View Full Version : Istro-Romanians
derLowe
04-11-2012, 06:34 PM
w w w . i s t r o - r o m a n i a n . n e t
vlaki http://www.istro-romanian.net/graphics/point.gif http://www.istro-romanian.net/graphics/map-croatia-sm.jpg "On the slopes of Mount Ćićarjia,1 (http://www.istro-romanian.net/#notes) between Trieste and Rijeka, there are villages whose inhabitants speak a language which is closer to Romanian then Aromanian but which still has sufficient distinctive features to be classed as a dialect of its own. Known by the local inhabitants as Ciribiri and by philologists as Istrian Vlachs, the inhabitants of these villages are both a remarkable linguistic survival and a historical puzzle."
Croatia is home to Europe's smallest linguistic group, the IstroRomanians. They inhabit the north-eastern corner of the Istrian Peninsula in two relatively isolated pockets. North of the Ćićarija Mountains we found the lone village of ejane (ir. Jeiăn 2 (http://www.istro-romanian.net/#notes)) inhabited today by some 140 people. It is here that IstroRomanian has been best preserved, both from a linguistic point of view but also as a mean of communication for the community. Further south, on the western slopes of Mount Učka (it. Monte Maggiore) we find a cluster of IstroRomanian villages and hamlets surrounding the shores of the now drained Lake Čepić. Looking at a map, one may note the wealth of Romanian-sounding names and would rightly conclude that we are in the heartland of IstroRomanian. However, only in a handful of places is the language still alive. The largest of these, is the village of unjevica (ir. Șușńievițe / Susńievița). Further east and south the language is still spoken in Nova Vas (ir. Noselo), Jasenovik (ir. Sucodru), Kostrčani (ir. Costârceĺn), Letaj (ir. Letai) and Brdo (ir. Bârdo). As it was the case throughout much of the Istrian peninsula, the past fifty years had witnessed a large migration from inland towards the larger costal cities, migration that affects to this day the IstroRomanian community. For this reason, we can nowadays find IstroRomanians in most of the largest cities of Istria, and in greater numbers in Rijeka (it. Fiume), Opatija (it. Abbazia), Pula (it. Pola) and Pazin (it. Pisino).
They are called by most linguists IstroRomanians, a name reflecting both their linguistic affiliation to the larger body of the Romanian language but also the geographical distribution of the population in the Istrian Peninsula. A similar situation exists further south in the Balkan Peninsula, where a small community, speaking yet another dialect of Romanian in a few villages along the Macedonian-Greek border in the Meglen valley, are referred to by linguists as MeglenoRomanians. And just like with this group, the IstroRomanians do not use this rather scientific name for themselves or when referring to the language they speak. Seemingly unaware of their origins, these people may often tell you that they speak po nĺșu (in our language) without having an actual name for it. If pressed they will use names given to them by the surrounding population. When asked what he or she might be and speak, an IstroRomanian, may tell you in the south that they are vlĺh and their language is called vlĺșchi, while in the north, the most common answer will be po jeiĺnschi. More recently, and under the influence of the numerous linguists visiting from Romania, many IstroRomanians have begun calling themselves rumuni and their language rumunschi. However, this small community is known in the area by many more names: Vlahs, Cici or Ciribiri, to mention just a few.
One important comment ought to be made in regards to the name of this community. While today's IstroRomanians have lost from their vocabulary the self identification of "Romanus" - or a derivate of it - used by most Romanian speaking population in the Balkans, we know thanks to Ireneo della Croce, that this was not always the case. In his Hisoria antica e moderna, sacra e profana della cittŕ di Trieste published in 1698, della Croce not only gives us the first historical record of IstroRomanian, but also notes the term used by this population, that of "rumeri". The name, while badly transcribed, follows the changes suffered by most words in IstroRomanians where an intervocalic -n- becomes an -r-. This phenomenon is known as rothacism. We can see therefore how the original romanus, evolved over time into rumânu, becomes in the case of IstroRomanian rumâru/rumâr. It is noted by della Croce as rumer using a transliteration used to this day in Italian 3 (http://www.istro-romanian.net/#notes) to note the rather unusual sound -â-.
Croatia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1102 until 1918, and has been heavily influenced by western culture and traditions. The Croats were early converted to Catholicism and adopted the Latin alphabet, unlike the Serbs who have remained mainly Orthodox and use the Cyrillic alphabet. The IstroRomanians living in this area have been heavily influenced by Croat history.
The IstroRomanians in Croatia inhabit a small area in the northeastern region of the Istrian Peninsula. Since there is no spatial continuity with the Aromanians in the south nor the Romanians to the east they must have settled the area. Most historians believe that the IstroRomanians arrived in this area around the fifteenth century when the Ottoman invasion took place. What is unclear is whether they came from Romania or from Yugoslavia, in which case they would be the last remains of the Vlachs so often mentioned in the Serbian chronicles as inhabiting the region. One possible mention of them dates back to 1329 when they were specifically referred to as Vlachs in one of these chronicles. There is, however, an earlier mention of a Radul, leader in Istria, from the twelfth century, but is unclear whether he was IstroRomanian or not.
