Romani language

Spoken in

Of which 4.6 million in Europe

• Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Romani

-

Rome

Rom ( macro language )

Included Single Languages:

• Rmc ( Carpathian Romani )
• Rmf (Finnish Romani )
• Rml ( Baltic Romani )
• Rmn ( Balkan Romani )
• Rmo ( Sinte Romani )
• Rmw ( Welsh - Romani )
• Rmy ( Vlax )

(Also called Romany ) Romani is the language of the Roma, including the Sinti. And forms part of languages ​​like Urdu and Hindi to Indo-Aryan language family.

In several European countries ( including Germany and Austria ) is an officially recognized minority Romani language.

The word "Romani "

Romani is a substantivized adjective and comes from Romani Chib, " Roma language ". It is the international standard language name. In German-speaking common one is next to the name of Romany, which is derived from the adverb Rakre you Romance? - " Do you speak Romani? " - ( You Haiwe Romance - "Can you Romani "). In German we say: " Romani " (or " in Romany " ) for " in the language of the Roma ". An own adjective to express the membership of the Romani language or the Roma has not been established in German. That in this sense sometimes used, derived from Romance adjective " romanesisch " has remained an embarrassment formation, while the established in the older Linguistics adjective " gypsy language " sometimes is still considered tolerable as stigmatizing and imprecise, but in technical language contexts in the absence of an established alternative designation.

The root word and the language family after there is no relationship between Romani one hand, and Romansh Romanian or the other. Romansh and Romanian both come from the vulgar Latin word romanicus that originated in the early Middle Ages as a designation of the languages ​​that developed from the spoken Latin of the Romans, and which, in addition to the French, Italian and other "Latin" languages ​​and the Romanian part. In contrast, Romani is derived from the self-designation of Rome ( " man " or "husband" for a member of the Roma), the Indian origin, may have arisen from Ḍom (also DUM or domba ), as the name of a caste of migrant workers, which typically is musicians, jugglers, basket makers, metal craftsmen or operated in similar within the Indian caste system as poorly rated trades.

Origins and dialects

Romani is an Indo-Aryan language and thus the direct successor of a altindoarischen dialect, the closely related, though not necessarily one hundred percent identical, with the vernacular basis must have been of Sanskrit. The language has similarities with both central India, as well as with Northwest Indian languages. The linguistic finding suggests that Romani first part had at an early development of the central Indian languages ​​and then joined over a longer period of development of the north-western Indian languages ​​such as Sindhi. It is believed, therefore, that the speakers of Romani came from Central India and their settlement areas BC laid to northwestern India in the 3rd century. About the time of further migration to the west there is no consensus, however, you can attach it between the 5th and 10th centuries, and must be received within this time probably also come from several migration.

Romani has thus evolved independently of other Indian languages ​​for more than 800 years, including for at least 700 years in Europe. It was defeated in the early days in vocabulary and syntax and particularly the influence of the Balkan languages ​​, mainly the middle of the Greek Byzantine period, which has affected all subgroups of Romani.

Older classifications assumed that Romani had divided before arriving in Europe in three main variants: in the 13th century Come to Europe Romani, the Domari in the Middle East and North Africa and the Lomavren in Armenia. Today, in contrast, assumes that Romani and Lomavren are only distantly related, and that Domari is an independent language that came already in the 7th century from India to West Asia.

A common categorization that had long endure, was the division into Vlax (from Vlach ) and non- Vlax dialects. Therefore Vlax Roma were the ones who lived many centuries in the territory of Romania in slavery. The main distinguishing feature between the two groups was the degree of loan words from Romanian. Vlax -speaking groups were the largest number of speakers. Bernard Gilliath - Smith made this distinction as the first and coined the term Vlax in 1915 in the book The Report on the Gypsy tribes of North East Bulgaria ( German: "Report on the Gypsy tribes of North East Bulgaria ").

In recent decades, some scientists have a categorization of Romani dialects made ​​from a linguistic point of view on the basis of historical evolution and isoglosses. Much of this work was carried out from Bochum linguist Norbert Boretzky, which has pioneered the systematic representation of structural features of Romani dialects onto geographical maps. This work culminated in an Atlas of Romani dialects, with Birgit Igla as co -author, published in 2005 and mapped numerous isoglosses. At the University of Manchester comparable work by the linguist and former activist for Romani rights Yaron Matras and his colleagues have been performed. Together with Viktor Elšík (now Charles University, Prague ) built on the Matras Romani Morpho - Syntax database, which is currently the largest compilation of data on dialects of Romani. Can be accessed online via the website of the Manchester Romani Project Portions of this database. Matras (2002, 2005) argued for a theory of the geographical classification of Romani dialects, based on the spatial distribution of innovations. According to this theory, the Alt- Romani was (English: "Early Romani " ) ( as spoken in the Byzantine Empire ) by people walking tours of Rome in the 14th - 15th Century brought into the western and other parts of Europe. These groups settled in different regions of Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries and acquired language skills in a variety of contact languages. Then put a changes that were distributed in wave-like patterns and so the dialectal differences that you can see today caused. According to Matras, there were two main centers for innovation: some changes emerged in western Europe ( Germany and the surrounding area ) and spread eastward; more changes occurred in the field of Vlachs on ( Vlax ) and spread towards the west and south. In addition, many regional and local isoglosses formed, creating a complex linguistic boundaries shaft ( English: "complex wave of language boundaries "). Matras points to the prothesis of j- in aro > jaro, egg ' and ov > jov ' he ' as a typical example of the West (after - ) east- diffusion and the attachment of the prosthetic a- in bijav > abijav as a typical East ( after the fact) West dissemination. His conclusion is that the dialect differences were formed in situ and not as a result of different waves of migration.

