FACTOID # 40: South America is unusual in that it is both highly urbanized and poor.
 
 Home   Encyclopedia   Statistics   Countries A-Z   Flags   Maps   Education   Forum   FAQ   About 
 
WHAT'S NEW
RECENT ARTICLES
More Recent Articles »
 

FACTS & STATISTICS    Simple view

  1. Select countries to view: (hold down Control key and click to select several)

     

     

    Compare:

     

     
  1. Select fact or statistic: (* = graphable)

     

     

     

  2. (OPTIONAL) Compare to statistic: (both need to be graphable)

     

     

     

  3. View result as:

     

       
(OR) SEARCH ALL encyclopedia, stats & forums:   

Encyclopedia > Gypsy language

Romany (or Romani) is the language of the Roma and Sinti, travelling peoples often referred to in English as "gypsies" and in the East and Central Europe known as tsigane. 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.


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 (Gray and Atkinson, 2003).


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.


Romany loanwords in English

Romany has loaned many words to English, including "cosh", "pal" (brother), and "lollipop" (US popsicle). These mostly turn up in slang—such as gadgie or cooshtie—and in regional dialects, such as "radge" and "jougal" in south east Scotland and "parni" and "bewer" in West Yorks. Urban English 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 "chavvy" 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 to be the motor for this process.


Romany has also picked up many words from various languages in its travels across Europe and Asia.


External links

  • Language background and status (http://www.eurolang.net/Languages/Romany.htm)
  • Definition per ISO 639 (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_iso639.asp?code=rom)
  • 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/)

References

  • Language-tree divergence times support the Anatolian theory of Indo-European origin (http://www.psych.auckland.ac.nz/psych/research/Evolution/Gray&Atkinson2003.pdf) (pdf)

  Results from FactBites:
 
Gypsy Children's Language Problems and Their Chances to Manage at School (2654 words)
Teachers say that Gypsy children have a limited vocabulary, the range of notions that they work with is rather narrow, they are not able to understand the language of schoolbooks, the questions, the tasks, what the teacher is saying - so goes the list.
The obvious response to this from someone who is not aware of the linguistic diversity of the Gypsy community in Hungary or someone jumping to false conclusions based on partial knowledge of the facts could be this: the source of the linguistic difficulties is their different mother tongue.
The decision-makers as well as the executive bodies should be aware that the decisions that are being made at present are in a sense decisive for all the municipalities inhabited by Gypsies as well as for the coexistence of Gypsies and Hungarians and as such, for the future of this country.
THE ENGLISH GYPSY LANGUAGE (1658 words)
The poverty of their language in nouns the Gypsies endeavour to remedy by the frequent use of the word engro.
The English Gypsies can count up to six, and have the numerals for ten and twenty, but with those for seven, eight, and nine, perhaps not three Gypsies in England are acquainted.
The proper Gypsy plural terminations are retained in nouns, but in declension prepositions are generally substituted for postpositions, and those prepositions English.
  More results at FactBites »


 

COMMENTARY     


Share your thoughts, questions and commentary here
Your name
Your comments
Please enter the 5-letter protection code

Want to know more?
Search encyclopedia, statistics and forums:
 


Lesson Plans | Student Area | Student FAQ | Reviews | Press Releases |  Feeds | Contact
The Wikipedia article included on this page is licensed under the GFDL.
Images may be subject to relevant owners' copyright.
All other elements are (c) copyright NationMaster.com 2003-5. All Rights Reserved.
Usage implies agreement with terms.