Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Megleno-Romanian language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Megleno-Romanian Vlăheşte |
||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Greece, Republic of Macedonia, Romania | |
| Region: | Balkans | |
| Total speakers: | 5,000–12,000 | |
| Language family: | Indo-European Italic Romance Eastern Romance Megleno-Romanian |
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | roa | |
| ISO 639-3: | ruq | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Megleno-Romanian (known as Vlăheşte by speakers and Moglenitic, Meglenitic or Megleno-Romanian by linguists) is a Romance language, similar to Aromanian, and Romanian spoken in the Moglená region of Greece, in a few villages in the Republic of Macedonia and also in a few villages in Romania. Spoken by the Moglenite Vlachs, it is considered an endangered language.
Contents |
Megleno-Romanian is a member of the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family. More specifically, it is an Eastern Romance language, a language formed after the retreat of the Roman Empire from South-Eastern Europe. Some linguists consider it to be an intermediary between Romanian and Aromanian, often being considered either a dialect of Romanian or Aromanian or an independent language. It is much closer to standard Romanian than Aromanian language, suggesting that it was split from Proto-Romanian later than Aromanian. Megleno-Romanian is influenced a lot by South Slavic.
The term "Megleno-Romanian" has been used by linguists who noticed the similarity to the Romanian language, as well as by certain Romanian nationalists who claim the language as a mere dialect of Romanian and its speakers as ethnic Romanians[citation needed], even though they themselves self-identify as a people called Vlahi (see Etymology of Vlach for more on this term).
The origins of Megleno-Romanian(Meglen Vlach) could possibly be somewhere along the Vardar valley in Macedonia[citation needed]. The Meglen Vlach language may have separated from the form of Latin spoken in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire at a different time in history than the other vlach groups. Megleno-Romanian is most influenced by the south slavic languages of the region.
| Vulgar Latin language | |
| Substratum | |
|
|
|
| Daco-Romanian (Romanian, Moldovan, Vlach) Numbers | Phonology | Lexis |
|
| Regulating bodies |
|
|
|
|
| Aromanian | |
|
|
|
| Megleno-Romanian | |
|
|
|
| Istro-Romanian | |
Megleno-Romanian is spoken in Greece in the Kilkis and Serres prefectures in Macedonia, as well as in several villages close to the Greek border in the Republic of Macedonia. In one village, Huma, the language is spoken by most inhabitants. After World War I, some Megleno-Romanians moved to Romania, many of them settling in the Cerna village in the Tulcea County, in which about 1,200 continue to speak Megleno-Romanian. In 1940, about 30 families moved to the Banat region of Romania in the villages of Variaş and Biled. Some speakers that identified as Muslims were moved to Turkey from Greece as part of religious based population exchanges.
Megleno-Romanian has some unique phonetic characteristics, not found in the other Eastern Romance languages:
- long vowels: ā, ē, ī, ō, ū
- ă, â → o, a: câmp → comp (field), mânc → mānc (I eat)
- unaccentuated initial a disappears: adaug → daug (I add), afară → fară (outside), aduc → duc (I bring)
Much of the vocabulary is of Latin origin and much of its phonetics and semantics is shared with Aromanian and Romanian:
- basilica > MR bisearică, DR biserică (church, originally "basilica")
- lumen > MR lumi, DR lumină (world, originally "light")
- monumentum > MR murmint, DR mormânt (grave, originally "monument")
- strigis > MR strig, DR strig (I yell, originally "owl")
- draco > MR drac, DR drac (devil, originally "dragon")
Megleno-Romanian also contains some ancient Illyrian words that have cognates with Albanian (see Illyrian Languages):
- MR brad; DR brad; cf. Alb. bredh (fir tree)
- MR monz; DR mânz; cf. Alb. mës (colt)
- MR bucuros; DR bucuros; (happy) cf. Alb bukurë (beautiful)
There are also some words which may be of Slavic origin and which can be found in all the Eastern Romance languages:
- MR trup; DR trup (body); cf. Sl. trupŭ
- MR stăpon; Dr stăpân (master); cf. Old Slavic. stopanŭ, today's Bulgarian/Macedonian stopanin
There are a number of Byzantine and Modern Greek words, several dozens which are also found in Daco-Romanian (Romanian language) and Aromanian and about 80 words that were borrowed via Macedonian and Bulgarian languages and other languages of the Balkans. Prior to the creation of the modern state of Greece, Megleno-Romanian borrowed very few words directly from Greek.
- Gr. prósfatos > MR proaspit; DR proaspăt; (fresh)
- Gr. keramídi > MR chirămidă; DR cărămidă (brick)
- Gr. lemoni > MR limonă, via Bulg. limon (lemon); cf. DR lămâie
The most important influence on Megleno-Romanian was the East South Slavic languages, this influence being more profound than the influence exerted by Greek to Aromanian. Linguist Theodor Capidan argued that the words borrowed show some phonetical features of the Bulgarian language dialect spoken in the Rhodope Mountains. There are many instances where basic words of Latin origin that can still be found in Daco-Romanian and Aromanian were replaced by Slavic words. In some cases, standard Romanian also independently borrowed the same word.
- Bulg. drob > MR drob; DR drob (liver)
- Bulg. nevĕsta > MR niveastă; DR nevastă (wife)
- Bulg. gora > MR goră (forest)
- Theodor Capidan, Megleno-Romanian dictionary (in Romanian)
- Theodor Capidan, Meglenoromânii: istoria şi graiul lor (in Romanian)
- Despre muzica folclorică a dialectului meglenoromân, by Prof. Mirela Kozlovsky
- Megleno-Romanii, by Prof. Emil Tarcovnicu
- Ethnologue, Megleno Romanian entry
- Asterios Koukoudis, Studies on the Vlachs
Categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | Articles with unsourced statements since December 2007 | Languages of Greece | Languages of the Republic of Macedonia | Languages of Romania | Eastern Romance languages | Endangered languages