According to this classification, the dialects share as follows (KS = main contact language):

• Northern Romani dialects in Northern, Western and Southern Europe, the largest part of Poland, Russia and the Baltic States: Western Branch: Piedmontese Sinti in Italy ( KS: Italian)
• Sinti Romani ( Sintitikes ) in Germany (formerly in Bohemia), Austria, Holland, Belgium ( KS: German ); not to be confused with Sinti - Manouche (which is a para- Romani - variety is )
• Welsh Romani ( kaale ) with English and Welsh as the main contact language ( extinct since the mid-20th century )

• Bergitka Romani in Poland ( KS: Polish)
• Čerhari Romani in Romania ( KS: Romanian )

• Balto -Slavic dialects in the Baltic States: Čuxny Romani in Estonia ( KS: Estonian, Russian )
• Finnish Kalo ( Fíntika Romma ) ( KS: Finnish)
• Latvian Romani ( Lotfika ) in Latvia and Russia
• Lithuanian Romani in Lithuania and Baltic Russia
• North Russian Romani ( Xaladitka ) in Baltic Russia, spoken by the Ruska Roma
• Polish Romani in Poland ( KS: Polish)

• Central Romani dialects of southern Poland to Hungary and from eastern Austria to Ukraine: North Branch: Western sub-branch: Bohemian Romani
• Morawisches Romani
• West Slovak Romani ( KS: Slovak)

• Central Slovak Romani
• East Slovak Romani ( KS: Slovak)
• Ruthe African Romani
• The Southern African Romani

• Romungro Romani in Slovakia (KS: Slovak ) and Hungary (KS: Hungarian )
• Vend - Romani Burgenland-Romani ( "Roman" ) in Burgenland, Austria
• Hungarian Vend - Romani
• Prekmurski Romani in northern Slovenia ( KS: Slovenian)

• Balkan Romani dialects: (Also called zis dialects ) North Branch: Bugurdži Romani in Macedonia and Kosovo
• Drindari - Romani
• Kalajdži Romani in Bulgaria ( KS: Bulgarian)
• Kovački Romani in Macedonia (KS: Macedonian )
• Xoraxane Romani in Bulgaria ( KS: Bulgarian, Turkish), spoken by the Xoraxane

• Arli Romani in southern Serbia and Montenegro ( KS: Serbian), Macedonia (KS: Macedonian ) and northern Greece (KS: Greek)
• Cocomanya Romani in Bulgaria ( KS: Bulgarian)
• Crimean Romani in Russia ( KS: Russian, Tatar )
• Džambazi Romani in Macedonia
• Erli Romani ( Yerli ) in Bulgaria ( KS: Bulgarian)
• Gurvari Romani in Hungary
• Romacilikanes in Greece (KS: Greek)
• Rumelisches Romani in the Rumelia region between Greece and Turkey ( KS: Greek, Turkish )
• Sepeči Romani in Greece ( KS: Turkish)
• Sepečides Romani in Volos (Greece) and Izmir ( Turkey)
• Sofades Romani in Greece (KS: Greek), spoken by the Sofades - Romani
• Ursari Romani in Romania ( KS: Romanian ), spoken by the Ursari

• Zargari Romani in Iran ( KS: Farsi)

• Vlax Romani: North Branch (also called Vlax I ): Čekeši Romani in Russia ( KS: Russian, Moldovan )
• Kalderash Romani in Romania ( KS: Romanian ), spoken by the Kalderash
• Lovari Romani in the Czech Republic ( KS: Czech), Hungary (KS: Hungarian ) spoken by the Lovari
• Mačvaja - Romani
• North - Ukrainian in Ukraine ( KS: Ukrainian)

• Agia Varvara - Romani in Greece (KS: Greek)
• Gurbet Romani Serbia ( KS: Serbian)
• Gurbet Rabešte in Serbia and Montenegro ( KS: Serbian)
• Kalburdžu Romani in Bulgaria ( KS: Bulgarian, Turkish)
• Moldovan Romani in Moldova ( KS: Moldavian, Russian)
• Prizren - Romani in Serbia ( KS: Serbian, Albanian)
• Rakarengo Romani in Moldova ( KS: Moldavian )
• Thracian Kalajdži Romani ( Vlaxurja ) in Bulgaria ( KS: Bulgarian)