This small community numbering no more then 1500 people is listed in The UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages as Seriously Endangered. Surprisingly, however, some researchers that went into the area in the 1960's still found little kids speaking the language, giving some hope for its survival, although most experts agree that this will not be the case for long. There is no education in IstroRomanian (mainly because there would not be enough pupils). Similarly, there are no TV or radio broadcasts in this language.
http://www.istro-romanian.net/graphics/map-istria-sm.jpg The IstroRomanians are not recognized as a national minority by the Croatian Constitution. The preamble of the constitution states that "the Republic of Croatia is hereby established as the national state of the Croatian people and a state of members of other nations and minorities who are its citizens: Serbs, Muslims, Slovens, Czechs, Slovaks, Italians, Hungarians, Jews and others [sic], who are guaranteed equality with citizens of Croatian nationality and the realization of ethnic rights in accordance with the democratic norms of the United Nations and countries of free world." The lack of official recognition has resulted in a lack of political goals for the IstroRomanian community. Because of the size of their community, however, it is very unlikely that they would have any political claims. They would like to see, however, efforts being made for the preservation of their language and culture.
Notes
All geographical names used in this website are written using the official Croatian spelling. When necessary local or dialectical names are noted in parenthesis.
IstroRomanians names are written in italics. To learn more about the IstroRomanian alphabet and the correct pronunciation of IstroRomanian sounds please click here (http://www.istro-romanian.net/alphabet.html).
"Limba română" (Romanian language) is even today written in Italian as "lingua rumena" using the same transliteration to note the sound -â-.
http://www.istro-romanian.net/graphics/point.gif
derLowe
04-11-2012, 06:35 PM
Istro-Romanians
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanians#mw-head), search (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanians#p-search)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Text_document_with_red_question_mark.svg/40px-Text_document_with_red_question_mark.svg.png
This article includes a list of references (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources), related reading or external links (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:External_links), but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Inline_citations). Please improve (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Fact_and_Reference_Check) this article by introducing more precise citations. (February 2012) Istro-Romanians
Vlaşi or Rumâri Total population unknown Languages Istro-Romanian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language);
also Croatian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_language), Italian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_language)
Religion Roman Catholic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic)
Related ethnic groups Aromanians (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aromanians), Romanians (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanians), Morlachs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morlachs)
Istro-Romanians / Istrorumeni (ethnonym (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnonym): Rumeni and occasionally also Rumâri and Rumęri; are called Ćići and "Vlahi" (Istrian Vlachs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlachs)) by the local Croatian and Slovenian population, Istro-Romanians by linguists) are an ethnic group (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_group) living in northeastern Istria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria), currently spanning over a small area of Croatia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia) mostly in a region called Ćićarija (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%86i%C4%87arija) (Croatian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_language)) or Čičarija (Slovene (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovene_language)) (historical name: Ciceria) and in a region west of Mt. Učka (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U%C4%8Dka) (Monte Maggiore). There is no data on Istro-Romanians as a separate ethnicity in the 2001 Croatian census; there are 475 registered Romanians (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanians).[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanians#cite_note-0) There were 170 acknowledged speakers of the Istro-Romanian language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language) in 1998 in Croatia, including 27 children.[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)] In 2010, the Croatian Constitution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_Constitution) granted Romanians ("Rumunji") status as one of 22 national minorities.
There are no recorded speakers of Istro-Romanian language in Slovenian part of Ćićarija (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%86i%C4%87arija) (Croatian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_language)) or Čičarija (Slovene (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovene_language)) even though migrations of its speakers after World War II include Slovenia and the nearby Trieste region of Italy. The inhabitants of villages and hamlets speak the Cakavian dialect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cakavian_dialect) - not Chakavian-ikavian dialect (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chakavian-ikavian_dialect&action=edit&redlink=1) that is sometimes mistaken for it by non-native speakers - which it is believed originated in Dalmatia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmatia). However, there is no known record to show that the Istro-Romanians came from Dalmatia. That there are traces of Istro-Romanian words in the Cakavian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cakavian) Istrian vocabulary and vice versa indicate only that over the centuries the two neighboring linguistically different groups assimilated through daily social contact and intermarriages, as happens with other peoples and their languages throughout the world.
Contents
[hide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanians#)]
1 History (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanians#History)
2 Extant (remaining) settlements (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanians#Extant_.28remaining.29_settlements)
3 See also (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanians#See_also)
4 References (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanians#References)
5 External links (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanians#External_links)
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Istro-Romanians&action=edit§ion=1)] History
The first historical record of Romanians in the Istrian region purportedly dates back to 940 A.D. when scholarly Roman Emperor Constantine VII (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_VII) recorded in De Administrando Imperio" that there were Latin-language speakers in this area who called themselves Romans but who did not come from Rome. A later historical record of Romanians in Istria (not necessarily the "Cici", and possibly the "Morlacchi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morlachs)") 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 which may have been a Romanian name.
In his monumental book, Historia antica, e moderna sacra, e profana, della cittŕ di Trieste, published in his native town of Trieste in 1698, Fra Ireneo della Croce (16251713) wrote:
"Un'altra memoria antica, degna d'osservatione non minore della giŕ addotte Antichitŕ Romane, osservo in alcuni Popoli addimandati comunemente Chichi habitanti nelle Ville d'Opchiena, Tribichiano, e Gropada situate nel Territorio di Trieste, sopra il Monte cinque miglia distante dalla Cittŕ verso Greco: Et in molti altri Villaggi, aspettanti ŕ Castel nuovo, nel Carso Giurisditione de gl'Illustrissimi Signori Conti Petazzi, quali, oltre l'Idioma I Sclavo comune ŕ tutto il Carso, usano un proprio, e particolare consimile al Valacco, intracciato con diverse parole, e vocaboli Latini, come scorgesi dall'ingiunti, & ŕ bel Studio qui da me riferiti. Non deve meravigliarsi chi legge, fe questi Popoli, quali proffessano l'origine loro da Carni, e suoi discendenti, venuti dalla Toscana ŕ fondare la Nostra antica Provincia de' Carni, habbiano sempre conservato l'uso antico della lingua Romana, ň Latina, idioma comune de' loro Antenati, come constumano hoggidě pure al sentire [335] di Gio:Lucio (a) i Popoli nella Valacchia: Valachi autem hedierni quicunque lingua Valacha loquuntur, se ipsos non dicunt Vlahos, aut Valachos, sed Romanos, & ŕ Romanis ortos gloriuntur; Romanaque lingua loqui prositentur, quiod sicut sermo ipsorum comprobat: ita mores quoque crum Italis quam Slavis similiores conveniunt, Che perciň anco i nostri Chichi, addimandansi nel proprio linguaggio Rumeri: Essendo sentimento del mentovato Lucio, (b) che l'uso della lingua latina, fiorě anticamente non solo nell'Italia, ma anco nella Dalmatia, nell'Illirico, & altre parti: Lingua romana, sive Latina Dalmatas usos ad ann. 1200. VVilliemus Tyrius testatur. lib. 2. cap. 17."
