
The Aromanian language (Aromanian: limba armãneascã, limba armãnã, armãneashti, armãneashte, armãneashci, armãneashce or limba rãmãneascã, limba rãmãnã, rrãmãneshti), also known as Vlach or Macedo-Romanian, is an Eastern Romance language, similar to Megleno-Romanian, Istro-Romanian and Romanian, spoken in Southeastern Europe. Its speakers are called Aromanians or Vlachs (a broader term and an exonym in widespread use to define Romance communities in the Balkans).
Aromanian | |
---|---|
Vlach Macedo-Romanian | |
limba armãneascã, limba armãnã, armãneashti, armãneashte, armãneashci, armãneashce, limba rãmãneascã, limba rãmãnã, rrãmãneshti | |
Native to | Greece, Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia |
Region | Balkans |
Ethnicity | Aromanians |
Native speakers | 210,000 (2018) |
Early forms | Old Latin
|
Dialects |
|
Latin (Aromanian alphabet) | |
Signed forms | Manually coded Aromanian |
Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 | rup |
ISO 639-3 | rup |
Glottolog | arom1237 |
ELP | Aromanian |
Linguasphere | 51-AAD-ba |
![]() Distribution and dialects of the Aromanian language in the southwestern Balkans | |
![]() Aromanian is classified as Definitely Endangered by UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. |
Aromanian shares many features with modern Romanian, including similar morphology and syntax, as well as a large common vocabulary inherited from Latin. They are considered to have developed from Common Romanian, a common stage of all the Eastern Romance varieties. An important source of dissimilarity between Romanian and Aromanian is the adstratum languages (external influences); whereas Romanian has been influenced to a greater extent by the Slavic languages, Aromanian has been more influenced by Greek, with which it has been in close contact throughout its history.
Geographic distribution
Aromanian is native to Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia. In 2018, it was estimated that Aromanian had 210,000 native speakers, of which 50,000 were in Albania, 50,000 in Greece, 50,000 in Romania, 32,000 in Serbia, 18,200 in North Macedonia, and 9,800 in Bulgaria. Aromanian-speakers also exist in the diaspora, with at least 53 speakers recorded to be living in Australia at the time of the 2021 Australian census.
Official status
Aromanian has a degree of official recognition in North Macedonia, where it is taught as a subject in some primary schools. In North Macedonia, Aromanian-speakers also have the right to use the language in court proceedings. Since 2006, Aromanian has had the status of a second official municipal language in the city of Kruševo, the only place where Aromanian has any kind of official status apart from general state recognition.
Apart from North Macedonia, the Aromanians are also recognized in Albania as a national minority.
History
This section needs additional citations for verification.(March 2023) |
Aromanian, Daco-Romanian (Romanian), Istro-Romanian language, and Megleno-Romanian language are descendants of a proto-language called Common Romanian, itself descending from the Proto-Romance language. No later than the 10th century Common Romanian split into southern and northern dialects, and Aromanian and Romanian have developed differently from these two distinct dialects of the proto language over the course of the next one thousand years.
Greek influences are much stronger in Aromanian than in other Eastern Romance languages, especially because Aromanian has used Greek words to coin new words (neologisms), especially within Greece, while Romanian has based most of its neologisms on French. However, there has also been an increasing tendency for Aromanian-speakers outside of Greece to borrow terms from Romanian, due to the shared alphabet and contact with Romanian over the Internet, where Romanian-language material is much more available than it is in Aromanian.
With the arrival of the Turks in the Balkans, Aromanian also received some Turkish words. Still, the lexical composition remains mainly Romance.
Compared to other Balkan languages, the earliest documents and manuscripts of Aromanian appear late. This is due to the historical predominance of the Greek language in the region and the successive destruction of Aromanian books and documents throughout history. The oldest known written text in the language is an inscription from 1731 by Nektarios Terpos at the Ardenica Monastery, now in Albania. It is followed by the inscription of the so-called , dated to the first half of the 18th century. In the Monastery of the Holy Apostles near Kleino (Aromanian: Clinova), now Greece, there is an inscription in Aromanian dated from around 1780. The St. Athanasius Church in Moscopole, now Albania, also includes an old Aromanian writing. Other early Aromanian manuscripts are the Aromanian Missal potentially from the beginning of the 18th century, the works of Theodore Kavalliotis (1770), Constantin Ucuta (1797), Daniel Moscopolites (1802), Gheorghe Constantin Roja (1808/1809) and Mihail G. Boiagi (1813) and the Codex Dimonie possibly from the early 19th century.
Some scholars mention other old, little-studied written instances of Aromanian. German Byzantinist Peter Schreiner dated a small glossary of Aromanian from Epirus in a manuscript of the Chronicle of Ioannina to the 16th or 17th century based on its writing. There are also claims about an Aromanian inscription from 1426 in the in the former village of
in Greece, but according to Hristu Cândroveanu, it was destroyed during restoration works by order of Greek priests because it was not in Greek.Dialects
Aromanian is not a homogenous linguistic entity. Its main varieties include the Pindus type, the Gramoste type, the Farsherot type, Olympus type, and the Moscopole type.
It has also several regional variants, named after places that were home to significant populations of Aromanians (Vlachs); nowadays located in Albania, North Macedonia and Greece. Examples are the Moscopole variant; the Muzachiar variant from Muzachia in central Albania; the variant of Bitola; Pelister, Malovište (Aromanian: Mulovishti), Gopeš (Aromanian: Gopish), Upper Beala; Gorna Belica (Aromanian: Beala di Suprã) near Struga, Kruševo (Aromanian: Crushuva), and the variant east of the Vardar river in North Macedonia.
Standardization efforts
The Aromanian language is not standardized. However, there have been some efforts to do so. Notable examples include those of Matilda Caragiu Marioțeanu, and Iancu Ballamaci.
Phonology
Aromanian exhibits several differences from standard Romanian in its phonology, some of which are probably due to influence from Greek or Albanian. It has spirants that do not exist in Romanian, such as /θ, ð, x, ɣ/ and which are a Greek influence. Other differences are the sound /ts/, which corresponds to Romanian /tʃ/, and the sounds: /ʎ/ and /ɲ/, which exist only in local variants in Romanian. Aromanian is usually written with a version of the Latin script with an orthography that resembles both that of Albanian (in the use of digraphs such as dh, sh, and th) and Italian (in its use of c and g), along with the letter ã, used for the sounds represented in Romanian by ă and â/î. It can also be written with a modified Romanian alphabet that includes two additional letters, ń and ľ, and rarely with a version of the Greek script.
Compared to Daco-Romanian, the Aromanian varieties have preserved from Proto-Romanian the word-final glide [w] alongside [j] (in the Pindean and Gramostean types), while the Farsharot and Grabovean types have neither diphthongs nor the phoneme /ɨ/.
Consonants
Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
central | sibilant | |||||||
Stop | voiceless | p | t | c | k | |||
voiced | b | d | ɟ | ɡ | ||||
Affricate | voiceless | t͡s | t͡ʃ | |||||
voiced | d͡z | d͡ʒ | ||||||
Fricative | voiceless | f | θ | s | ʃ | [ç] | x | (h) |
voiced | v | ð | z | ʒ | [ʝ] | ɣ | ||
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | |||||
Trill | r | |||||||
Approximant | lateral | l | ʎ | |||||
central | j | w |
- Central approximant consonants only occur as a result of a word-initial or intervocalic [i] and [u] when preceding another vowel.
- /x/, /ɣ/ can have allophones as [ç], [ʝ] when preceding front vowels.
- /x/, /h/ are in free variation among different dialects.
Vowels
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | ɨ | u |
Mid | e | ə | o |
Open | a |
- Two vowel sounds /ɨ, ə/ are both represented by one grapheme; ã.
Orthography
The Aromanian alphabet consists of 27 letters and 9 digraphs.
