent; younger and more integrated individuals know more words with more proper grammar, and are clearly understood. The upper class speaks excellent English, often with an accent.
This process continues for centuries.
500 CE (approx) Fall of Roman Empire - THE DARK AGES.
Invasion of Barbarian tribes, mostly from the North East (from Germany and beyond all the way to Eurasia, Central Asia, Mongolia, Siberia.)
Roads crumble and traveling becomes dangerous. The Roman army no longer controls public safety. Bridges collapse. Ships are not maintained due to lack of commerce. Communities become progressively more isolated and their respective languages evolve rapidly following internal dynamics.
Interestingly enough, the Barbarians do not impose their language on the locals. They realize that the local languages are much more developed, more apt at describing the reality, the social organization, the technical knowledge and skills. Thus, they absorb Latin in the version that is spoken locally.
High Latin is the prerogative of the Church and the intellectual class. However, when they deal with the people, they use the "vulgar" language of the masses. VULGAR derives from Latin "VULGUS", which means the plebes, the commoners.
So, the commoners speak a simplified, crude form of Latin that becomes more and more distant from the original. The upper classes speak proper Latin among themselves and the VULGAR language with the servants etc.
ONLY LATIN HAS A WRITTEN FORM. The vulgar(s) are only oral languages.
1000 CE psychologically a crucially important year.
By this time, Latin is spoken only by those who need to:
CLERGY
RULING CLASS IN OFFICIAL SITUATIONS
STATE BUREAUCRACY (tribunals, notaries, tax assessors) for official
communications
INTELLECTUAL CLASS
SCIENTISTS
MILITARY ELITE
AMBASSADORS (there was no postal system. All messages from one ruler to
another were carried personally by ambassadors)
MERCHANTS
ARTISTS
All these people, by the year 1000, speak LATIN in official circumstance and the LOCAL LANGUAGE for everyday business.
LOWER CLASSES (95-99%) speak the LOCAL LANGUAGE.
The LOCAL LANGUAGES derive from LATIN but have been drifting for 5 centuries. Some remain closer to Latin, some drift very very far.
Progressively, LOCAL LANGUAGES become MUTUALLY INCOMPREHENSIBLE.
This due to several factors:
Substratum, geographical distance, remoteness (deep in mountain valleys or high on inaccessible mountains)
but also, influenced by neighbors (areas bordering "foreign speaking" countries.)
ITALY IN 1000 CE
Major regions ruled by an OVERLORD
LANGUAGES THAT DERIVE FROM LATIN ARE CALLED
ROMANCE LANGUAGES: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian (plus several others, spoken in smaller areas.)
BURGUNDY: Latin evolves into several dialects that will converge into FRENCH
SWABIA, BAVARIA, CARINTHIA: Germanic language group (German)
CROATIA: Slavic language group (Croatian
HUNGARY: Finno-Ugric language family.
All the various states are now ruled by former barbarian tribes that
settled in Italy and replaced the Roman Empire.
But, instead of imposing their languages on Italy, they absorb and adopt the
languages spoken in the various regions, all descendant from Latin.
A CLOSER VIEW OF ITALY (NORTH)
WITH THE VARIOUS MICRO-STATES THAT COMPOSED THE LARGER REGION-STATES
1000 CE
OVERLORDS dominate over smaller territories, ruled by local aristocrats.
("The corporation and its franchises")
SOME SMALL TERRITORIES ARE INDEPENDENT REPUBLICS
THE INDEPENDENT REPUBLIC OF SAN MARINO
Other European micro states in existence:
Principality of Monaco
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Principality of Liechtenstein
Principality of Andorra
Repubblica di San Marino
Stato Citta' del Vaticano
EX: Sears in the olden American days.
All malls and dept stores were owned by the central corporation. That was the Roman Empire. A monopoly. Everything that had to do with government could only be bought from the corporation in stores owned by the corporation.
When the Roman empire falls, instead of one mega corporation, you have
several different corporations that control a certain area of the territory.
Imagine, McDonald is Sicily, Burger King is the Bizantine empire, Starbucks
is the Papal state and so forth.
But the corporate headquarters do not own the single local stores. Those are franchises, owned by local business people, but they must comply with the orders of the corporation. They must buy their products and must give back to the center a large part of revenues. IF they don't they lose the franchise.
Now, here and there, in the territory of McDonald, you can find someone who wants to rebel and go with Burger King. When enough of them coalesce, Burger King comes in from outside and tries to take over the territory = war.
PRESENT DAY ITALY
LINGUISTIC MAP
This map represents the current linguistic situation in Italy. It is very similar to the situation in 1200 CE, when the TUSCAN language becomes the LINGUA FRANCA of Italy.
LATIN, from approximately 500 CE (fall of the Roman Empire) evolves gradually into local/regional languages. THESE ARE THE LANGUAGES SPOKEN BY THE COMMON PEOPLE. TODAY WE CALL THEM DIALECTS.
LATIN CONTINUES TO BE THE LANGUAGE OF THE CHURCH AND THE LINGUA FRANCA OF THE HIGHLY EDUCATED CLASSES OF THE ENTIRE WESTERN EUROPE: ACADEMIA, DIPLOMACY, SCIENCE.
THE MOST SOPHISTICATED, MOST EXPRESSIVE 'DIALECT' WAS THE TUSCAN, THE LANGUAGE OF FLORENCE AND SIENA.
TUSCAN BECOMES THE LINGUA FRANCA OF ITALY STARTING AROUND 1200: NOT ONLY THE EDUCATED CLASSES BUT ALSO TRADE AND BUSINESS.
