Download - Российский комитет Программы ЮНЕСКО ...

From a genetic point of view Romani belongs to the Indo-Aryan sub-branch of
the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is one of the
Indo-Aryan diaspora languages that are almost exclusively spoken outside of
the Indian subcontinent. Romani has been spoken in Europe since the Middle
Ages. 85 Although its genetic affiliation is Indo-Aryan it is an integral part of the
linguistic and cultural plurality of Europe.
From a structural point of view, Romani may be described as a heterogeneous
cluster of varieties with a homogeneous core – a common morphology and a
common lexicon – but without any generally accepted homogenizing standard.
The latter is often perceived as a shortcoming but is characteristic of the vast
majority of the languages of the world. The same applies for the characterisation
of Romani as a variety cluster. Heterogeneity, or rather plurality of dialects
and varieties, is a typical feature of the languages of numerically large and
geographically widespread speech communities.
The sociolinguistic situation of Romani reflects the sociopolitical and
sociocultural status of its speakers. Romani has to be described as a primarily
oral, functionally restricted, dominated, stateless diaspora language with no
monolingual speakers. For most Roma their respective Romani variety is
reduced to intra-group communication, and thus limited to the private domains.
Romani primarily functions as an intimate variety in the social microcosm.
Adult Romani speakers are always plurilingual and use the language(s) of the
respective majority population(s) for inter-group communication in the public
domains and increasingly also in the domains of everyday life. Consequently,
Romani speakers may be described as non-monolingual.
Romani is a language that, until recently, was exclusively passed on orally and
did not exist in a written form. It has not developed a generally accepted written
standard and, as a consequence, prescriptive norms. This linguistic situation
reflects the sociopolitical situation of the Roma: politically, economically and
culturally marginalised as well as ethnically stigmatised, discriminated against,
and persecuted up to genocide, the Roma could only survive in small groups
which led to the geographical and social heterogeneity that still exists today.
Consequently, Roma have never been in a position to build large politicaleconomic
structures or to demand their share of political and economic power.
Considering that the development of standard varieties generally follows the
development of political and economic power structures, it is clear why Romani
has not developed such a variety. Furthermore, the outlined sociohistorical
situation explains why Romani is labelled a stateless diaspora language.
85
Accessed 2012-02-24.
273