He mentions a people who, "beside the Slavic idiom common for all the Karst area, speak also their own and particular language, which is similar to Wallachian and contains many different Latin words." He was referring to the language of the Chichi - Cici (Istro-Romanians) who, in his own time, were known to inhabit an extensive part of Istria up to Trieste and surrounding regions.
Some linguists believe that the Istro-Romanians migrated to their present location about 600 years ago from Transylvania (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transylvania), after the Black Death (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death) depopulated Istria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria), as was told to generations of Istro-Romanians who handed down this story from parent to child by word of mouth. Some loan words also suggest that before reaching Istria, the Istro-Romanians lived for a period of time in Dalmatia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmatia) near the Cetina river, but this is mere speculation as the loan words could easily have come from other Slavic peoples who likewise emigrated to Istria. Such loan words also exist in Daco-Romanian, the official language of Romania. Another totally unsupported theory is that they came from Serbia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbia). What cannot be disputed, however, is that the Istro-Romanian dialect splits from that of majority Daco-Romanian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daco-Romanian) speakers in what is present-day Romania later than the other Romanian dialects (Aromanian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aromanian_language) and Megleno-Romanian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megleno-Romanian_language)), thus further diminishing the credibility of the Serbian theory.[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)] Moreover, in modern Serbia, there are some Daco-Romanian speakers (see Romanians of Serbia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanians_of_Serbia)), but the majority of the large population of Romanians there speak Aromunian (a.k.a. Macedo-Romanian), both being distinctly different languages from Istro-Romanian.
More importantly, the Transylvanian connection that is emphasized by linguists is alive in the memory of some of the Istrorumeni themselves who today distinguish themselves into two distinct groups - the cici or cicci surrounding the Mune and ejane area and the vlahi of the southern unjevica region, this despite the fact that their language is identical except for a few local distinctions. Interestingly enough, Iosif Popovici entitled his book Dialectele române din Istria (Halle, 1909) - that is, "The Dialects..." not "The Dialect..." - indirectly suggesting there were several types of Istro-Romanian dialects in Istria.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Map-balkans-vlachs.png/275px-Map-balkans-vlachs.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map-balkans-vlachs.png) http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.19/common/images/magnify-clip.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map-balkans-vlachs.png)
Regions inhabited by vlachs. Istroromanians in yellow.
Romanian linguists are divided in their opinions: Prof. Dr. Iosif Popovici (18761928), who had travelled extensively in Istria, endorsed the theory that the Istro-Romanians were natives of Ţara Moţilor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A2ara_Mo%C5%A3ilor) (Western Transylvania) who had migrated into Istria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria) sometimes during the Middle Ages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages). ("Dialectele române din Istria", I, Halle a.d.S., 1914, p. 122 and following). This opinion was shared by Ovid Densusianu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovid_Densusianu) (18731938) (a Romanian folklorist, philologist, and poet who introduced trends of European modernism into Romanian literature - thus not a linguistics authority - who stated that Istro-Romanians were not native to Istria (Histoire de la langue roumaine, I, p. 337): "Un premier fait que nous devons mettre en evidence, c'est que l'istro-roumain n'a pu se développer ŕ l'origine lŕ oů nous le trouvons aujourd'hui".
The Serbian dialectologist and phonologist Pavle Ivić (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavle_Ivi%C4%87) (1924-99), respected for his work toward the standardization of the Serbian language, speculated that at the beginning of the Middle Ages a sizable Roman population inhabited all of the Balkans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkans), but his interests focused on the areas contained within the former Yugoslavia, whereas history shows that the Latin language influence reached considerably beyond that region. Besides, the Roman population to which he referred may not relate solely to the Istro-Romanians who migrated to Istria, but also the Istriot (Istro-Romance) speakers of Istria, as well as the Vegliot language (now extinguished) that was spoken in the nearby island of Krk (Veglia). Both of these languages evolved separately from Istro-Romanian.
Regarding the Vegliot speakers, in the 15th century, a purportedly similar population of Rumeri from the near mainland, as noted by Frankopan (Frangipani) princes in their chronicles, settled in northernmost Krk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krk) (Veglia) island, villages Poljica and Dubanica at actual Malinska. In the mid-19th century they were gradually assimilated, and only some of their toponyms and plant names persist; also their Paternoster (Cace nostru) was noted there.
