Istro-Romanian is a Romance language used in a few villages in the peninsula of Istria, on the upper northern part of the Adriatic Sea, in Croatia. It is spoken by people who call themselves Vlaşi or Rumuni/Rumuri, but are called Ciribiri by the local population and Istrian Vlachs by linguists.The number of Istro-Romanian speakers is estimated to be only around 500 to 1000, causing the language to be listed as "seriously endangered" in the UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages (http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/europe_index.html). Due to its very small number of speakers, living in about ten villages, there is no public education or press in Istro-Romanian, and its speakers are not even recognised as a minority in Croatia.
Their number was reduced in the due to assimilation: in the 1921 Italian census there were 1,644 Romanian speakers in the area and in 1926 Romanian scholar Sextil Puşcariu estimated their number to about 3,000
Many villages have Romanian-style names like Jeian, Buzet (lips), Katun (hamlet), Gradinje (garden), Letaj, Sucodru (forest), Costirceanu (a Romanian name). Some of these names are official, while some are used only by Istro-Romanian speakers.
Language
The language resembles Romanian, and traditional Romanian linguists consider it a Romanian dialect, but some other linguistics disagree and claim that the language is closer to the extinct Dalmatian language than to Romanian.
One peculiarity of Istro-Romanian compared with Romanian dialects is the use of rhotacism (with the intervocalic /n/ becoming /r/, for instance "lumina" (meaning "light" in Romanian) becoming "lumira"). This is one of the reasons that some Romanian linguists think that Istro-Romanian evolved from the language spoken in the Maramures area of Transylvania, which has some similar traits.
Origin
Some linguists believe that the Istro-Romanians migrated to their present region about 1000 years ago from Transylvania, the other possible origin being from Serbia.
The first historical record of Istro-Romanians dates back to 1329, when Serbian chronicles mention that a Vlach population was living in the area, although there was an earlier mention from the 12th century of a leader in Istria called Radul (that could be a Romanian name).
Literature
There is no literary tradition, however, in 1905 was published "Calendaru lu rumeri din Istrie" ("The Calendar of the Romanians of Istria") and also collections of folk tales and poems have been published since.
External links and references
* UNESCO Red Book on Endangered Languages - entry for Istro-Romanian (http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/europe_report.html#IRumanian)
* Wolfgang Dahmen: Istrorum�nisch. Lexicon der Romanistische Linguistik. III. T�bingen 1989. 448-460
3 comentarii:
Vorbeam mai demult cu un amic croat care imi spunea ca auzise de istro-romani, de fapt de vlahi, dar nu cunoscuse nici unul care sa vorbeasca limba lor ciudata. De multa vreme mi'am propus sa ajung in Istria. Vara asta vreau neaparat sa dau o raita prin arie, va tin la curent ce am gasit pe acolo.
Mai sunt si megleno-romanii (din nationmaster.com): Megleno-Romanians (also known as Meglenites or Vlaşi) are a population living as a minority in a few villages in the Meglen region of Northern Greece, their number being estimated from 12,000 to 20,000. They speak a Romance language called Megleno-Romanian.One interesting thing is that unlike the other Eastern Romanized population (called generically Vlachs), they don't have a name for themselves derived from Romanus, but they use only the term Vlaşi.
Si in estul Slovaciei mai sunt cateva sate cu vlahi. Odata, cand ma aflam la Praga, am fost intrebat de un tip care auzise ca sunt roman daca eu vorbesc vlaha sau romaneasca :) M'a amuzat intrebarea. Tipul era slovak nascut chiar acolo, intr'unul dintre satele vlahilor. Plecase foarte devreme din zona, si nu mai tinuse legatura nu nimeni din sat.
O sa-ti placa in Istria. Eu am fost de doua ori si probabil o sa mai merg. Din pacate, nu am avut timp sa caut satele cu istro-romani. In schimb, i-am vazut intr-o reclama pe Discovery, din seria aia cu "cultural diversity". Era un barbat care vorbea o romana ciudata si frumoasa in acelasi timp, nu tocmai usor de inteles.
Sa ne tii la curent daca mergi acolo.
E' fatto! :) De'abia astept sa ajung pe acolo -
Trimiteți un comentariu