Romance Languages
In many of the Romance languages, the Vulgar Latin vowels e and o in stressed position sometimes underwent breaking. The result of breaking varies between languages: e and o become ie and ue in Spanish, but ea and oa in Romanian.
In some languages breaking is absent in some cases.
- Latin mortem "death" (acc.) → Spanish muerte (breaking), but French mort (no breaking)
- Latin festa "feast" (neuter plural) → Spanish fiesta, but Middle French feste, Modern French fête (no breaking)
Read more about this topic: Vowel Breaking
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