Balkan Romani (also known as Balkan Gypsy) is a specific dialect, spoken by groups within the Balkans, which include countries such as Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, Romania etc. The Balkan Romani language is typically an unwritten language.
| Balkan Romani | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Russia, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Turkey |
| Ethnicity | Romani, Jerlídes (North Macedonia, southern Serbia). |
Native speakers | 563,670 (2013)[1] 200,000 L2 speakers |
Indo-European
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | rmn |
| Glottolog | balk1252 |
 | |
Classification
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Intermediate Divisions, Western, Romani, Balkan
History
Most of the people who speak Balkan Romani are Romani themselves. Another meaning of the prefix rom is someone belonging to the Romani ethnicity.[2] The Romani people are ultimately of Indian origin.[3] Speakers of the Balkan Romani language have constantly migrated throughout the years into all parts of Europe. Since these speakers have migrated to different parts of Europe, new dialects have formed. Although the Romani people originated in India, they are now widespread throughout all of Europe.[4]
Dialects
Balkan dialects, also known as Balkan I, are spoken in Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Iran, North Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine. This group includes inter alia Arli Romani (Greece, North Macedonia), Sepečides-Romani (Greece, Turkey), Ursari Romani (Moldavia, Romania) and Crimean Romani (Ukraine).
Zis dialects, also called Balkan II, are a distinct subdivision within the Balkan group. Bugurdži, Drindari and Kalajdži Romani are spoken in North Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia and in northern and central Bulgaria.
Elšík uses this classification and dialect examples (geographical information from Matras ):
Geographical distribution
| Sub-group | Dialect | Place |
|---|---|---|
| Southern Balkan | Prizren | Kosovo |
| Arli | Greece, Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia | |
| Prilep | North Macedonia | |
| Kyrymitika | Ukraine [5] | |
| Sofia Erli | Sofia | |
| Zargari | Iran | |
| Sepeči | northern Greece, Turkey | |
| Rumelian | European part of today's Turkey, historically called Rumelia [6] | |
| Northern Balkan | Bugurdži | North Macedonia, Serbia [7] |
| Razgrad Drindari | northeastern Bulgaria | |
| Pazardžik Kalajdži | Bulgaria and immigrants in North Macedonia and Serbia |
Phonology
The sound inventory of Romani does not differ significantly from that of other European languages, most of which belong to the Indo-European family.
The consonant system of Balkan Romani differs in one significant aspect from those of other European languages: it has the aspirated plosives (aspirated stops) characteristic of Indian languages. In the case of Romani, these are the voiceless aspirated plosives /ph, th, kh/, which in the majority of Romani variants, at least at the beginning of a word, have a semantically distinct function.
Sample
| Romani (Bugurdži, Macedonia) | Romani (Arli, Macedonia) | English |
|---|---|---|
| Lačho [to] saba[h]i. | Lačho [o] sabalje. | Good morning. |
| Lačho [to] zi[e]s. | Lačho [o] dive. | Good day. |
| Lačhi [ti] rat. | Lačhi [i] rat. | Good night. |
| Sar isi to anav? | Sar si tiro anav? | What's your name? |
| Mo anav isi Elvis. | Mo anav si Elvis. | My name is Elvis. |
| Isinom lošalo kaj avdom tut! | Šukar te dikhav tut! | Pleased to meet you! |
| Isinan prandime? | Sijan li romnjakoro? | Are you married? |
| Va, me isinom prandime. | Va, me sijum romnjakoro. | Yes, I'm married. |
| Na, me isinom biprandime. | Na, me sijum biromnjakoro. | No, I'm unmarried. |
| Me isi man raklija. | Me si ma raklija. | I have a girlfriend. |
| Number | Romani | Literal Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | jekh | 1 |
| 2 | duj | 2 |
| 3 | trin | 3 |
| 4 | štar | 4 |
| 5 | panc | 5 |
| 6 | šov | 6 |
| 7 | eftá | 7 |
| 8 | oxtó | 8 |
| 9 | enjá | 9 |
| 10 | deš | 10 |
| 11 | dešujekh | 10 + 1 |
| 12 | dešuduj | 10 + 2 |
| 13 | dešutrín | 10 + 3 |
| 14 | dešuštár | 10 + 4 |
| 15 | dešupánc | 10 + 5 |
| 16 | dešušóv | 10 + 6 |
| 17 | dešueftá | 10 + 7 |
| 18 | dešuoxtó | 10 + 8 |
| 19 | dešuenjá | 10 + 9 |
| 20 | biš | 20 |
| 21 | biš-te-jekh | 20 + 1 |
| 22 | biš-te-duj | 20 + 2 |
| 23 | biš-te-trin | 20 + 3 |
| 24 | biš-te-štar | 20 + 4 |
| 25 | biš-te-panc | 20 + 5 |
Vocabulary and lexis
Turkish lexical influence is a defining and extremely important part of the Romani dialect in the Balkans. Most of the words however, originate from Persian origin. Loans from Persian, Armenian, and Byzantine Greek make up the pre-European lexicon. Ultimately, it is hard to trace the definite origin of all the words because the words of Balkan Romani originate from many sources and the sources of those languages creates a complex puzzle.[8]
Grammar
Turkish grammar plays a large role in Balkan Romani. The use of Turkish conjugations is widely embedded within Balkan Romani and oftentimes, it is difficult to tell the difference between the grammar of the two languages depending on geography. Balkan Romani has compartmentalized grammar[9] originating from Turkish verbal paradigms along with some Greek influence.[10] Much of the morphology of the language has Greek and Turkish origins, which is why the language is viewed by many professionals as a "mixed" language and thus it is hard to see where one language ends and the other begins. All Romani dialects use Greek derived nominal endings, masculine nouns and loan nouns.[11]
Morphology
The morphology of the Balkan Romani language is again heavily influenced by both the Turkish and Greek languages. Many people view this language as a sort of melting pot because there are so many different influences on it. Turkish and Greek might be the most influential languages on Balkan Romani but other languages, such as Armenian, have also influenced it. Part of the substrate of Balkan Romani appears to be derived from medieval northern Indian languages.[12]
Writing systems
Balkan Romani has traditionally been an unwritten language, but recently, there is a growing amount of effort to decode and standardize the language.
Balkan Romani written with Cyrillic script.
Alphabet:
| А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й | К к | Кх кх | |
| Л л | М м | Н н | О о | П п | Р р | С с | Т т | У у | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш |
| Ы ы | Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
Romani Alphabet:
Used in most Romani communities.
| A a | Ä ä | B b | C c | Ć ć | Č č | D d | E e | Ê ê | F f | G g | Ğ ğ | H h | I i | Î î |
| J j | K k | K k | L l | L l | M m | N n | N n | O o | Ö ö | P p | Ṗ ṗ | Q q | R r | R r |
| R r | S s | S s | S s | T t | T t | U u | U u | V v | W w | X x | Y y | Z z | Z z | Z z |
References
External links
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