Letter | Name | Pronunciation (IPA) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
A, a | a | /a/ | – |
Ã, ã | ã | /ə/, /ɨ/ | For /ɨ/, "â" may be used |
B, b | bã | /b/ | – |
C, c | cã | /k/, /tʃ/, /x/ | /k/ when followed by "a", "o", "u" or a consonant (/x/ in some dialects); /tʃ/ when followed by "e" or "i" |
D, d | dã | /d/ | – |
Dh, dh | dhã | /ð/ | Used only for notation in particular accents where this phoneme is present, otherwise "d" is used |
Dz, dz | dzã | /dz/ | – |
E, e | e | /ɛ/ | – |
F, f | fã | /f/ | – |
G, g | gã | /ɡ/, /dʒ/, /ɣ/ | /ɡ/ before "a", "o", "u" or a consonant (/ɣ/ in some dialects); /dʒ/ before "e" and "i" |
H, h | hã | /h/ | – |
I, i | i | /i/ | – |
J, j | jã | /ʒ/ | |
K, k | ca | /c/ | before "e" or "i" only |
L, l | lã | /l/ | – |
Lj, lj | lj | /ʎ/ | Found in Macedonian Latin alphabet |
M, m | mã | /m/ | – |
N, n | nã | /n/ | – |
Nj, nj | nj | /ɲ/ | Found in Macedonian Latin alphabet |
O, o | o | /o/ | – |
P, p | pã | /p/ | – |
Q, q | kiu | /k/ | Used only in foreign words – "c" is normally used instead |
R, r | rã | /r/ | – |
Rr, rr | rrã | ? | Used only for notation in particular accents where this phoneme is present, otherwise "r" is used |
S, s | sã | /s/ | – |
Sh, sh | shã | /ʃ/ | – |
T, t | tã | /t/ | – |
Th, th | thã | /θ/ | Used only for notation in particular accents where this phoneme is present, otherwise "t" is used |
Ts, ts | tsã | /ts/ | – |
U, u | u | /u/ | – |
V, v | vã | /v/ | – |
W, w | dublã vã | /w/ | Used only in foreign words |
X, x | csã/gzã | /ks/, /ɡz/ | Same pronunciation as found in English |
Y, y | i greacã | /j/, /ɣ/ | /j/ before "e" and "i", /ɣ/ elsewhere; of Greek influence – cf. Greek άγιος /ˈa.ʝos/ "holy" – γ /ɡ/ is pronounced /ʝ/ in this case. |
Z, z | zã | /z/ | – |
In addition, the digraph "gh" (/ɟ/ before "e" and "i") is used as well.
Grammar
The grammar and morphology are very similar to those of other Romance languages:
- It has two grammatical numbers: singular and plural (no dual).
- It is a null-subject language.
- Verbs have many conjugations, including:
- A present tense, a preterite, an imperfect, a pluperfect and a future tense in the indicative mood, for statements of fact.
- An imperative mood, for direct commands.
- Three non-finite forms: infinitive, gerund, and past participle.
- Distinct active and passive voices, as well as an impersonal passive voice.
The Aromanian language has some exceptions from the Romance languages, some of which are shared with Romanian: the definite article is a clitic particle appended at the end of the word, both the definite and indefinite articles can be inflected, and nouns are classified in three genders, with neuter in addition to masculine and feminine. Unlike other Romance languages, Aromanian lacks an infinitive form for verbs, the synthetic infinitive inherited from Latin became a noun like in Romanian (for example cântare < CANTARE).
Verbs
Aromanian grammar has features that distinguish it from Romanian, an important one being the complete disappearance of verb infinitives, a feature of the Balkan sprachbund. As such, the tenses and moods that, in Romanian, use the infinitive (like the future simple tense and the conditional mood) are formed in other ways in Aromanian. For the same reason, verb entries in dictionaries are given in their indicative mood, present tense, first-person-singular form.
Aromanian verbs are classified in four conjugations. The table below gives some examples and indicates the conjugation of the corresponding verbs in Romanian.
Conjugation | Aromanian (ind. pres. 1st sg.) | Romanian (ind. pres. 1st sg.) | Romanian (infinitive) | English |
---|---|---|---|---|
I | cãntu dau lucredzu | cânt dau lucrez | a cânta I a da I a lucra I | sing give work |
II | ved shed rrãmãn | văd șed rămân | a vedea II a ședea II a rămâne III (or a rămânea II) | see sit stay |
III | duc cunoscu ardu | duc cunosc ard | a duce III a cunoaște III a arde III | carry, lead know burn |
IV | mor fug ndultsescu | mor fug îndulcesc | a muri IV a fugi IV a îndulci IV | die run away, flee sweeten |
Future tense
The future tense is formed using an auxiliary invariable particle "u" or "va" and the subjunctive mood. In Romanian, declension of the future particle plus an infinitive is used.
Aromanian fãrshãrot/ grãmushtean | Romanian (archaic) | Romanian (colloquial) | Romanian (modern) | English |
---|---|---|---|---|
u s'cãntu/ va s'cãntu | va să cânt | o să cânt | voi cânta | I will sing |
u s'cãnts/ va s'cãnts | va să cânți | o să cânți | vei cânta | you (sg.) will sing |
u s'cãntã/ va s'cãntã | va să cânte | o să cânte | va cânta | (s)he will sing |
u s'cãntãm/ va s'cãntãm | va să cântăm | o să cântăm | vom cânta | we will sing |
u s'cãntatsi/ va s'cãntats | va să cântați | o să cântați | veți cânta | you (pl.) will sing |
u s'cãntã/ va s'cãntã | va să cânte | o să cânte | vor cânta | they will sing |
Pluperfect
Whereas in standard Romanian the pluperfect (past perfect) is formed synthetically (as in literary Portuguese), Aromanian uses a periphrastic construction with the auxiliary verb am (have) as the imperfect (aviam) and the past participle, as in Spanish and French, except that French replaces avoir (have) with être (be) for some intransitive verbs. Aromanian shares this feature with Meglenian as well as other languages in the Balkan language area.
Only the auxiliary verb inflects according to number and person (aviam, aviai, avia, aviamu, aviatu, avia), whereas the past participle does not change.
Aromanian fãrshãrot/ grãmushtean | Meglenian | Romanian | English |
---|---|---|---|
avia mãcatã/ avea mãcatã | vea mancat | mâncase | (he/she) had eaten |
avia durnjitã/ avea durnjitã | vea durmit | dormise | (he/she) had slept |
Gerund
The Aromanian gerund is applied to some verbs, but not all. These verbs are:
- 1st conjugation: acatsã (acãtsãnd), portu, lucreadzã/lucreashce, adiljã/adiljeashce.
- 2nd conjugation: armãnã, cade, poate, tatse, veade.
- 3rd conjugation: arupã, dipune, dutse, dzãse, fatsi/featse, tradzi/tradze, scrie.
- 4th conjugation: apire, doarme, hivrie, aure, pate, avde.
Literature
A literature in the Aromanian language exists.
Current situation
Media
The Macedonian Radio Television (MRT) produces radio and television broadcasts in Aromanian.
Radio Romania International has Aromanian service producing radio shows in Aromanian.
Films produced in the Aromanian language include Toma Enache's I'm Not Famous but I'm Aromanian (2013), the first in Aromanian.
Situation in Greece
Even before the incorporation of various Aromanian-speaking territories into the Greek state (1832, 1912), the language was subordinated to Greek, traditionally the language of education and religion in Constantinople and other prosperous urban cities. The historical studies cited below (mostly Capidan) show that especially after the fall of Moscopole (1788) the process of Hellenisation via education and religion gained a strong impetus mostly among people doing business in the cities.
The Romanian state began opening schools for the Romanian-influenced Vlachs in the 1860s, but this initiative was regarded with suspicion by the Greeks, who thought that Romania was trying to assimilate them. 19th-century travellers in the Balkans such as W. M. Leake and Henry Fanshawe Tozer noted that Vlachs in the Pindus and Macedonia were bilingual, reserving the Latin dialect for inside the home.
By 1948, the new Soviet-imposed communist regime of Romania had closed all Romanian-run schools outside Romania and, since the closure, there has been no formal education in Aromanian and speakers have been encouraged to learn and use the Greek language. This has been a process encouraged by the community itself and is not an explicit State policy. The decline and isolation of the Romanian-oriented groups was not helped by the fact that they openly collaborated with the Axis powers of Italy and Germany during the occupation of Greece in WWII. In contrast, the vast majority of Vlachs fought in the Greek resistance, including leaders like Alexandros Svolos and Andreas Tzimas, and a number of Vlach villages were destroyed by the Germans.