When Istria was part of the Austrian Empire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_Empire), the Istro-Rumanians were the majority of a small "comune" (Eng. community, county) near the Arsa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra%C5%A1a_%28river%29) River and mainly within the Arsa valley, as shown in the 1910 Austrian census [2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanians#cite_note-1) In 1922, after the union of Istria to Italy, the Italian government designated the existing town of Susnieviza (changing its name to Valdarsa (http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valdarsa); today called unjevica (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C5%A0u%C5%A1njevica&action=edit&redlink=1)) for the Istro-Romanian community, and appointed. Andrea Glavina (http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Glavina), an Istro-Romanian professor who had studied in Romania, as their leader. They obtained a school in the Istro-Romanian language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language) in the town of Valdarsa and reached a population of 3,000 in 1942. The population of modern unjevica (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C5%A0u%C5%A1njevica&action=edit&redlink=1) is now reduced to around 200 inhabitants.
After World War II, most Istro-Romanians left their ancestral homes, as did the majority of inhabitants throughout the Istrian peninsula due to discrimination, violence and threats by the incoming Communist regime and those who supported Tito's brutal ways and means. A small number remained in Istria while others emigrated to various countries of Europe, most notably Italy, the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, and other countries throughout the world. Those who stayed under Yugoslav rule underwent forced assimilation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_assimilation) as much as, if not more than, they had under the prior brief Italian rule of Fascist Italy.[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)] The Italian writer and historian Giuseppe Lazzarini (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Giuseppe_Lazzarini&action=edit&redlink=1) believes that there are more than 5,000 Istro-Romanian descendants in Istria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria), even though the 1991 Census lists only 811 Istro-Romanians. As happened with past and recent changeovers in regimes which have disfavored this minority, most of them identify themselves with other ethnic groups instead of as Istro-Romanian. Lazzarini believes that the Istro-Romanians are the descendants of the Roman legionnaires (brought in by Augustus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus) to eastern Istria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria) to colonize the borders of Roman Empire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire)) and Aromanian shepherds, who escaped the Ottoman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire) invasions and moved to a plague depopulated Istria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria) in the 15th century. Other historians and linguists, however, disagree with this theory inasmuch as the Aromanian and Istro-Romanian languages are very different and entirely distinguishable from each other.
Also significant is that unlike most other Romanian speakers, who are Eastern Orthodox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Orthodox), the Istro-Romanians were in the past and are today Roman Catholic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic), another characteristic of these people which suggests a different migratory pattern and historical evolution.[1] (http://www.istro-romanian.com/literature/prayers.htm). In 1998, August Kovačec, a Croatian linguist, (see references below) published a detailed monograph on Istro-Romanians, their population, culture, glossary, grammar which was reflective only of the acknowledged speakers in Istria during the years in which the language was politically discouraged, not of the majority of native speakers who left Istria after World War II). This monomgram and his other texts, while exhaustive, are not the primary or authoritative source. Before and since his writings, Romanian, Italian and even Dalmatian linguists have published their own atlases, dictionaries and vocabularies on this nearly extinguished, but obsolete, language.
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Istro-Romanians&action=edit§ion=2)] Extant (remaining) settlements
Area north of Mount Ćićarija (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%86i%C4%87arija)
ejani (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C5%BDejani&action=edit&redlink=1) (Istro-Romanian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language): Jeiăn), 140 inhabitants
Area west of Mount Učka (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U%C4%8Dka) (historical name: Monte Maggiore) and near Lake Čepić (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cepi%C4%87) / Arsa
unjevica (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C5%A0u%C5%A1njevica&action=edit&redlink=1) (Şuşńieviţe, Susńieviţa, Istro-Romanian: Suseni)
Nova Vas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Vas) (Noselo, Istro-Romanian: Sat Nou)
Jasenovik (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasenovik) (Istro-Romanian: Sucodru, meaning "under woods")
Kostrčani (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kostr%C4%8Dani&action=edit&redlink=1) (Istro-Romanian: Costârceân)
Letaj (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Letaj&action=edit&redlink=1) (Istro-Romanian: Letai)
Brdo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brdo) (Berdo / Birdo, Istro-Romanian: Bârdo)
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Istro-Romanians&action=edit§ion=3)] See also
Istria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria)
Istro-Romanian language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language)
Istro-Romanian grammar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_grammar)
Thraco-Roman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thraco-Roman)
Eastern Romance substratum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Romance_substratum)
Romanian language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_language)
Origin of the Romanians (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_Romanians)
Romance languages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languages)
Legacy of the Roman Empire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_of_the_Roman_Empire)
The Balkan linguistic union (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_linguistic_union)
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Istro-Romanians&action=edit§ion=4)] References
^ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanians#cite_ref-0) Croatian 2001 census, detailed classification by nationality (http://www.dzs.hr/hrv/censuses/Census2001/Popis/H01_03_10/H01_03_10.html)
^ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanians#cite_ref-1) Ethnic map of Istria in 1910 (Istrorumanian area indicated in a small "pointed" area) (http://digilander.libero.it/arup/etno1910gr.jpg)
della Croce, Ireneo: Historia antica, e moderna sacra, e profana, della cittŕ di Trieste, (Trieste, 1698)
Feresini, Nerina: Il Comune istro-romeno di Valdarsa. Edizioni Italo Svevo. Trieste: 1996
Kovačec, August: Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik s gramatikom i tekstovima (Glosar Istroroman-Croat cu gramatica si texte). Verba moritura vol. I, 378 p. Mediteran, Pula 1998
Podbersič, Renato: Čičke prekvanitce z Goca (Folklorni obrazci z Golca v Slovenski Čičariji). LIBRIS. Koper: 2007
Tekavčić, Pavao: Due voci romene in un dialetto serbo-croato dell'Isola di Veglia (Krk). Studia Romanica 7: 35-38, Zagreb 1959
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Istro-Romanians&action=edit§ion=5)] External links
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Istro-Romanians (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Istro-Romanians)
