This book makes available for the first time in paperback the results of an important interdisciplinary conference held at Rutgers University in 1989. Eighteen internationally known specialists in linguistics, history, philology, Latin, and Romance languages tackle the difficult question of how and when Latin evolved into the Romance languages of French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Catalan. The result is a stimulating and open exchange that offers the most up-to-date and accessible coverage of the topic. Contributors are Paul M. Lloyd, Tore Janson, József Herman, Alberto Varvaro, Thomas D. Cravens, Harm Pinkster, John N. Green, Roger Wright, Marc Van Uytfanghe, Rosamond McKitterick, Katrien Heene, Michel Banniard, Birte Stengaard, Carmen Pensado, Thomas J. Walsh, Robert Blake, António Emiliano, and Marcel Danesi.