The issue of Aromanian-language education is a sensitive one, partly because of opposition within the Greek Vlachs community to actions leading to the introduction of the language into the education system, viewing it as an artificial distinction between them and other Greeks.[citation needed] For example, the former education minister, George Papandreou, received a negative response from Greek-Aromanian mayors and associations to his proposal for a trial Aromanian language education programme. The Panhellenic Federation of Cultural Associations of Vlachs expressed strong opposition to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's Recommendation 1333 (1997) that the tuition of Aromanian be supported so as to avoid its extinction. This recommendation was issued after pressure from the Union for Aromanian Language and Culture in Germany. On a visit to Metsovo, Epirus in 1998, Greek President Konstantinos Stephanopoulos called on Vlachs to speak and teach their language, but its decline continues.[citation needed]
A recent example of the sensitivity of the issue was the 2001 conviction (later overturned in the Appeals Court) to 15 months in jail of Sotiris Bletsas, a Greek Aromanian who was found guilty of "dissemination of false information" after he distributed informative material on minority languages in Europe (which included information on minority languages of Greece), produced by the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages and financed by the European Commission. His conviction met with broad condemnation in Greece, where at least one editorial compared the situation to the suppression of Kurdish and other minority languages in Turkey and noted the irony that some prosecutors in fact came from non-Hellenophone families that had once spoken Aromanian or Turkish. Bletsas was eventually acquitted.
Language samples
Fãrshãrot 1
Tatã a nostu tsi eshti tu tser,
si ayisiascã numa a Ta,
s’yinã amirãria a Ta,
si facã vrearea a Ta,
cum tu tser, ashã sh'pisti loc.
Pãnia a nostã, atsa di cathi dzuã, dãnu sh’azã,
sh‘ yiartãni amartiili a nosti,
ashe cum li yiãrtãm sh’noi a amãrtor a noci,
sh’nu ni du la pirazmo,
ma viagljãni di atsel rãu.
Cã a Ta esti amirãria sh'puteria,
a Tatãlui shi Hiljãlui shi a Ayiului Spirit,
tora, totãna sh’tu eta a etilor.
Amin.
Fãrshãrot 2
Tati a nost tsi esht tu tser,
s’ayiãsiaste numa a Ta,
s’zine amirãria a Ta,
si fache vrera a Ta,
cum tu tser, ashe sh'pisti loc.
Penia a noste, atsa di cathi dzue, denu sh’aze,
sh‘ yiartãni amartiãli a nosti,
ashe cum li yiãrtem sh’noi a amãrtor a noci,
sh’nu ni du la pirazmo,
ma viagãni di atsel reu.
Che a Ta esti amirãria sh'putera,
al Tati shi al Hiyiu shi al Ayiu Duh,
tora, totãna sh’tu eta a etãlu.
Amin.
Grãmushtean
Tatã a nostu, tsi eshtsã tu tseru,
s'ayiseascã numa a Ta,
s'yinã amirãriljea a Ta,
si facã vrearea a Ta,
cumu tu tseru, ashi sh'pisti locu.
Pãnea a nostã atsea di cathi dzuã dãnãu sh'adzã
sh'yiartãnã amãrtiile a noasti
ashi cum ilj yirtãmu sh'noi a amãrtoshloru a noshtsã.
Sh'nu nã du tu pirazmo,
Sh'aveagljinã di atsel arãulu.
Cã a Ta easti Amirãriljia sh'putearea
a Tatãlui shi Hiljãlui sh a Ayiului Duhu,
tora, totna sh tu eta a etilor.
Amen.
- The Lord's Prayer – source
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Macedonian Aromanian publicist, translator and writer Universal Declaration of Human Rights as follows:
translated Article 1 of theTuti iatsãli umineshtsã s'fac liberi shi egali la nãmuzea shi ndrepturli. Eali suntu hãrziti cu fichiri shi sinidisi shi lipseashti un cu alantu sh si poartã tu duhlu a frãtsãljiljei.
Comparison with Romanian
The following text is given for comparison in Aromanian and in Romanian, with an English translation. The spelling of Aromanian is that decided at the Bitola Symposium of August 1997. The word choice in the Romanian version was such that it matches the Aromanian text, although in modern Romanian other words might have been more appropriate. The English translation is only provided as a guide to the meaning, with an attempt to keep the word order as close to the original as possible.
Aromanian | Romanian | English |
---|---|---|
Vocala easti unã son dit zburãrea a omlui, faptu cu tritsearea sonorã, libirã sh'fãrã cheadicã, a vimtului prit canalu sonor (adrat di coardili vocali shi ntreaga gurã) icã un semnu grafic cari aspuni un ahtari son. | Vocala este un sunet din vorbirea omului, făcut cu trecerea sonoră, liberă și fără piedică, a aerului prin canalul sonor (compus din coardele vocale și întreaga gură) sau un semn grafic care reprezintă un atare sunet. | The vowel is a sound in human speech, made by the sonorous, free and unhindered passing of the air through the sound channel (composed of the vocal cords and the whole mouth) or a graphic symbol corresponding to that sound. |
Ashi bunãoarã, avem shasili vocali tsi s'fac cu vimtul tsi treatsi prit gurã, iu limba poati si s'aflã tu un loc icã altu shi budzãli pot si sta dishcljisi unã soe icã altã. | Așa, avem șase vocale ce se fac cu aerul ce trece prin gură, unde limba poate să se afle într-un loc sau altul și buzele pot să stea deschise într-un soi sau altul. | This way, we have six vowels that are produced by the air passing through the mouth, where the tongue can be in one place or another and the lips can be opened in one way or another. |
Vocalili pot s'hibã pronuntsati singuri icã deadun cu semivocali i consoani. | Vocalele pot să fie pronunțate singure sau împreună cu semivocale sau consoane. | The vowels can be pronounced alone or together with semivowels or consonants. |
Common words and phrases
English | Aromanian |
---|---|
Aromanian (person) | (m.) Armãn/ rrãmãn, (f.) armãnã/ rrãmãnã |
Aromanian (language) | Limba armãneascã/ limba rrãmãneascã; armãneashti/ armãneashte / armãneashci / armãneashce / rrãmãneshti |
Good day! | Bunã dzua! |
What's your name? | Cum ti chiamã? (informal) |
How old are you? | Di cãtsi anji esht? |
How are you? | Cumu hits? (formal) Cumu eshti?/ Cumu eshci? (informal) |
What are you doing? | Tsi fats?/ Tsi adari? (popular) |
Goodbye! | S'nã videmu cu ghine!/ Ghini s'ni videmu!/ Ghini s'ni vãdem! |
Bye! | S'nã avdzãmu ghiniatsa!/ Sã s'avdzãm buniatsa! |
Please. | Vã plãcãrsescu. (formal) Ti plãcãrsescu. (informal) |
Sorry. | S'mi hãrãdzesht. |
Thank you. | Haristo. |
Yes. | Ye/ E. |
No. | Nu. |
I don't understand. | Nu adukiescu/ Nu akicãsescu. |
I don't know. | Nu shtiu/ Nu shciu. |
Where's the bathroom? | Yu esti tualetu? / Yu easti toaletlu?/ Yu easte tualetu? |
Do you speak English? | Zburats / Grits – anglikiashti? / anglicheashce? |
I am a student. | Mini est / estu un student/ Mine escu un student. |
I am a good person. | Mini est / estu un om bun |
You are beautiful. | Eshti mushat(ã)/ Eshci mushat(ã)/ Hi mushat(ã)/ Esht mushat(e). |
See also
- Aromanian alphabet
- Common Romanian
- Substrate in Romanian
- Balkan sprachbund
- Origin of the Romanians
- Thraco-Roman
- Daco-Roman
- Eastern Romance languages
- Romance languages
- Legacy of the Roman Empire
- Latin-Greek connection
Notes
- The internal classification of the Eastern Romance languages presented in Petrucci (1999) proposes a bipartite split into Northern and Southern branches, with the Northern branch splitting into Istro-Romanian and Daco-Romanian. By contrast, the classification presented within Glottolog v4.8 proposes a bipartite split between Aromanian and Northern Romanian, the latter of which is further split into Istro-Romanian and Eastern Romanian, from which Daco-Romanian and Megleno-Romanian are hypothesized to have split from.