Istro-Romanian Community Worldwide, a site created by and for Istro-Romanians (http://www.istro-romanian.com)
Difficult cultural situation of the Istro-Romanian minority particularly threatened (http://assembly.coe.int/mainf.asp?Link=/documents/workingdocs/doc08/edoc11595.htm)
La situation culturelle difficile de la minorité istro-roumaine particuličrement menacée (http://assembly.coe.int/mainf.asp?Link=/documents/workingdocs/doc08/fdoc11595.htm)
Istro-Romanians in Croatia, a site created by a Romanian (http://www.istro-romanian.net)
derLowe
04-11-2012, 06:36 PM
Istro-Romanian language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language#mw-head), search (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language#p-search)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Text_document_with_red_question_mark.svg/40px-Text_document_with_red_question_mark.svg.png
This article includes a list of references (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources), but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Adding_the_citation). Please help to improve (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Fact_and_Reference_Check) this article by introducing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:When_to_cite) more precise citations. (September 2009) Istro-Romanian Vlăşeşte, Rumâreşte, Rumęri-kuvinta (?) Spoken in http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Flag_of_Croatia.svg/22px-Flag_of_Croatia.svg.png Croatia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia) Region Istria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria) Native speakers 1000 (date missing) Language family (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_family)
Indo-European (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages)
Italic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italic_languages)
Latin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_language)
Romance languages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languages)
Eastern Romance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Romance_languages)
Istro-Romanian
Language codes ISO 639-3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_639-3) ruo (http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/documentation.asp?id=ruo) Linguasphere (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguasphere_Observatory) 51-AAD-a Istro-Romanian is an Eastern Romance language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languages) that is still spoken today in a few villages and hamlets in the peninsula of Istria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria), on the northern part of the Adriatic Sea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adriatic_Sea), in what is now Croatia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia) as well as in other countries around the world where the Istro-Romanian people settled after the two world wars, most notably in Italy, the United States, Canada, Argentina, Australia, Sweden, Germany, and other countries. Before the 20th century, it was spoken in a substantially broader part of northeastern Istria surrounding the Ćićarija (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%86i%C4%87arija) mountain range (ancient Mons Carusadius) all the way up to Trieste. Its remaining speakers call themselves Vlahi (a name given to them by Slavs), as well as Rumunski, Rumeni, Rumeri, Rumunji, as well as Ćići and Ćiribiri (this last being a nickname that was previously used disparagingly to identify the Istro-Romanian language, not its speakers).
The Istro-Romanians today are labeled today into two groups: the Ćići around ejane (denoting the people on the north side of Mt. Učka) and the Vlahi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlahi) around unjevica (denoting the people on the south side of Mt. Učka (Monte Maggiore). However, despite distinctions and interjection of words from other languages which varies from village to village, their language is otherwise linguistically identical.
The number of Istro-Romanian speakers is very loosely estimated to be less than 500, the "smallest ethnic group in Europe" and listed among languages that are "seriously endangered" in the UNESCO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCO) Red Book of Endangered Languages.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language#cite_note-0) Due to its very small number of speakers living in about eight minor hamlets and two considerable villages, notably ejane and unjevica, there is no public education or news media in their native Istro-Romanian language. There are also several hundred native speakers who live not only in Queens, New York (as is mistakenly believed by newcomers to the study of the language),[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language#cite_note-1) but throughout the five boroughs of New York City, as well as in upstate New York and the neighboring states of New Jersey and Connecticut; there are also still native speakers in California. There are native speakers of Istro-Romanian in Italy, Canada, Argentina, Sweden, and Australia.
Since 2010, the Croatian Constitution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_Constitution) recognizes Romanians ("Rumunji") as one of 22 national minorities. However, there have been many significant challenges facing Istro-Romanians in preserving their language, culture and ethnic identity, including emigration from communism and migration to nearby cities and towns after World War II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II), when the Paris Peace Treaty with Italy that was signed on February 10, 1947 took Istria away from Italy (which had previously gained Istria after World War I) and awarded it to Yugoslavia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia), the parent country of present-day Croatia and Slovenia, who split Istria in two parts amongst themselves, while Italy retained the small portion near Trieste.
Contents
[hide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language#)]
1 Recent history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language#Recent_history)
2 Origin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language#Origin)
3 Language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language#Language)
3.1 Grammar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language#Grammar)
4 Literature (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language#Literature)
5 See also (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language#See_also)
6 References (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language#References)
7 External links (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_language#External_links)
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Istro-Romanian_language&action=edit§ion=1)] Recent history
The number of Istro-Romanian speakers has been reduced due to their assimilation into other linguistic groups that were either already present or introducted by their respective new rulers of Istria: in the 1921 Italian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy) census, there were 1,644 declared Istro-Romanian speakers in the area, while in 1926 Romanian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania) scholar Sextil Puşcariu (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sextil_Pu%C5%9Fcariu&action=edit&redlink=1) estimated their number to be closer to 3,000. In the 1991 census of Yugoslavia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia), only 811 Romanians were registered, and in the 2001 Croatian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia) census only 137 inhabitants of the region declared Romanian as their mother tongue. Studies conducted in Istria in 1998 (?) by the Croatian linguist A. Kovačec revealed only 170 active speakers (but those counted presumably are only those still residing in the original villages where the language was actively spoken, thereby excluding those who moved to larger towns in Istria), most of them being bilingual (or trilingual), except for 27 children.
