Romany language
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| Romany (Romanes) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | The speakers of Romany are widespread and stateless. |
| Region: | |
| Total speakers: | 1.5 million |
| Ranking: | not in top 100 |
| Genetic classification: | Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Central Zone Romany |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | --- |
| Regulated by: | --- |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | |
| ISO 639-2 | rom |
| SIL | RMY |
| See also: Language – List of languages | |
Romany (or Romani) is the language of the Roma and Sinti, travelling peoples often referred to in English as "gypsies". They came originally from northern India and parts of Pakistan, and their language belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language group. It must not be confused with the Romanian language, a Romance language, spoken by the Romanians.
Analysis of the Romany language has shown that it is closely related to those spoken in northern India, in particular Hindi and Punjabi. This language relationship is believed to indicate the Roma's and Sinti's true geographical origin. Loanwords in Romany make it possible to trace the pattern of their migration west.
Romany, Punjabi, and Pothohari share some identical words and grammar systems. However, one recent theory reported in Nature suggests that Romany is most closely related to Sinhala.
The Romany language is rather a collection of related languages that comprise all the members of a single genetic subgroup. Because variants of the language are only now in the process of being codified in those countries with high Roma populations (for example, Slovakia), these variants are sometimes classified as dialects.
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Romany loanwords in English
Romany has loaned many words to English, including posh, pal, and lollipop. These mostly turn up in slang—such as gadgie, shiv ("knife"), or cooshtie — and in regional dialects, such as radge and jougal in south east Scotland and parni and bewer in West Yorkshire in England. Urban British slang shows an increasing level of Romany influence, with some words becoming accepted into the lexicon of standard English (for example, chav from Anglo-Romany charvy meaning either "baby" or "mate" depending on context). The abandonment of their traditional nomadic lifestyle by many gypsies, largely due to government policy over the last 30 years, is likely to be the motor for this process.
Romany has also picked up many words from various languages in its travels across Europe and Asia.
See also
- Caló (Iberian-Romany)
- Romano-Serbian language
External links
- Language background and status (http://www.eurolang.net/Languages/Romany.htm)
- Romani language tree (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=92037)
- Detailed disussion of the language (http://web.quipo.it/minola/romani/language9.htm)
- Romany - English Dictionary (http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Romany-english/)
- Partial Romany/English Dictionary : Compiled by Angela Ba'Tal Libal and Will Strain (http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/3698/rom.htm)
- Romani project @ Karl-Franzens-University in Graz (http://www-gewi.kfunigraz.ac.at/romani/index.en.shtml)
References
- Gray, RD; Atkinson, QD (2003). "Language-tree divergence times support the Anatolian theory of Indo-European origin." Nature. 426, 435-439. [1] (http://www.psych.auckland.ac.nz/psych/research/Evolution/Gray%26Atkinson2003.pdf)
- This language's entry (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=RMY) in the Ethnologue – This is a link to an outdated version of the Ethnologue and is incomplete.
de:Romani eo:Cigana lingvo fr:Rromani hr:Romski jezik ja:ロマ語 pl:Język cygańskipt:Romani sv:Romani