References
Citations
- Aromanian at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- Isac, Daniela (2024). Definiteness in Balkan Romance. Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics. Oxford University Press. p. 1. ISBN 9780198865704.
The term 'Balkan Romance' is used to designate a group of languages including Romanian, Aromanian, Istro-Romanian and Megleno-Romanian.1 Even though the exact historical links between these languages are still unclear (...), it is commonly accepted that they have a common ancestor and hence form a coherent family. 1 Alternative names for Balkan Romance are Daco-Romance and Eastern Romance.
- Dindelegan, Gabriela Pană; Maiden, Martin, eds. (2013). The Grammar of Romanian. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199644926.
- "Romanian Language". britannica.com. Archived from the original on 2008-07-26. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
- Petrucci 1999, p. 4.
- Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (2023-07-10). "Glottolog 4.8 – Eastern Romance". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7398962. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
- Ntasiou, Evegenia (2017). Communities in Control:Learning tools and strategies for multilingualendangered language communities. Foundation for Endangered Languages. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-9560210-9-0.
- "SBS Australian Census Explorer". SBS News. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
- Aromanians Archived March 1, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- Stan, Liviu G. (19 October 2017). "Moment istoric: Aromânii, recunoscuți prin lege ca minoritate națională în Albania". InfoPrut (in Romanian).
- Vrabie, Emil (2000). An English-Aromanian (Macedo-Romanian) Dictionary. Romance Monographs. pp. 78–79. ISBN 1-889441-06-6.
- Kahl, Thede; Prifti, Elton (2016). "Geschichte der Kodifizierung des Aromunischen". In Dahmen, Wolfgang; Holtus, Günter; Kramer, Johannes; Metzeltin, Michael; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Winkelmann, Otto (eds.). Romanische Kleinsprachen heute: Romanistisches Kolloquium XXVII. Tübinger Beiträge zur Linguistik (in German). Vol. 546. Narr Francke Attempto Verlag. pp. 33–64. ISBN 9783823378815.
- Schreiner, Peter (1992). "Το αρχαιότερο χειρόγραφο του Χρονικού των Ιωαννίνων". In Chrysos, Evangelos K. (ed.). Πρακτικά Διεθνούς Συμποσίου για το Δεσποτάτου της Ηπείρου (Άρτα, 27–31 Μαΐου 1990) (in Greek). O Skoufas Musicological Association of Arta. p. 49.
- "Legăturile cu țara". Cotidianul (in Romanian). 21 April 2011.
- Vrabie 2000, p. 22.
- Nevaci, Manuela (2013-11-01). "Recent research in Aromanian from the Republic of Macedonia". Dialectologia et Geolinguistica. 21 (1): 21–35. ISSN 1867-0903.
- Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda, capitolul „Dialectul aromân”, Iorgu Iordan (coord.), Crestomație romanică, vol. III, partea I, București, Editura Academiei, 1968; online: Dialectul aromân, Avdhela Project – Library of Aromanian Culture.
- , Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Constanța, Editura Cartea Aromână, 2010.
- Ballamaci, Iancu, Metoda aromână/vlahă, București, Editura Predania, Avdhela Project – Library of Aromanian Culture, 2010, ISBN 978-606-8195-07-0.
- Vrabie 2000, pp. 27–29.
- Dragomirescu, Alina (27 October 2020). "Balkan-Romance". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.727. ISBN 978-0-19-938465-5.
- Béis, Stamatis (2000). Le parler aroumain de Metsovo: Déscription d'une langue en voie de disparition [The Aromanian language of Metsovo: Description of an endangered language] (Doctoral thesis) (in French). Université Paris 5 René Descartes.
- Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda (1997). Dicționar aromân (Macedo-vlah) [Aromanian Dictionary (Macedo-Vlach)]. Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedică. pp. xxviii–xxxvii.
- Aromanian alphabet at Omniglot
- Cunia, Tiberius. On the Standardisation of the Aromanian System of Writing Archived February 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- "Bana Armâneascâ". Archived from the original on 2022-03-28. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
- Vrabie 2000, p. 55.
- Iancu Ianachieschi-Vlahu Gramatica armãneascã simplã shi practicã, Crushuva 1993, 1997; Μιχάλη Μπογιάτζη Βλαχική ήτοι μάκεδοβλαχική γραμματική Βιέννη, and Κατσάνης Ν., Κ. Ντίνας, 1990, Γραμματική της κοινής Κουτσοβλαχικής.
- Iancu Ianachieschi-Vlahu Gramatica simplã shi practicã, Crushuva 1993, 1997.
- "Radio Romania International".
- "Primul film realizat în limba aromână este povestea romantică a lui Toni Caramuşat". Observator (in Romanian). Retrieved 2021-03-09.
- Weigand, in his 1888 Die Sprache der Olympo-Wallachen, nebst einer Einleitung über Land und Leute remarks: "By inclination, the Livadhiotes are zealous advocates of Greek ideas and would much prefer to be unified with Greece" (p.15).
- "ΠΟΠΣΒ – Διοικητικό Συμβούλιο" [POPSV – Board of Directors]. vlahos.xan.duth.gr (in Greek). 18 March 2004. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014.
- Baicu, Cornel (29 August 2003). ""Rumänien ist für uns eine zweite Heimat"" (in German). Deutsche Welle.
- "It's Not Greek Enough to Them". vlachophiles.net. 13 July 2001. Archived from the original on 2012-02-04. Retrieved 2007-01-17.
- "15-month prison sentence handed down to Mr Sotiris Bletsas for distributing information material financed by the Commission". European Parliament. 8 January 2002. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
- "Διασπορά αληθινών ειδήσεων" [Dissemination of real news]. iospress.gr (in Greek). February 10, 2001. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
- Haggman, Johan (18 December 2001). "Minority Language Activist, Bletsas Found Not Guilty in Historic Court Decision". European Free Alliance – Rainbow. Archived from the original on 30 November 2007.
Bibliography
- Bara, Mariana. Le lexique latin hérité en aroumain dans une perspective romane. Munich: Lincom Europa, 2004, 231 p.; ISBN 3-89586-980-5.
- Bara, Mariana. Limba armănească: Vocabular şi stil. Bucharest: Editura Cartea Universitară, 2007, ISBN 978-973-731-551-9.
- Berciu-Drăghicescu, Adina; Petre, Maria. Şcoli şi Biserici româneşti din Peninsula Balcanică: Documente (1864–1948). Bucharest: Editura Universităţii, 2004.
- Capidan, Theodor. Aromânii, dialectul Aromân. Academia Română, Studii şi Cercetări, XX 1932.
- Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda. Dicționar aromân (Macedo-vlah). Bucarest: Editura Enciclopedică, 1997.
- Friedman, Victor A. “The Vlah Minority in Macedonia: Language, Identity, Dialectology, and Standardization”, in Selected Papers in Slavic, Balkan, and Balkan Studies, eds. Juhani Nuoluoto, Martti Leiwo, & Jussi Halla-aho. Slavica Helsingiensa 21. University of Helsinki, 2001. online
- Gołąb, Zbigniew. The Arumanian Dialect of Kruševo, SR Macedonia. Skopje: MANU, 1984.
- Kahl, Thede. "Aromanians in Greece: Minority or Vlach-speaking Greeks?". Society Farsharotu. Archived from the original on 2007-08-08.
- Kahl, Thede. “Sprache und Intention der ersten aromunischen Textdokumente, 1731–1809”, in Festschrift für Gerhard Birkfellner zum 65. Geburtstag: Studia Philologica Slavica I/I, ed. Bernhard Symanzik. Münstersche Texte zur Slavistik, 2006, p. 245–266.
- Marangozis, John. An Introduction to Vlach Grammar. Munich: Lincom Europa, 2010.
- Markoviḱ, Marjan. Aromanskiot i makedonskiot govor od ohridsko-struškiot region: vo balkanski kontekst [Aromanian and Macedonian dialects of the Ohrid-Struga region: in Balkan context]. Skopje: Makedonska akademija na naukite i umetnostite, 2007.
- Pascu, Giorge. Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. Iaşi: Cultura Naţionalâ, 1918.