From Romani to distinguish the so-called para- Romani languages ​​like the English Anglo - Romani, the Scandinavian Romani rakripa, the Spanish Calo or the Basque Erromintxela in which besides the vocabulary and the syntax and morphology are already dominated by one of the contact languages ​​, and are therefore classified as a variant of this language contact.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary of Romani is influenced by the migration of its speakers. Judging from the dictionary Romani - German - English for Southeast European region by Norbert Boretzky and Birgit Igla (1994 ), then only about 700 lexemes Indian origin have received, also from the early days of migration around 70 from the Persian - there still largely without Arab influence - 40 from Armenian and 230 from the Middle Greek Byzantine period, the feud was appropriated before the Turkisierung and thus provides a clue to the dating of further migration westward movement. The influence of European contact languages ​​exceeds in all Romani dialects respectively the proportion of the original Indian word good.

This influence also affects the core of the vocabulary, as, inter alia, the number of words. The number vocabulary comprises one hand Indian native words ( jek = 1, = 2 dui, trin = 3, schtar = 4, Pansch = 5, pushed = 6, desh = 10, deschdejek = 10 1 = 10 2 deschdedui, etc., bisch = 20, shel = 100), on the other hand, borrowings from Greek ( efta = 7, ochto = 8, enja = 9, Trianda = 30, saranda = 40, penda = 50), Turkish ( doxan = 90) and Hungarian ( seria, IZERO = 1000). But added in some number words alternative borrowings from other languages ​​, so from Swedish ( enslo instead jek = 1), Latvian ( Letteri instead schtar = 4), Estonian ( Kuus instead pushed = 6, seize instead efta = 7), Romanian ( mija = 1000), Czech ( tisitsos = 1000) or German ( tausento = 1000).

Romani has in turn influenced its contact languages, in Germany especially the vocabulary of Rotwelschen and some regional sociolects as the Giessen manic ( as a variant of the German not to be confused with the manic Romani Manouche ), the Westphalian Masematte and the Palatinate Lotegorisch. There are a few words that have passed into the handling German Bock meaning " desire to do something " by bokh " hunger " loot "money" of saster " iron, metal ," tavern " shabby or disreputable tavern " of kačima ( value-free ) " Hospitality Services " trash " worthless, despicable stuff" of SKANT or skunt " feces, dirt, dirt " and - what is controversial, however, in etymology - dump was of "village".

Grammar

In general, the grammar of the Romani following features:

• Numbers: singular and plural
• Genera: male and female
• Case: depending on the source of six to ten cases: ablative, accusative, dative, genitive, instrumental, locative, nominative, oblique, Soziativ, vocative

History of Research

About the origin of the Roma and their language existed in Europe at first more or less fantastic ideas that brought this "exotic" with Jews, Egyptians and other peoples in the context (see Gypsies). An unbiased scientific study began only in the second half of the 18th century, when the linguist Johann Christian Christoph Rüdiger ( 1751-1822 ) with his book From the language and origin of the Gypsies from India ( 1782 ) proof of the origin of Sanskrit and so that the origin resulted from India, followed soon afterwards by the Konigsberg philosopher Christian Jakob Kraus, who compiled his linguistic material by a systematic survey of Roma in Königsberg prison. Kraus has published his findings, although not in connection with its collection of material but provided a basis to draw on in the episode also other scholars and especially August Friedrich Pott in its fundamental representation of Gypsies in Europe and Asia (Hall 1844-1845 ) could. The study of the linguistic breakdown of the Romani dialects has been initiated by the Slavic scholar Francesco Miklošič whose essays on this topic published since 1872. The basis for the classification of Romani in the internal development history of Indian languages ​​was Ralph L. Turner, whose essay The position of Romani in Indo- Aryan published in 1926.

Standardization and literary language

Romani was until very recently a predominantly only spoken and oral traditional language from which the 16th century were usually only recorded speech samples from speakers of other languages. Attempts to standardize Romani as a written language, began only in the 20th century. Responsible is today the Language Commission of the International Romani Union ( Romano Internacionalno Jekhetani Union), which propagates a standardized orthography based on the Latin alphabet and a language standardized written language based on the Vlax Romani since the 1980s. As long as there is no standardized successful Romani, regional variants still have to be considered homeless dialects.

Romani is written with several alphabets: Latin, Cyrillic, and Devanagari.

Although the Roma significant literary works and autobiographical testimonies have brought in other languages ​​, the use of Romani was prevented as a literary language for a long time by the social and cultural stigma that language. One of the first people known to write to their origin and language, living in Serbia writer Gina Ranjičić was ( 1831-1890 ). More recently, writers such as Slobodan Berberski (1919-1989), Rajko Djuric, Leksa Manus, Nedjo Osman and Sejdo Jasarov have the Romani literature increasingly gives validity. Aided by the emigration of Romani writing authors from South Eastern Europe, especially from the former Yugoslavia, a lively cultural scene has emerged in Germany, is maintained in the Romani language as a literary and stage. Institutionally, the development of Romani literature is funded by the founded in 2002 in Finland International Romani Writers' Association.