Moldovan language

Spoken in

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Ro

Ron

Moldovan (also Moldavian, Romanian: Limba moldovenească ) is the official name until 2013 the Romanian language as an official language of Moldova. The colloquial language spoken by Moldovans differs from that spoken in the region of Moldova in the eastern part of Romania only slightly, mainly due to some inherited from the Russian neologisms. In the western part of Romania (ie west of the Prut ), the new expressions are, however, mainly from the French.

In the breakaway region of Transnistria is Moldovan (but written using the Cyrillic script ) an official language, but here along with Russian and Ukrainian. In Gagauzia are also Gagauz and Russian official, besides Romanian.

Language and politics

The division of the Romanian language is considered as an example of political separatism in the language. The existence of the Moldovan language as a separate language is controversial. Almost all western linguists agree, this is the renamed for political reasons Romanian language, because Moldova is indeed a former Soviet republic. The Moldovan language is also not the written form of the Moldovan dialect ( graiul Moldovenesc ), as is often assumed, but the same form of the Romanian language, which serves as the official language in neighboring Romania.

But even in the Moldavian Academy the existence of a distinct Moldovan language is in dispute. There are also occasional conflicting opinions (eg, the controversial Vasile Stati ). Force Section I, Article XIII of the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova is Moldovan, " state language " of Moldova. 60 % of the citizens of Moldova designated in 2004 their mother tongue as " Moldovan ". The group of those who identified their mother tongue as a " Romanian ", formed a share of 16.5 % of the total population in Moldova, with the urban population was just under 40%. The term " Moldovan language " but was limited to some public areas, where the term " Romanian " was used at all other levels. The current law in Moldova confirms the equality of both languages ​​, as for example in schools, the media, and in some administrative and public areas, the term " Romanian " used.

Background

1812 was ceded by the Principality of Moldavia, the eastern half of Russia and remained there until 1918 as Bessarabia. The reorientation of Romanian writing in 1868 from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet remained in this area with virtually no impact, where there was only sparse literature anyway. After the annexation in 1812, the Russian language gradually gained in importance. Since 1828, the official transport has been carried out exclusively in Russian. By 1835, a seven-year period was determined by the state government files should no longer accept in Romanian.

Between 1856 and 1878, Cahul, Ismail and Bolgrad included ( a small part in the south of Bessarabia ) as a result of the Crimean War again to the western Moldova ( and Romania ), which led to a temporary reversal of language in this region.

From 1918 to 1940, the former Bessarabia was part of Romania, where the term " Moldovan language" was not used. 1924, the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was established on the eastern bank of the Dniester. There, the Latin alphabet was introduced for the first Moldavian, but replaced in 1930 by a Cyrillic ( on the model of Russian ), which after a new period of the Latin alphabet (from 1933) was finally binding in 1937.

After the Soviet Union annexed Bessarabia in 1940 and united with half of the Moldavian ASSR to the Moldavian SSR, the term " Moldovan " was also officially introduced to separate all ties with Romania. The Latin alphabet was replaced by the current in the Moldavian ASSR Cyrillic. In addition, during the Soviet rule, the Romanian-speaking population was encouraged to speak Russian, which was a prerequisite for higher education, social status and political office.

In 1989, the Moldovan language was declared the sole official language of the Moldavian SSR and introduced the Romanian variant of the Latin alphabet again. The Declaration of Independence of Moldova in 1991 called Romanian as the official language. In 1994, the name of the official language in the constitution recently adopted has been defined as " Moldovan ". 1996, the Moldovan Parliament rejected a motion by the president Mircea Snegur to change the name of the language in " Romanian ". In Transnistria, the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet officially deemed to remain the official language.

Published in 2003, Vasile Stati a Moldovan- Romanian dictionary. In the introduction of the dictionary is to speak of a " Moldovan language", which was allegedly caused parallel to the Romanian language. States initiated the use of regionalisms from the entire distribution area of the Moldavian dialect, as if they were not part of the Romanian vocabulary, and then translated them into Romanian with synonyms that are incurred outside the Moldovan area. This led to criticism from both countries, as the Moldavian regionalisms are part of the entire Romanian vocabulary.

The international standard ISO 639 had originally assigned the Moldovan language codes mol and mo. However, these were lifted in November 2008 and replaced by the Romanian language, ro ron and rum.

In December 2013 the Constitutional Court of Moldova decided that the declaration of independence of the country, " Romanian " is called as the national language, is an integral part of the Constitution, and has in content contradictions priority over the text of the Constitution. Thus, the country Pache was changed to Romanian.