- Rosetti, Alexandru. Istoria limbii române, 2 vols. Bucharest, 1965–1969.
- "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in Aromanian. Njiclu amirārush. Translated by Maria Bara and Thede Kahl, ISBN 978-3-937467-37-5.
- Vrabie, Emil. An English-Aromanian (Macedo-Romanian) Dictionary. University, Miss.; Stratford, CT: Romance monographs, 2000.
- Weigand, Gustav. Die Sprache der Olympo-Wallachen, nebst einer Einleitung über Land und Leute. Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1888.
- Petrucci, Peter R. (1999). Slavic Features in the History of Rumanian. München: LINCOM Europa. ISBN 38-9586-599-0.
Further reading
- Friedman, Victor (2023). "The importance of Aromanian for the study of Balkan language contact in the context of Balkan-Caucasian parallels". In Aminian Jazi, Ioana; Kahl, Thede (eds.). Ethno-Cultural Diversity in the Balkans and the Caucasus. Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. pp. 345–360. doi:10.2307/jj.3508401.16. JSTOR jj.3508401.16.
External links
- "Dictionary in Aromanian Language".
- Aromanian Language website
- Στα Βλάχικα – In Vlach: A website about the Vlach language in Greece
- Aromanian Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh list appendix)
- Aromanian basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
- Asterios Koukoudis: Studies on the Vlachs
- Greek Helsinki Human Rights Organization: Aromanians (Vlachs) in Greece
- Conjugation of verbs in Aromanian and Istro-Romanian Archived 2008-12-19 at the Wayback Machine
- Romanian and the Balkans, with some references to Aromanian
- Greek Vlach website
- Consiliul A Tinirlor Armanj – CTARM, webpage about Youth Aromanians and their projects
- Armans Association from Serbia
- Armans Cultural Association from Romania
- Η βλαχική γλώσσα στο γλώσσες και αλφάβητα του κόσμου
- EVANGHELU PI DUPI LUKA (The Gospel according to Luke in Aromanian).
The Aromanian language Aromanian limba armaneasca limba armana armaneashti armaneashte armaneashci armaneashce or limba ramaneasca limba ramana rramaneshti also known as Vlach or Macedo Romanian is an Eastern Romance language similar to Megleno Romanian Istro Romanian and Romanian spoken in Southeastern Europe Its speakers are called Aromanians or Vlachs a broader term and an exonym in widespread use to define Romance communities in the Balkans AromanianVlach Macedo Romanianlimba armaneasca limba armana armaneashti armaneashte armaneashci armaneashce limba ramaneasca limba ramana rramaneshtiNative toGreece Albania North Macedonia Bulgaria Romania SerbiaRegionBalkansEthnicityAromaniansNative speakers210 000 2018 Language familyIndo European ItalicLatino FaliscanLatinRomanceEastern RomanceAromanianEarly formsOld Latin Vulgar Latin Proto Romance Common RomanianDialectsFarsherot incl Muzachiar Moscopolean Gopes Maloviste Pindean incl Olympiot GramosteanWriting systemLatin Aromanian alphabet Signed formsManually coded AromanianOfficial statusRecognised minority language in Albania North MacedoniaLanguage codesISO 639 2 span class plainlinks rup span ISO 639 3 a href https iso639 3 sil org code rup class extiw title iso639 3 rup rup a Glottologarom1237ELPAromanianLinguasphere51 AAD baDistribution and dialects of the Aromanian language in the southwestern BalkansAromanian is classified as Definitely Endangered by UNESCO Atlas of the World s Languages in DangerThis article contains IPA phonetic symbols Without proper rendering support you may see question marks boxes or other symbols instead of Unicode characters For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA source source source source An Aromanian speaking in the Gramostean dialect recorded in Bucharest Romania Aromanian shares many features with modern Romanian including similar morphology and syntax as well as a large common vocabulary inherited from Latin They are considered to have developed from Common Romanian a common stage of all the Eastern Romance varieties An important source of dissimilarity between Romanian and Aromanian is the adstratum languages external influences whereas Romanian has been influenced to a greater extent by the Slavic languages Aromanian has been more influenced by Greek with which it has been in close contact throughout its history Geographic distributionAromanian is native to Albania Bulgaria Greece North Macedonia Romania and Serbia In 2018 it was estimated that Aromanian had 210 000 native speakers of which 50 000 were in Albania 50 000 in Greece 50 000 in Romania 32 000 in Serbia 18 200 in North Macedonia and 9 800 in Bulgaria Aromanian speakers also exist in the diaspora with at least 53 speakers recorded to be living in Australia at the time of the 2021 Australian census Official statusAromanian has a degree of official recognition in North Macedonia where it is taught as a subject in some primary schools In North Macedonia Aromanian speakers also have the right to use the language in court proceedings Since 2006 Aromanian has had the status of a second official municipal language in the city of Krusevo the only place where Aromanian has any kind of official status apart from general state recognition Apart from North Macedonia the Aromanians are also recognized in Albania as a national minority HistoryThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed March 2023 Learn how and when to remove this message Dictionary of four Balkan languages Greek Aromanian Bulgarian and Albanian by Daniel Moscopolites Aromanian Daco Romanian Romanian Istro Romanian language and Megleno Romanian language are descendants of a proto language called Common Romanian itself descending from the Proto Romance language No later than the 10th century Common Romanian split into southern and northern dialects and Aromanian and Romanian have developed differently from these two distinct dialects of the proto language over the course of the next one thousand years Greek influences are much stronger in Aromanian than in other Eastern Romance languages especially because Aromanian has used Greek words to coin new words neologisms especially within Greece while Romanian has based most of its neologisms on French However there has also been an increasing tendency for Aromanian speakers outside of Greece to borrow terms from Romanian due to the shared alphabet and contact with Romanian over the Internet where Romanian language material is much more available than it is in Aromanian With the arrival of the Turks in the Balkans Aromanian also received some Turkish words Still the lexical composition remains mainly Romance Compared to other Balkan languages the earliest documents and manuscripts of Aromanian appear late This is due to the historical predominance of the Greek language in the region and the successive destruction of Aromanian books and documents throughout history The oldest known written text in the language is an inscription from 1731 by Nektarios Terpos at the Ardenica Monastery now in Albania It is followed by the inscription of the so called dated to the first half of the 18th century In the Monastery of the Holy Apostles near Kleino Aromanian Clinova now Greece there is an inscription in Aromanian dated from around 1780 The St Athanasius Church in Moscopole now Albania also includes an old Aromanian writing Other early Aromanian manuscripts are the Aromanian Missal potentially from the beginning of the 18th century the works of Theodore Kavalliotis 1770 Constantin Ucuta 1797 Daniel Moscopolites 1802 Gheorghe Constantin Roja 1808 1809 and Mihail G Boiagi 1813 and the Codex Dimonie possibly from the early 19th century Some scholars mention other old little studied written instances of Aromanian German Byzantinist Peter Schreiner dated a small glossary of Aromanian from Epirus in a manuscript of the Chronicle of Ioannina to the 16th or 17th century based on its writing There are also claims about an Aromanian inscription from 1426 in the in the former village of bg el mk sq in Greece but according to Hristu Candroveanu it was destroyed during restoration works by order of Greek priests because it was not in Greek DialectsAromanian is not a homogenous linguistic entity Its main varieties include the Pindus type the Gramoste type the Farsherot type Olympus type and the Moscopole type It has also several regional variants named after places that were home to significant populations of Aromanians Vlachs nowadays located in Albania North Macedonia and Greece Examples are the Moscopole variant the Muzachiar variant from Muzachia in central Albania