Megleno-Romanian language

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Megleno-Romanian Vlăheşte
Spoken in:	Greece, Republic of Macedonia, Romania
Region:	Balkans
Total speakers:	5,000–12,000
Language family:	Indo-European  Italic   Romance    Eastern Romance     Megleno-Romanian
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	roa
ISO 639-3:	ruq
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-​based pronunciation key.

Megleno-Romanian (known as Vlăheşte by speakers and Moglenitic, Meglenitic or Megleno-Romanian by linguists) is a Romance language, similar to Aromanian, and Romanian spoken in the Moglená region of Greece, in a few villages in the Republic of Macedonia and also in a few villages in Romania. Spoken by the Moglenite Vlachs, it is considered an endangered language.

Contents 1 Classification 2 Name 3 Geographic distribution 4 Phonetics 5 Vocabulary 6 History 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Classification

Megleno-Romanian is a member of the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family; more specifically, it is an Eastern Romance language, a language formed after the retreat of the Roman Empire from South-Eastern Europe. Some linguists consider it to be an intermediary between Romanian and Aromanian, often being considered either a dialect of Romanian or Aromanian or an independent language. It is much closer to standard Romanian than Aromanian language, suggesting that it was split from Romanian later than Aromanian.

[edit] Name

The term "Megleno-Romanian" has been used by linguists who noticed the similarity to the Romanian language, as well as by certain Romanian nationalists who claim the language as a mere dialect of Romanian and its speakers as ethnic Romanians^{[citation needed]}, even though they themselves self-identify as a people called Vlaşi (see Etymology of Vlach for more on this term).

[edit] Geographic distribution

Megleno-Romanian is spoken in Greece in the Kilkis and Serres prefectures in Macedonia, as well as in several villages close to the Greek border in the Republic of Macedonia. In one village, Huma, the language is spoken by most inhabitants. After World War I, some Megleno-Romanians moved to Romania, many of them settling in the Cerna village in the Tulcea County, in which about 1,200 continue to speak Megleno-Romanian. In 1940 about 30 families moved to the Banat region of Romania in the villages of Variaş and Biled.

[edit] Phonetics

Megleno-Romanian has some unique phonetic characteristics, not found in the other Eastern Romance languages:

1. long vowels: ā, ē, ī, ō, ū
2. ă, â → o, a: câmp → comp (field), mânc → mānc (I eat)
3. unaccentuated initial a disappears: adaug → daug (I add), afară → fară (outside), aduc → duc (I bring)

[edit] Vocabulary

Much of the vocabulary is of Latin origin and much of its phonetics and semantics is shared with Aromanian and Romanian:

• basilica > MR bisearică, DR biserică (church, originally "basilica")
• lumen > MR lumi, DR lumină (world, originally "light")
• monumentum > MR murmint, DR mormânt (grave, originally "monument")
• strigis > MR strig, DR strig (I yell, originally "owl")
• draco > MR drac, DR drac (devil, originally "dragon")

Megleno-Romanian also contains some ancient Thracian or Dacian words that have cognates with Albanian (see Romanian substratum words):

• MR brad; DR brad; cf. Alb. bredh (fir tree)
• MR monz; DR mânz; cf. Alb. mës (colt)
• MR bucuros; DR bucuros; (happy) cf. Alb bukurë (beautiful)

There are also some words which may be of Proto-Slavic and later, Bulgarian, origin and which can be found in all the Eastern Romance languages:

• MR trup; DR trup (body); cf. Sl. trupŭ
• MR stăpon; Dr stăpân (master); cf. Old Bulg. stopanŭ, today's Bulgarian/Macedonian stopanin

There are a number of Byzantine and Modern Greek words, several dozens which are also found in Daco-Romanian (Romanian language) and Aromanian and about 80 words that were borrowed via Bulgarian and other languages of the Balkans. Prior to the creation of the modern state of Greece, Megleno-Romanian borrowed very few words directly from Greek.

• Gr. prósfatos > MR proaspit; DR proaspăt; (fresh)
• Gr. keramídi > MR chirămidă; DR cărămidă (brick)
• Gr. lemoni > MR limonă, via Bulg. limon (lemon); cf. DR lămâie

The most important influence on Megleno-Romanian was the Bulgarian language, this influence being more profound than the influence exerted by Greek to Aromanian. Linguist Theodor Capidan argued that the words borrowed show some phonetical features of the Bulgarian language dialect spoken in the Rhodope Mountains. There are many instances where basic words of Latin origin that can still be found in Daco-Romanian and Aromanian were replaced by Bulgarian words. In some cases, standard Romanian also independently borrowed the same word.

• Bulg. drob > MR drob; DR drob (liver)
• Bulg. nevĕsta > MR niveastă; DR nevastă (wife)
• Bulg. gora > MR goră (forest)

[edit] History

While the evolution of the Aromanian language can be explained by the fact that the Aromanians were isolated from the speakers of other Eastern Romance languages from the 9th century, it seems that the Moglenites and Romanians broke their linguistic union at a much later time; one theory is that the Vlashi were settled in the area some time around the 14th century by the Byzantines. Other theories reject this scenario^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] References

• Theodor Capidan, Megleno-Romanian dictionary (in Romanian)
• Theodor Capidan, Meglenoromânii: istoria şi graiul lor (in Romanian)

[edit] External links

• Despre muzica folclorică a dialectului meglenoromân, by Prof. Mirela Kozlovsky
• Megleno-Romanii, by Prof. Emil Tarcovnicu
• Ethnologue, Megleno Romanian entry
• Asterios Koukoudis, Studies on the Vlachs

Eastern Romance languages
Proto-Romanian language
Substratum
Daco-Romanian (Romanian, Moldovan, Vlach) Grammar | Nouns | Verbs Numerals | Phonology | Lexis
Regulating bodies   Romanian Academy   Academy of Sciences of Moldova
Aromanian
Megleno-Romanian
Istro-Romanian
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