In 1922, the Italian regime of Benito Mussolini (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_fascism) declared the village of Susnieviza - which they renamed to Valdarsa after the Arsa Valley (valle d'Arsa) region (it has since reverted to the pre-Italian name but written in Croatian as unjevica (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C5%A0u%C5%A1njevica&action=edit&redlink=1)) - to be the seat for the Istro-Romanians (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanians), with a designated school in the Istro-Romanian language. This was achieved through the efforts of Andrea Glavina (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrea_Glavina&action=edit&redlink=1) (whose name is believed to have been Italianized from Glavich), one of the town's native sons who had been university educated in Romania. The town of unjevica (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C5%A0u%C5%A1njevica&action=edit&redlink=1) (with adjacent villages) reached a population of 3,000 in 1942.[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)] After World War II and the ceding of Istria to Yugoslanvia, the population of Sunjevica (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Su%C5%A1njevica&action=edit&redlink=1) alone was subsequently reduced to 200 inhabitants.[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]
On the other hand, the major northern village ejane and nearby hamlets at the Slovenian border are less italianized and more slavicized. Many villages in the area have names that are of Romanian origin, such as Jeian, Buzet ("lips"), Katun ("hamlet"), Letaj, Sucodru (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesenovik) ("under a forest"), Costirceanu (a Romanian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_language) name). Some of these names are official (recognized by Croatia as their only names), while others are used only by Istro-Romanian speakers (ex. Nova Vas|Noselo).
The actual fate of the Istro-Rumanian language is very uncertain, because in Istria only about 350 people partly understand it; its active bilingual speakers are fewer than 200 (that is, those who openly admit they speak it, the actual number may be greater), and fewer than 30 children know it now. Without an urgent, effective and active international support, the unique Istro-Romanian language will probably become extinct in the next generation or two. Istro-Romanian is considered an endangered language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_language).
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Istro-Romanian_language&action=edit§ion=2)] Origin
Eastern Romance languages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Romance_languages) Vulgar Latin language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulgar_Latin)
Substratum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Romance_substratum)
Thraco-Roman culture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thraco-Roman)
Romanian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_language) (Moldovan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldovan_language), Vlach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlach_language_in_Serbia))
Grammar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_grammar) Nouns (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_nouns) Verbs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_verbs) Numbers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_numbers) Phonology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_phonology) Lexis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_lexis)
Regulating bodies
Romanian Academy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_Academy)
Academy of Sciences of Moldova (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_of_Sciences_of_Moldova)
Aromanian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aromanian_language)
Megleno-Romanian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megleno-Romanian_language)
Istro-Romanian
Grammar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_grammar)
v (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Eastern_Romance_languages)
t (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:Eastern_Romance_languages)
e (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Eastern_Romance_languages&action=edit)
Some linguists believe that the Istro-Romanians (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian) migrated (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_migration) to their present region of Istria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria) and all the way up to the city (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City) of Trieste (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trieste) about 1,000 years ago from Transylvania (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transylvania).[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)] The first possible historical record of Romanians (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanians) in the Istria region, however, dates back to 940 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/940) when Constantine VII (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_VII) recorded the Romance-language speakers in this area in De Administrando Imperio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Administrando_Imperio), saying that they called themselves Romans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire), but this could also refer to speakers of Istriot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istriot_language) or one of the Dalmatian dialects. In 1329 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1329), when Serbian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbs) chronicles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronicle) mention that a Vlach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlach) population was living in Istria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria), although there was an earlier mention from the 12th century of a leader in Istria called Radul (likely a Romanian name). There have been recent findings to suggest that the Istro-Romanian people (more probably Vlachs in general) were already present in certain regions of nearby Friuli (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friuli)[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)] going back to the 13th century.[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)] Pavle Ivić (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavle_Ivi%C4%87), a Serbian linguist, cited the hypothesis that a sizeable Roman population inhabited the Balkans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkans) from west to east across the former Yugoslavia before the 10th century. The hypothesis is that these populations, reduced by epidemics of the plague and wars, mixed with the first Istro-Romanians who moved into Istria, but there are no known historical records to support this theory.[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]
Some loanwords suggest that before coming to Istria, Istro-Romanians lived for a period of time on the Dalmatian coast at the Cetina river (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cetina_river&action=edit&redlink=1), where names ending in "-ul" are observed from medieval times. In any case, it is linguistically evident[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)] that Istro-Romanian split from the widely spoken (Daco-)Romanian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_language) later than did the other Romanian (=Eastern Romance) languages, Aromanian language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aromanian_language) and Megleno-Romanian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megleno-Romanian_language).
The Italian writer and historian Giuseppe Lazzarini (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Giuseppe_Lazzarini&action=edit&redlink=1) believes that there are more than 5,000 Istro-Romanian descendants in Istria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria) today, but most of them identify themselves (census 1991: only 811 Istro-Romanians) with other ethnic groups in the revolving door of foreign rulers of this region. He believes that the Istro-Romanians are the descendants of the "melting pot" of the Roman legionnaires (moved by Augustus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus) to eastern Istria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria) to colonize the borders of Italy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy)) and the Aromanian shepherds who escaped from the Ottoman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire) invasions to settle in a plague-depopulated Istria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria) in the 14th century. However, he does not relate to the fact that Istro-Romanian is linguistically closer to Daco-Romanian than to Aromanian (also called Macedo-Romanian).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Istrorumeni_aree.jpg_2_%282%29.jpg/300px-Istrorumeni_aree.jpg_2_%282%29.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Istrorumeni_aree.jpg_2_%282%29.jpg) http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.19/common/images/magnify-clip.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Istrorumeni_aree.jpg_2_%282%29.jpg)
Istro-Romanians areas: green line in 1800, dashed lines in 1900.