the variant of Bitola Pelister Maloviste Aromanian Mulovishti Gopes Aromanian Gopish Upper Beala Gorna Belica Aromanian Beala di Supra near Struga Krusevo Aromanian Crushuva and the variant east of the Vardar river in North Macedonia Standardization effortsThe Aromanian language is not standardized However there have been some efforts to do so Notable examples include those of Matilda Caragiu Marioțeanu bg ro roa rup and Iancu Ballamaci PhonologyAromanian exhibits several differences from standard Romanian in its phonology some of which are probably due to influence from Greek or Albanian It has spirants that do not exist in Romanian such as 8 d x ɣ and which are a Greek influence Other differences are the sound ts which corresponds to Romanian tʃ and the sounds ʎ and ɲ which exist only in local variants in Romanian Aromanian is usually written with a version of the Latin script with an orthography that resembles both that of Albanian in the use of digraphs such as dh sh and th and Italian in its use of c and g along with the letter a used for the sounds represented in Romanian by ă and a i It can also be written with a modified Romanian alphabet that includes two additional letters n and ľ and rarely with a version of the Greek script Compared to Daco Romanian the Aromanian varieties have preserved from Proto Romanian the word final glide w alongside j in the Pindean and Gramostean types while the Farsharot and Grabovean types have neither diphthongs nor the phoneme ɨ Consonants Labial Dental Alveolar Post alveolar Palatal Velar Glottalcentral sibilantStop voiceless p t c kvoiced b d ɟ ɡAffricate voiceless t s t ʃvoiced d z d ʒFricative voiceless f 8 s ʃ c x h voiced v d z ʒ ʝ ɣNasal m n ɲTrill rApproximant lateral l ʎcentral j wCentral approximant consonants only occur as a result of a word initial or intervocalic i and u when preceding another vowel x ɣ can have allophones as c ʝ when preceding front vowels x h are in free variation among different dialects Vowels Front Central BackClose i ɨ uMid e e oOpen aTwo vowel sounds ɨ e are both represented by one grapheme a OrthographyThe Aromanian alphabet consists of 27 letters and 9 digraphs Letter Name Pronunciation IPA NotesA a a a A a a e ɨ For ɨ a may be usedB b ba b C c ca k tʃ x k when followed by a o u or a consonant x in some dialects tʃ when followed by e or i D d da d Dh dh dha d Used only for notation in particular accents where this phoneme is present otherwise d is usedDz dz dza dz E e e ɛ F f fa f G g ga ɡ dʒ ɣ ɡ before a o u or a consonant ɣ in some dialects dʒ before e and i H h ha h I i i i J j ja ʒ K k ca c before e or i onlyL l la l Lj lj lj ʎ Found in Macedonian Latin alphabetM m ma m N n na n Nj nj nj ɲ Found in Macedonian Latin alphabetO o o o P p pa p Q q kiu k Used only in foreign words c is normally used insteadR r ra r Rr rr rra Used only for notation in particular accents where this phoneme is present otherwise r is usedS s sa s Sh sh sha ʃ T t ta t Th th tha 8 Used only for notation in particular accents where this phoneme is present otherwise t is usedTs ts tsa ts U u u u V v va v W w dubla va w Used only in foreign wordsX x csa gza ks ɡz Same pronunciation as found in EnglishY y i greaca j ɣ j before e and i ɣ elsewhere of Greek influence cf Greek agios ˈa ʝos holy g ɡ is pronounced ʝ in this case Z z za z In addition the digraph gh ɟ before e and i is used as well GrammarMihail G Boiagi s 1813 Aromanian grammar book Romanic or Macedono Vlach Grammar Written in German and Greek it includes Aromanian texts and introduced the first writing system for Aromanian in the Latin alphabet The grammar and morphology are very similar to those of other Romance languages It has two grammatical numbers singular and plural no dual It is a null subject language Verbs have many conjugations including A present tense a preterite an imperfect a pluperfect and a future tense in the indicative mood for statements of fact An imperative mood for direct commands Three non finite forms infinitive gerund and past participle Distinct active and passive voices as well as an impersonal passive voice The Aromanian language has some exceptions from the Romance languages some of which are shared with Romanian the definite article is a clitic particle appended at the end of the word both the definite and indefinite articles can be inflected and nouns are classified in three genders with neuter in addition to masculine and feminine Unlike other Romance languages Aromanian lacks an infinitive form for verbs the synthetic infinitive inherited from Latin became a noun like in Romanian for example cantare lt CANTARE Verbs Aromanian grammar has features that distinguish it from Romanian an important one being the complete disappearance of verb infinitives a feature of the Balkan sprachbund As such the tenses and moods that in Romanian use the infinitive like the future simple tense and the conditional mood are formed in other ways in Aromanian For the same reason verb entries in dictionaries are given in their indicative mood present tense first person singular form Aromanian verbs are classified in four conjugations The table below gives some examples and indicates the conjugation of the corresponding verbs in Romanian Conjugation Aromanian ind pres 1st sg Romanian ind pres 1st sg Romanian infinitive EnglishI cantu dau lucredzu cant dau lucrez a canta I a da I a lucra I sing give workII ved shed rraman văd șed răman a vedea II a ședea II a rămane III or a rămanea II see sit stayIII duc cunoscu ardu duc cunosc ard a duce III a cunoaște III a arde III carry lead know burnIV mor fug ndultsescu mor fug indulcesc a muri IV a fugi IV a indulci IV die run away flee sweetenFuture tense The future tense is formed using an auxiliary invariable particle u or va and the subjunctive mood In Romanian declension of the future particle plus an infinitive is used Aromanian farsharot gramushtean Romanian archaic Romanian colloquial Romanian modern Englishu s cantu va s cantu va să cant o să cant voi canta I will singu s cants va s cants va să canți o să canți vei canta you sg will singu s canta va s canta va să cante o să cante va canta s he will singu s cantam va s cantam va să cantăm o să cantăm vom canta we will singu s cantatsi va s cantats va să cantați o să cantați veți canta you pl will singu s canta va s canta va să cante o să cante vor canta they will singPluperfect Whereas in standard Romanian the pluperfect past perfect is formed synthetically as in literary Portuguese Aromanian uses a periphrastic construction with the auxiliary verb am have as the imperfect aviam and the past participle as in Spanish and French except that French replaces avoir have with etre be for some intransitive verbs Aromanian shares this feature with Meglenian as well as other languages in the Balkan language area Only the auxiliary verb inflects according to number and person aviam aviai avia aviamu aviatu avia whereas the past participle does not change Aromanian farsharot gramushtean Meglenian Romanian Englishavia macata avea macata vea mancat mancase he she had eatenavia durnjita avea durnjita vea durmit dormise he she had sleptGerund The Aromanian gerund is applied to some verbs but not all These verbs are 1st conjugation acatsa acatsand portu lucreadza lucreashce adilja adiljeashce 2nd conjugation armana cade poate tatse veade 3rd conjugation arupa dipune dutse dzase fatsi featse tradzi tradze scrie 4th conjugation apire doarme hivrie aure pate avde LiteratureA literature in the Aromanian language exists Current situationMedia The Macedonian Radio Television MRT produces radio and television broadcasts in Aromanian Radio Romania International has Aromanian service producing radio shows in Aromanian Films produced in the Aromanian language include Toma Enache s I m Not Famous but I m Aromanian 2013 the first in Aromanian Situation in Greece Romanian schools for Aromanians and Megleno Romanians in the Ottoman Empire 1886 Use of the Aromanian language in the Florina Prefecture Greece Even before the incorporation of various Aromanian speaking territories into the Greek state 1832 1912 the language was subordinated to Greek traditionally the language of education and religion in Constantinople and other prosperous urban cities The historical studies cited below mostly Capidan show that especially after the fall of Moscopole 1788 the process of Hellenisation via education and religion gained a strong impetus mostly among people doing business in the cities The Romanian