NEW TRENDS IN THE PROCESS OF STANDARDIZATION OF ROMANI TERMINOLOGY
Abstract
Introduction
It is known that Romani is not a standardized new-Indian language-formed outside of India, spoken in Europe, Americas and Australia, influenced by Armenian, Greek, Romanian and Slavic languages. Roma are bilingual and multilingual - they speak at least 2 Romani dialects and the official language of the country where they live and also some of the international languages such as English, Spanish, French, Russian or German. Last two decades or so there were some international conferences organized by different universities or by different governments on the issue of standardization of Romani language (Kyuchukov, 2009). In countries such as Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, the governments accepted “standardized” Romani alphabets for that particular country only. And nowadays in these countries newspapers, journals, and books/textbooks are published using different orthographies.(Samko, 2010, 2014)
Alan Patten (2003:297) writes about two principles of bilingualism: ”The principle that citizens should enjoy the same set of language rights no matter where they are in the country is commonly referred to as the “personality principle”. The opposing principle, that language rights should vary from region to region according to local conditions, is generally labeled the “territoriality principle”.
Applying the “territoriality principle” of Patten to the standardization process of Romani language there are three levels of standardization of a language:
I level: Standardization of Romani for Roma in a particular country- Slovakia, Sweden or Romania. It means a particular orthography and loan-words in Romani language from the majority contact languages.
II level: Standardization of Romani on Regional level- Balkan countries- Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia.
III level: Standardization of Romani for international purposes - for communication between Roma from different parts of the world.
The standardization on national level usually goes through the following process – one of the most popular Romani variety is chosen and it is used as a mean of communication, for publications and etc. The terminology chosen is the most comprehensive for all other groups.
On Regional level – the similar varieties which exist in neighboring countries are used for standardization. The common terminology is used as a base (usually from a language which was in a contact with Romani in early stage of its development, for example from Turkish) In Balkan countries where most of the Roma are Muslim and at the same time Turkish speaking the common terminology is form Turkish.
Examples of standardization of Romani terminology
In my earlier work (Kyuchukov, 1998) I showed different lexico-semantic groups from Turkish which are used in different varieties of Romani:
- Names of plants, flowers, fruits and vegetables;
- Names of animals;
- Words from the nature;
- Names of minerals;
- Names of foods and drinks;
- Names of plays and musical instruments
There are different strategies for creating a standard common terminology on international level. One of them is using loan-words from Armenian and Greek, which are the same in all varieties around the world. Roma in their way from India to Europe come in contact with Armenian and Greek in early12 c., and there are a lot of examples from Armenian in the international Romani:
- Parts of human body:
čekat (forehead); morči (skin); koč (knee) (v)ogi (soul)
- Names of vegetables and fruits:
dudum (pampkin)
- Names of foods:
bokoli ( small flat loaf); xumer (dough)
- Names of animals:
grast (horse); khuro (young horse); rikono (puppy)
P. Bakker & H. Kyuchukov (2000) have some examples from Greek
- Metallurgical terms:
amoni (anvil); kakavi (kettle); petalo (horseshoe); karfin (nail); sviri (hammer)
Standardization of Romani on International level
A group of Roma activists and linguists interested in Romani language have been working for last 20-25 years in different countries and there is some new developments. The levels which the group of scholars accepted are the following:
- Creating of a common Romani language on oral level-speakers of different Romani dialects from different parts of the world, coming together on international events find ways to communicate;
- Creating a common orthography;
- Creating a common grammar;
- Creating a common lexicon.
Methodology
For the purpose of this study I analyze documents published by different international institutions and organizations written in Standard Romani (Council of Europe, European Commission, European Roma Right Center, Open Society Institute). Special attention is paid to English-root terminology, and trends for creation of new terminology in Romani are observed.
New Terminology in Romani
The new terminology in Romani is created mainly from English terminology with added suffixes from Romani:
-a (sg.); -e (pl.)
Examples (nouns)
Romani |
English |
specifika |
specifics |
lingvistika |
linguistics |
analizo/analiza |
analyses |
sistemo/sistema |
system |
baziso |
base |
logika |
logic |
forma |
forma |
literatura |
literature |
leksika |
lexics |
fonetika |
fonetics |
-o (sg.); -ja (pl.)
Examples: (nouns)
Romani |
English |
Romani |
English |
Romani |
English |
telefono |
phone |
leksikono |
lexicon |
specialisto |
special |
treno |
train |
seriozo |
serious |
elemento |
element |
computero |
computer |
minoriteto |
minority |
autoro |
author |
prezidento |
president |
principo |
principle |
varianto |
variant |
regiono |
region |
mediatoro |
mediator |
dialecto |
dialect |
karaktero |
charachter |
levelo |
level |
deficito |
deficit |
seminaro |
seminar |
alternativo |
alternative |
proceso |
process |
fondo |
fond |
mandato |
mandate |
kongreso |
congress |
faktoro |
factor |
interneto |
internet |
testo |
test |
problemo |
problem |
sistemo |
system |
leksikono |
lexicon |
analizo |
analyze |
intereso |
interest |
moderatoro |
moderator |
-ija; -ije
Examples: (nouns)
Romani |
English |
ortografija |
orthography |
strategija |
strategy |
etnologija |
ethnology |
metodologija |
methodology |
leksikografija |
lexicography |
etnografija |
ethnography |
-alno (sg.); -alne (pl.)
Examples: (adjectives)
Romani |
English |
emocionalno |
emotional |
regionalno |
regional |
internacionalno |
international |
lokalno |
local |
socialno |
social |
specialno |
special |
globalno |
global |
spiritualno |
spiritual |
leksikalno |
lexical |
-(a)no; -(a)ne
Examples: (Adjectives)
Romani |
English |
urgentno |
urgent |
politikano |
political |
lingvistikano |
linguistic |
modernikano |
modernized |
tehnikano |
technical |
gramatikano |
grammatical |
-cija; -cije (-zija; -zije)
Examples: (Nouns +Verbs)
Verbs
Romani |
English |
Romani |
English |
Romani |
English |
fondacija |
foundation |
relacija |
relation |
unifikacija |
unification |
kondicija |
condition |
variacija |
variation |
standartizacija |
standardization |
edukacija |
education |
populacija |
population |
kodifikacija |
codification |
organizacija |
organization |
funkcija |
function |
komunikacija |
communication |
deklaracija |
declaration |
kooperacija |
cooperation |
participacija |
participation |
rezoljucija |
resolution |
deskripcija |
description |
konservacija |
conservation |
konferencija |
conference |
institucija |
institution |
izolacija |
isolation |
tradicija |
tradition |
informacija |
information |
ratifikacija |
ratification |
generacija |
generation |
proposicija |
proposition |
kolaboracija |
collaboration |
konkluzija |
conclusion |
konvergencija |
convergence |
segregacija |
segregation |
komlikacija |
complication |
kompetencija |
competence |
desegregacija |
desegregation |
Conclusion
The process of standardization of Romani started already some 25 years ago. During international meetings, where Romani is one of the used language for translation, in published documents and reports of International institutions and NGO organizations, the English based Romani terminology is take more often place. The task of the linguists now is to make much better classification of the neologisms in Romani, which did not exist some 25 years ago. These kind of systematic work is needed not only for national and regional standardization but also for standardization on international level.
May be it is also time to start more precise classification of different categories terminology as I tried to do in modest way in this paper. The system shown here may be can be used for further developments of Romani terminology. The use of it in schools and university textbooks will bring Romani to another level of development.