the parent of the Gallic Romance; as also from the trivial language of
Varro, Vegetius, and Columella. May we not from this circumstance infer,
that, as is the case in all vernacular tongues, the vulgar dialect of
the Romans, the _sermo usualis, rusticus, pedestris_,[AG] of which there
are no monuments extant, differed very widely both in pronunciation and
construction from that which has at any time been used either in writing
or in the senate?

The grammatical variations, the syntax, and the genius of the language,
must in this, as well as in several other modern European tongues, have
been derived from the Celtic; it being well known, that the frequent use
of articles, the distinction of cases by prepositions, the application
of two auxiliaries in the conjugations, do by no means agree with the
Latin turn of expression; although a late French academician[AH] who has
taken great pains to prove that the Gallic Romance was solely derived
from the Roman, quotes several instances in which even the most
classical writers have in this respect offended the purity of that
refined language. It cannot here be denied, that as new ideas always
require new signs to express them, some foreign words, and perhaps
phrases, must necessarily, from time to time, have insinuated themselves
into the Romansh, by the military and some commercial intercourse of the
Grisons with other nations; and this accounts for several modern German
words which are now incorporated into the language of the Engadine.[AI]

The little connexion there is in mountainous countries between the
inhabitants of the different valleys, and the absolute independence of
each jurisdiction in this district, which still lessens the frequency of
their intercourse, also accounts, in a great measure, for the variety of
secondary dialects subsisting in almost every different community or
even village.