state began opening schools for the Romanian influenced Vlachs in the 1860s but this initiative was regarded with suspicion by the Greeks who thought that Romania was trying to assimilate them 19th century travellers in the Balkans such as W M Leake and Henry Fanshawe Tozer noted that Vlachs in the Pindus and Macedonia were bilingual reserving the Latin dialect for inside the home By 1948 the new Soviet imposed communist regime of Romania had closed all Romanian run schools outside Romania and since the closure there has been no formal education in Aromanian and speakers have been encouraged to learn and use the Greek language This has been a process encouraged by the community itself and is not an explicit State policy The decline and isolation of the Romanian oriented groups was not helped by the fact that they openly collaborated with the Axis powers of Italy and Germany during the occupation of Greece in WWII In contrast the vast majority of Vlachs fought in the Greek resistance including leaders like Alexandros Svolos and Andreas Tzimas and a number of Vlach villages were destroyed by the Germans The issue of Aromanian language education is a sensitive one partly because of opposition within the Greek Vlachs community to actions leading to the introduction of the language into the education system viewing it as an artificial distinction between them and other Greeks citation needed For example the former education minister George Papandreou received a negative response from Greek Aromanian mayors and associations to his proposal for a trial Aromanian language education programme The Panhellenic Federation of Cultural Associations of Vlachs expressed strong opposition to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe s Recommendation 1333 1997 that the tuition of Aromanian be supported so as to avoid its extinction This recommendation was issued after pressure from the Union for Aromanian Language and Culture in Germany On a visit to Metsovo Epirus in 1998 Greek President Konstantinos Stephanopoulos called on Vlachs to speak and teach their language but its decline continues citation needed A recent example of the sensitivity of the issue was the 2001 conviction later overturned in the Appeals Court to 15 months in jail of Sotiris Bletsas a Greek Aromanian who was found guilty of dissemination of false information after he distributed informative material on minority languages in Europe which included information on minority languages of Greece produced by the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages and financed by the European Commission His conviction met with broad condemnation in Greece where at least one editorial compared the situation to the suppression of Kurdish and other minority languages in Turkey and noted the irony that some prosecutors in fact came from non Hellenophone families that had once spoken Aromanian or Turkish Bletsas was eventually acquitted Language samplesFarsharot 1 Tata a nostu tsi eshti tu tser si ayisiasca numa a Ta s yina amiraria a Ta si faca vrearea a Ta cum tu tser asha sh pisti loc Pania a nosta atsa di cathi dzua danu sh aza sh yiartani amartiili a nosti ashe cum li yiartam sh noi a amartor a noci sh nu ni du la pirazmo ma viagljani di atsel rau Ca a Ta esti amiraria sh puteria a Tatalui shi Hiljalui shi a Ayiului Spirit tora totana sh tu eta a etilor Amin Farsharot 2 Tati a nost tsi esht tu tser s ayiasiaste numa a Ta s zine amiraria a Ta si fache vrera a Ta cum tu tser ashe sh pisti loc Penia a noste atsa di cathi dzue denu sh aze sh yiartani amartiali a nosti ashe cum li yiartem sh noi a amartor a noci sh nu ni du la pirazmo ma viagani di atsel reu Che a Ta esti amiraria sh putera al Tati shi al Hiyiu shi al Ayiu Duh tora totana sh tu eta a etalu Amin Gramushtean Tata a nostu tsi eshtsa tu tseru s ayiseasca numa a Ta s yina amirariljea a Ta si faca vrearea a Ta cumu tu tseru ashi sh pisti locu Panea a nosta atsea di cathi dzua danau sh adza sh yiartana amartiile a noasti ashi cum ilj yirtamu sh noi a amartoshloru a noshtsa Sh nu na du tu pirazmo Sh aveagljina di atsel araulu Ca a Ta easti Amirariljia sh putearea a Tatalui shi Hiljalui sh a Ayiului Duhu tora totna sh tu eta a etilor Amen The Lord s Prayer sourceUniversal Declaration of Human Rights The Macedonian Aromanian publicist translator and writer bg mk translated Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as follows Tuti iatsali umineshtsa s fac liberi shi egali la namuzea shi ndrepturli Eali suntu harziti cu fichiri shi sinidisi shi lipseashti un cu alantu sh si poarta tu duhlu a fratsaljiljei Comparison with RomanianThe following text is given for comparison in Aromanian and in Romanian with an English translation The spelling of Aromanian is that decided at the Bitola Symposium of August 1997 The word choice in the Romanian version was such that it matches the Aromanian text although in modern Romanian other words might have been more appropriate The English translation is only provided as a guide to the meaning with an attempt to keep the word order as close to the original as possible Aromanian Romanian EnglishVocala easti una son dit zburarea a omlui faptu cu tritsearea sonora libira sh fara cheadica a vimtului prit canalu sonor adrat di coardili vocali shi ntreaga gura ica un semnu grafic cari aspuni un ahtari son Vocala este un sunet din vorbirea omului făcut cu trecerea sonoră liberă și fără piedică a aerului prin canalul sonor compus din coardele vocale și intreaga gură sau un semn grafic care reprezintă un atare sunet The vowel is a sound in human speech made by the sonorous free and unhindered passing of the air through the sound channel composed of the vocal cords and the whole mouth or a graphic symbol corresponding to that sound Ashi bunaoara avem shasili vocali tsi s fac cu vimtul tsi treatsi prit gura iu limba poati si s afla tu un loc ica altu shi budzali pot si sta dishcljisi una soe ica alta Așa avem șase vocale ce se fac cu aerul ce trece prin gură unde limba poate să se afle intr un loc sau altul și buzele pot să stea deschise intr un soi sau altul This way we have six vowels that are produced by the air passing through the mouth where the tongue can be in one place or another and the lips can be opened in one way or another Vocalili pot s hiba pronuntsati singuri ica deadun cu semivocali i consoani Vocalele pot să fie pronunțate singure sau impreună cu semivocale sau consoane The vowels can be pronounced alone or together with semivowels or consonants Common words and phrasesEnglish AromanianAromanian person m Arman rraman f armana rramanaAromanian language Limba armaneasca limba rramaneasca armaneashti armaneashte armaneashci armaneashce rramaneshtiGood day Buna dzua What s your name Cum ti chiama informal How old are you Di catsi anji esht How are you Cumu hits formal Cumu eshti Cumu eshci informal What are you doing Tsi fats Tsi adari popular Goodbye S na videmu cu ghine Ghini s ni videmu Ghini s ni vadem Bye S na avdzamu ghiniatsa Sa s avdzam buniatsa Please Va placarsescu formal Ti placarsescu informal Sorry S mi haradzesht Thank you Haristo Yes Ye E No Nu I don t understand Nu adukiescu Nu akicasescu I don t know Nu shtiu Nu shciu Where s the bathroom Yu esti tualetu Yu easti toaletlu Yu easte tualetu Do you speak English Zburats Grits anglikiashti anglicheashce I am a student Mini est estu un student Mine escu un student I am a good person Mini est estu un om bunYou are beautiful Eshti mushat a Eshci mushat a Hi mushat a Esht mushat e See alsoLanguage portalAromanian alphabet Common Romanian Substrate in Romanian Balkan sprachbund Origin of the Romanians Thraco Roman Daco Roman Eastern Romance languages Romance languages Legacy of the Roman Empire Latin Greek connectionNotesThe internal classification of the Eastern Romance languages presented in Petrucci 1999 proposes a bipartite split into Northern and Southern branches with the Northern branch splitting into Istro Romanian and Daco Romanian By contrast the classification presented within Glottolog v4 8 proposes a bipartite split between Aromanian and Northern Romanian the latter of which is further split into Istro Romanian and Eastern Romanian from which Daco Romanian and Megleno Romanian are hypothesized to have split from ReferencesCitations Aromanian at Ethnologue 25th ed 2022 Isac Daniela 2024 Definiteness in Balkan Romance Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics Oxford University Press p 1 ISBN 9780198865704 The term Balkan Romance is used