Where on the internet can I find a useful guide to vulgar latin ?

Question

What are the differences between vulgar latin and latin?
Are there differences in pronunciation? How do you read "Quintus" in vulgar latin! I know in latin it's: "cvintus"

Answer 1

Vulgar Latin is just your everyday, common, or slang usage. While the term is primarily applied to the Latin that was spoken in the Middle Ages, it has been around since the beginning of the empire - the playwright Plautus (about 280 BC) is considered to have written in vulgar Latin. It similar to the difference between saying "equestrian" and "rider". By the time the Middle Ages came around, the slang usages had replaced the regular ones (caballus in place of equus, bellus instead of pulcher). Which is why the Romance languages have variants of these later Latin words, as opposed to the classical ones.

The pronunciation did change; during the classical period, the c was hard like a k, but it softened to a ch or s sound a few centuries later. As with the ae and oe ligatures - the a and o portions were dropped as the pronunciation changed. Which is why you once in a great while will see a words like encyclopedia and medieval written as encyclopaedia and mediaeval, which are closer to the original classical spelling.

Answer 2

http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/latinlearning/a/vulgarlatin.htm try here