Situate Latin and the Romance Languages in their "external" (i.e. political and literary) historical context.

Recognize the "laws" of regular phonological evolution (e.g. syncope, lenition, diphthongization, etc.).

Compare the “major” (i.e. literary) Romance languages as far as their phonological development is concerned.

Summarize the major lexical differences across Romance languages and some of the basic principles of etymology.

Become familiar with articles published in professional journals relating to the subject matter and produce accurate and meaningful written summaries and reactions to them.

Learn the rudiments of transcribing medieval or Renaissance manuscripts.