to designate a group of languages including Romanian Aromanian Istro Romanian and Megleno Romanian 1 Even though the exact historical links between these languages are still unclear it is commonly accepted that they have a common ancestor and hence form a coherent family 1 Alternative names for Balkan Romance are Daco Romance and Eastern Romance Dindelegan Gabriela Pană Maiden Martin eds 2013 The Grammar of Romanian Oxford University Press ISBN 9780199644926 Romanian Language britannica com Archived from the original on 2008 07 26 Retrieved 2018 05 17 Petrucci 1999 p 4 Hammarstrom Harald Forkel Robert Haspelmath Martin Bank Sebastian 2023 07 10 Glottolog 4 8 Eastern Romance Glottolog Leipzig Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology doi 10 5281 zenodo 7398962 Retrieved 2023 11 20 Ntasiou Evegenia 2017 Communities in Control Learning tools and strategies for multilingualendangered language communities Foundation for Endangered Languages p 71 ISBN 978 0 9560210 9 0 SBS Australian Census Explorer SBS News Retrieved 2023 04 14 Aromanians Archived March 1 2007 at the Wayback Machine Stan Liviu G 19 October 2017 Moment istoric Aromanii recunoscuți prin lege ca minoritate națională in Albania InfoPrut in Romanian Vrabie Emil 2000 An English Aromanian Macedo Romanian Dictionary Romance Monographs pp 78 79 ISBN 1 889441 06 6 Kahl Thede Prifti Elton 2016 Geschichte der Kodifizierung des Aromunischen In Dahmen Wolfgang Holtus Gunter Kramer Johannes Metzeltin Michael Schweickard Wolfgang Winkelmann Otto eds Romanische Kleinsprachen heute Romanistisches Kolloquium XXVII Tubinger Beitrage zur Linguistik in German Vol 546 Narr Francke Attempto Verlag pp 33 64 ISBN 9783823378815 Schreiner Peter 1992 To arxaiotero xeirografo toy Xronikoy twn Iwanninwn In Chrysos Evangelos K ed Praktika Die8noys Symposioy gia to Despotatoy ths Hpeiroy Arta 27 31 Maioy 1990 in Greek O Skoufas Musicological Association of Arta p 49 Legăturile cu țara Cotidianul in Romanian 21 April 2011 Vrabie 2000 p 22 Nevaci Manuela 2013 11 01 Recent research in Aromanian from the Republic of Macedonia Dialectologia et Geolinguistica 21 1 21 35 ISSN 1867 0903 Caragiu Marioțeanu Matilda capitolul Dialectul aroman Iorgu Iordan coord Crestomație romanică vol III partea I București Editura Academiei 1968 online Dialectul aroman Avdhela Project Library of Aromanian Culture Dictsiunar a limbaljei armaneasca Constanța Editura Cartea Aromană 2010 Ballamaci Iancu Metoda aromană vlahă București Editura Predania Avdhela Project Library of Aromanian Culture 2010 ISBN 978 606 8195 07 0 Vrabie 2000 pp 27 29 Dragomirescu Alina 27 October 2020 Balkan Romance Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics doi 10 1093 acrefore 9780199384655 013 727 ISBN 978 0 19 938465 5 Beis Stamatis 2000 Le parler aroumain de Metsovo Description d une langue en voie de disparition The Aromanian language of Metsovo Description of an endangered language Doctoral thesis in French Universite Paris 5 Rene Descartes Caragiu Marioțeanu Matilda 1997 Dicționar aroman Macedo vlah Aromanian Dictionary Macedo Vlach Bucharest Editura Enciclopedică pp xxviii xxxvii Aromanian alphabet at Omniglot Cunia Tiberius On the Standardisation of the Aromanian System of Writing Archived February 21 2008 at the Wayback Machine Bana Armaneasca Archived from the original on 2022 03 28 Retrieved 2021 04 06 Vrabie 2000 p 55 Iancu Ianachieschi Vlahu Gramatica armaneasca simpla shi practica Crushuva 1993 1997 Mixalh Mpogiatzh Blaxikh htoi makedoblaxikh grammatikh Biennh and Katsanhs N K Ntinas 1990 Grammatikh ths koinhs Koytsoblaxikhs Iancu Ianachieschi Vlahu Gramatica simpla shi practica Crushuva 1993 1997 Radio Romania International Primul film realizat in limba aromană este povestea romantică a lui Toni Caramusat Observator in Romanian Retrieved 2021 03 09 Weigand in his 1888 Die Sprache der Olympo Wallachen nebst einer Einleitung uber Land und Leute remarks By inclination the Livadhiotes are zealous advocates of Greek ideas and would much prefer to be unified with Greece p 15 POPSB Dioikhtiko Symboylio POPSV Board of Directors vlahos xan duth gr in Greek 18 March 2004 Archived from the original on 12 August 2014 Baicu Cornel 29 August 2003 Rumanien ist fur uns eine zweite Heimat in German Deutsche Welle It s Not Greek Enough to Them vlachophiles net 13 July 2001 Archived from the original on 2012 02 04 Retrieved 2007 01 17 15 month prison sentence handed down to Mr Sotiris Bletsas for distributing information material financed by the Commission European Parliament 8 January 2002 Retrieved 2020 11 12 Diaspora alh8inwn eidhsewn Dissemination of real news iospress gr in Greek February 10 2001 Archived from the original on 3 March 2016 Retrieved 9 February 2016 Haggman Johan 18 December 2001 Minority Language Activist Bletsas Found Not Guilty in Historic Court Decision European Free Alliance Rainbow Archived from the original on 30 November 2007 Bibliography Bara Mariana Le lexique latin herite en aroumain dans une perspective romane Munich Lincom Europa 2004 231 p ISBN 3 89586 980 5 Bara Mariana Limba armănească Vocabular si stil Bucharest Editura Cartea Universitară 2007 ISBN 978 973 731 551 9 Berciu Drăghicescu Adina Petre Maria Scoli si Biserici romanesti din Peninsula Balcanică Documente 1864 1948 Bucharest Editura Universităţii 2004 Capidan Theodor Aromanii dialectul Aroman Academia Romană Studii si Cercetări XX 1932 Caragiu Marioțeanu Matilda Dicționar aroman Macedo vlah Bucarest Editura Enciclopedică 1997 Friedman Victor A The Vlah Minority in Macedonia Language Identity Dialectology and Standardization in Selected Papers in Slavic Balkan and Balkan Studies eds Juhani Nuoluoto Martti Leiwo amp Jussi Halla aho Slavica Helsingiensa 21 University of Helsinki 2001 online Golab Zbigniew The Arumanian Dialect of Krusevo SR Macedonia Skopje MANU 1984 Kahl Thede Aromanians in Greece Minority or Vlach speaking Greeks Society Farsharotu Archived from the original on 2007 08 08 Kahl Thede Sprache und Intention der ersten aromunischen Textdokumente 1731 1809 in Festschrift fur Gerhard Birkfellner zum 65 Geburtstag Studia Philologica Slavica I I ed Bernhard Symanzik Munstersche Texte zur Slavistik 2006 p 245 266 Marangozis John An Introduction to Vlach Grammar Munich Lincom Europa 2010 Markoviḱ Marjan Aromanskiot i makedonskiot govor od ohridsko struskiot region vo balkanski kontekst Aromanian and Macedonian dialects of the Ohrid Struga region in Balkan context Skopje Makedonska akademija na naukite i umetnostite 2007 Pascu Giorge Dictionnaire etymologique macedoroumain 2 vols Iasi Cultura Naţionala 1918 Rosetti Alexandru Istoria limbii romane 2 vols Bucharest 1965 1969 The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery in Aromanian Njiclu amirarush Translated by Maria Bara and Thede Kahl ISBN 978 3 937467 37 5 Vrabie Emil An English Aromanian Macedo Romanian Dictionary University Miss Stratford CT Romance monographs 2000 Weigand Gustav Die Sprache der Olympo Wallachen nebst einer Einleitung uber Land und Leute Leipzig Johann Ambrosius Barth 1888 Petrucci Peter R 1999 Slavic Features in the History of Rumanian Munchen LINCOM Europa ISBN 38 9586 599 0 Further readingFriedman Victor 2023 The importance of Aromanian for the study of Balkan language contact in the context of Balkan Caucasian parallels In Aminian Jazi Ioana Kahl Thede eds Ethno Cultural Diversity in the Balkans and the Caucasus Austrian Academy of Sciences Press pp 345 360 doi 10 2307 jj 3508401 16 JSTOR jj 3508401 16 External linksAromanian edition of Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Look up Aromanian in Wiktionary the free dictionary Dictionary in Aromanian Language Aromanian Language website Sta Blaxika In Vlach A website about the Vlach language in Greece Aromanian Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words from Wiktionary s Swadesh list appendix Aromanian basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database Asterios Koukoudis Studies on the Vlachs Greek Helsinki Human Rights Organization Aromanians Vlachs in Greece Conjugation of verbs in Aromanian and Istro Romanian Archived 2008 12 19 at the Wayback Machine Romanian and the Balkans with some references to Aromanian Greek Vlach website Consiliul A Tinirlor Armanj CTARM webpage about Youth Aromanians and their projects Armans Association from Serbia Armans Cultural Association from Romania H blaxikh glwssa sto glwsses kai alfabhta toy kosmoy EVANGHELU PI DUPI LUKA The Gospel according to Luke in Aromanian