9. We may now proceed to notice the chief changes that arose in Latin
after the (more or less) complete separation of the Italic group
whenever it came about. The contrasted features of Oscan and Umbrian, to
some of which, for special reasons, occasional reference will be here
made, are fully described under OSCA LINGUA and IGUVIUM respectively.
It is rarely possible to fix with any precision the date at which a
particular change began or was completed, and the most serviceable form
for this conspectus of the development will be to present, under the
heads of Phonology, Morphology and Syntax, the chief characteristics of
Ciceronian Latin which we know to have been developed after Latin became
a separate language. Which of these changes, if any, can be assigned to
a particular period will be seen as we proceed. But it should be
remembered that an enormous increase of exact knowledge has accrued from
the scientific methods of research introduced by A. Leskien and K.
Brugmann in 1879, and finally established by Brugmann's great
_Grundriss_ in 1886, and that only a brief enumeration can be here
attempted. For adequate study reference must be made to the fuller
treatises quoted, and especially to the sections bearing on Latin in K.
Brugmann's _Kurze vergleichende Grammatik_ (1902).