A. Kovačec (1998)[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)] hypothesizes that the Istro-Romanians migrated to their present region about 600 years ago from Romania, after the Bubonic plague depopulated Istria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria). This hypothesis is based on chronicles of the Frangipani princes that state that in the 15th century they accepted the migrating Vlachs from the nearby mainland and from the northern part of Krk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krk) (Veglia) island, and settled them in isolated villages at Poljica (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Poljica,_Krk&action=edit&redlink=1) and Dubanica (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Duba%C5%A1nica&action=edit&redlink=1) and at the port Malinska (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malinska). The term "vlach", however, refers to all Eastern-Romance-language speakers and cannot be associated exclusively with Istro-Romanians. In fact, pockets of Romanian-language speakers persisted in Malinska up to the mid 19th century, they gradually assimilated and their language disappeared with the last speaker, Mate Bajčić-Gaparović. Today, few Romance-language toponymns remain in Malinska. (Tekavčić 1959, Kovačec 1998)
The Transylvanian connection is emphasized by most linguists[who? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Avoid_weasel_words)] and is alive in the hand-down memories and folk songs of some of the Rumeni (Rumęri) themselves. They put themselves into either of two groups - the northern upland cici (It. cicci; S-C (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbo-Croatian). ćići), and vlahi of the Arsa Valley (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arsa_Valley&action=edit&redlink=1) (historical name is also Arsia; today called Raa) region. Interestingly enough, Iosif Popovici entitled his book Dialectele române din Istria (Halle, 1909) - that is, "The Dialects..." not "The Dialect..." - so indirectly he suggested that there were (and still are) several Istro-Romanian dialects in Istria. The linguistic differences, however, can be easily explained: a language evolves separately when there is a geographical border between the individual groups - in this case, the Ciceria mountain range. Indeed, there are even variations that are distinct from town to town.[original research? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research)]
Insofar as Romanian linguists are concerned, the opinions are divided: Prof. Dr. Iosif Popovici (18761928), who had traveled extensively in Istria, promoted the hypothesis that the Istro-Romanians were natives of Ţara Moţilor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A2ara_Mo%C5%A3ilor) (Western Transylvania) who emigrated to Istria in the Middle Ages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages). ("Dialectele române din Istria", I, Halle a.d.S., 1914, p. 122 and following). This opinion was shared by Ovid Densusianu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovid_Densusianu) (18731938), a Romanian folklorist, philologist, and poet who introduced trends of European modernism into Romanian literature. He did not hold the belief that Istro-Romanians were native to Istria where found today (or where found in the 1930s when he did the research for his book Histoire de la langue roumaine, I, p. 337): "Un premier fait que nous devons mettre en evidence, c'est que l'istro-roumain n'a pu se développer ŕ l'origine lŕ oů nous le trouvons aujourd'hui" (The primary issue is that Istro-Romanian, because of its close similarity to other dialects spoken in isolated areas of present-day Romania, as well as its close resemblance to Daco-Romanian, simply could not have originated in isolation where it is found today).
Presumed to be the Istro-Romanians' relatives[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)], the Morlachs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morlachs) in what is now in the Croatian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia) region of Morlachia inhabited a wide range of Dalmatia in the past, but are now a small ethnic group whose numbers are likewise decreasing. The common error that has been made is in confusing the "ćići" and "vlahi" with the "morlacchi" (Slavic: Murlaki; English: Morlachs)[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)] who are an entirely different ethnic and linguistic group[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)] on the Dalmatian mainland and Herzegovina. The Morlachian language (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Morlachian_language&action=edit&redlink=1), which became extinct in the early 20th century, belongs to an entirely different sub-group of the Eastern Romance languages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Romance_languages)[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)], distinct from the Romanian and Italian languages[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)].
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Istro-Romanian_language&action=edit§ion=3)] Language
The Istro-Romanian language bears close resemblance to Daco-Romanian, and most Romanian linguists consider it to be a dialect rather than a separate language. Istro-Romanian is sometimes confused with Istriot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istriot_language), the other seriously endangered language of southern Istria which is considered either a descendant of or closely related to one of the Dalmatian dialects.
One peculiarity of Istro-Romanian (IR) compared with Romanian dialects is the use of rhotacism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotacism) (with the intervocalic /n/ becoming /r/, for instance lumină (meaning "light" in Romanian) becoming lumira). This is one of the reasons that some Romanian linguists[who? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Avoid_weasel_words)] think that Istro-Romanian evolved from the Romanian language spoken in the Apuseni (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apuseni) or Maramureş (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maramure%C5%9F) area of Transylvania (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transylvania), which has some similar traits. It could also be a coincidental development, due to influence of surrounding languages. According to Popovici this characteristic is very old as it is found in very few words of Slavic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_languages) origin which entered Daco-Romanian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_language) (DR) before the 12th century. Other Slavic elements in Istro-Romanian, i.e. Croatian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_language) and, more significantly, Slovene (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovene_language), as well as the Western Romance languages that have been historically prevalent in Istria, various Istrian dialects of Venetian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venetian_language) and Italian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_language)show no signs of rhotacism, except for its partial presence in the Chakavian dialect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakavian_dialect) and in nearby islands which may have derived from a common root.
Other characteristics of Istro-Romanian include (note: the lexicon used below is not universally recognized):
Prosthetic a- as in Aromanian (AR) aruşine < DR ruşine does not exist, however by false analogy an organic a- may disappear e.g. (a)prope, (a)ratĺ, (a)ve;
stressed á may become ĺ /ɔ/ which can also be found in the Banat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banat) region of Romania;
ă-á becomes a-ĺ, e.g. DR măritá > IR maritĺ (to marry), DR arătá > IR (a)ratĺ (to show);
au becomes ĺv, a similar change appears in Aromanian, e.g. DR aud > AR avdu, IR ĺvdu (I hear); likewise DR preot > AR/IR preftu (priest);
-e preceded by labials (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labial_consonant) remains unaltered, whereas in DR it becomes -ă, e.g. IR per < DR păr (hair/pear tree), IR pemint < DR pămînt (ground);
stressed DR -eá- becomes stressed -é-, e.g. DR leac > IR lec (remedy), DR leagăn > IR legăr (cradle/swing), DR fată > IR fetĕ (girl);
The consonant groups cľ and gľ are only found in IR, AR and Megleno-Romanian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megleno-Romanian_language) (MR). These groups show that the Romanian dialects in Istria separated from DR before the 13th century, when cľ and gľ tended towards k' and g', e.g. Latin inclūdēre > IR cľide, MR ancľide > DR închide (to close), Latin glacia > IR gľĺţĕ, AR/MR gľeţ > DR gheaţă (ice);
The labials p, b, f, v and m show the following evolutions in the Eastern Romance languages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Romance_languages):
Istro-Romanian Aromanian Megleno-Romanian Romanian Italian English pićor = foot cicior picior picior gamba leg kľeptu cheptu kľeptu piept petto chest bire ghine bini bine bene well, good bľerĺ azghirari zber zbiera ruggire to roar fiľu hilj iľu fiu figlio son fiľa hilje iľe fiică figlia daughter ficĺt hicat
ficat fegato liver fi hire ire fi essere to be fľer heru ieru fier ferro iron viţelu yitsăl viţĺl viţel vitello calf (g)ľerm iermu ghiarmi vierme verme worm viu yiu ghiu viu vivo alive vipt yiptu
vipt cibo (vitto) food, grain mľe(lu) njel m'iel miel agnello lamb mľĺre njare m'ari miere miele honey The results of these changes in IR can be outlined in the following:
pi > kľ, ć
bi > bľ
fi > fľ
vi > (g)ľ
mi > mľ
Words only found in Istro-Romanian and the Daco-Romanian dialects of the Banat and Oltenia:
Istro-Romanian Banat/Oltenia Daco-Romanian Italian English amănĺt) amînat/amînat amănat rinviata postponed (a)stĺrĕ astară/asară astăseară stasera tonight bericĺtĕ beregată/beregată gât gola throat lomi lomui a rupe rompere to break prigodĕ prigoadă/afacere afacere commercio business zgodi zgođi/întâmpla a se întâmpla succedere/accadere to happen However, the similar words zgoda (happening) and prigoda (business) are widespread in Serbo-Croatian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbo-Croatian), and may also be Slavic loanwords; also, Istro-Romanian mľelu is similar to Chakavian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakavian_dialect) mjelić (lamb) of some Adriatic islands. Lomi is a Slavic loanword, coming from "lomiti" (to break) in Serbo-Croatian. There are Slavic loanwords in other Eastern Romance languages, too, including Daco-Romanian.
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Istro-Romanian_language&action=edit§ion=4)] Grammar
Main article: Istro-Romanian grammar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_grammar)
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Istro-Romanian_language&action=edit§ion=5)] Literature
There is no local literary tradition; however, Andrea Glavina (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrea_Glavina&action=edit&redlink=1), an Istro-Romanian who was educated in Romania, wrote in 1905 Calendaru lu rumeri din Istrie ("The Calendar of the Romanians of Istria"). In this book he wrote many folkloristic tales of his people. A series of actual Istro-Romanian tales and original folk songs recently is noted also by A. Kovačec (1998).
When Andrea Glavina (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrea_Glavina&action=edit&redlink=1) created the first Istro-Rumanian school in Valdarsa (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Valdarsa&action=edit&redlink=1) (where he was the first mayor) in 1922, he composed the following "Imnul Istro-romanilor" (it was partly influenced by recent Romanian language):
Imnul Istro-romanilor (Istro-Romanian) Inno Istrorumeno (Italian) Roma, Roma i mama noastra noi Romani ramanem
Romania i sara noastra
tot un sang-avem
nu suntem siguri pe lume
si'nea avem frati
Italiani cu mare lume
mana cu noi dati
ca sa fim frate si frate
cum a dat Dumnezeu
sa traim pana la moarte
eu si tu si tu si au
Roma, Roma č nostra madre noi rimaniamo Romani
la Romania č nostra sorella
abbiamo tutti un sangue
non siamo soli al mondo
se abbiamo fratelli
Italiani dal nome illustre
ci hanno dato una mano
siamo fratelli e sorelle
come l'ha stabilito il Signore
cosě lo sosterremo fino alla morte
io con te e tu con me
[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Istro-Romanian_language&action=edit§ion=6)] See also
Istria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria)
Istro-Romanians (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanians)
Istro-Romanian grammar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istro-Romanian_grammar)
Thraco-Roman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thraco-Roman)
Eastern Romance substratum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Romance_substratum)
Romanian language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_language)
Origin of the Romanians (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_Romanians)
Romance languages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languages)
Legacy of the Roman Empire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_of_the_Roman_Empire)
The Balkan linguistic union (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_linguistic_union)
Peyrol
04-11-2012, 09:53 PM
Thank you DerLowe....i know that these people were the most affected by fascist italianization of Istria...seem that their language is a western balkanic and archaic version of romanian.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.3 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.