Moldovan language

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Moldovan (also Moldavian) (limba moldovenească, rendered as лимба молдовеняскэ in Cyrillic) is the official language of the Republic of Moldova, as well as one of of the three official languages in the the breakaway territory of Transnistria.^[1][2][3][4]. Its literary form is shared with the Romanian language.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]}

The Constitution of Moldova (Title I, Article 13) states that the Moldovan language is the official language of the country. In Moldova's Declaration of Independence the state language was called Romanian.^[13] A group of Romanian linguists adopted a resolution stating that promotion of the notion of Moldovan language is an unscientific campaign.^[14]

"Moldovan" (graiul moldovenesc, in older sources limba moldovenească) can also refer to a northern variety of colloquial Romanian approximately within the territory of the former Principality of Moldavia (now split between Moldova and Romania). Moldavian variety is considered one of the five major spoken varieties of Romanian, all five being written identically. There is no particular linguistic break at the Prut River, Moldovan and Romanian forming a dialect continuum.

The standard alphabet of the language is the Latin alphabet (currently official in the Republic of Moldova). During the Soviet era, between 1940 and 1989, the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet (different from old Romanian Cyrillic alphabet) was used. As of 2007, it remains in use only in breakaway region of Transnistria.

Moldavian was assigned code mo in ISO 639-1 and code mol in ISO 639-2 and ISO/DIS 639-3.^[15]

[edit] History and politics

See main article: History of the Moldovan language

The history of the Moldovan language in Moldova is closely tied to the region's political status, with long periods of rule by Russia and the Soviet Union influencing the language's name and (when Cyrillic script was in use) orthography. The concept of the distinction of Moldovan from Romanian was explicitely stated only in the early 20th century, and accompanied the raising of national awareness among Moldovans.^[16] Major recent developments include the passing to a Latin script from Cyrillic in 1989 and several changes in the statutory name of the language used in Moldova. At one point of particular confusion about identity in the 1990s, all references to geography in the name of the language was dropped, and it was officially known simply as limba de stat - "The State Language".

[edit] Linguistic aspects

There are, however, regional differences in the colloquial spoken language. The Moldovan dialect/variety is common in the Republic of Moldova, as well as in Chernivtsi Oblast and Budjak region of Ukraine, and in 8 counties of Romania, territories that once made the medieval Principality of Moldavia. The difference between the language spoken in Chişinău and Iaşi and the language spoken for example in Bucharest could be roughly compared to that between Standard British and Scottish or American English. Others have argued that these differences might be found within any linguistic territory. According to a report issued by the Academy of science of the Republic of Moldova in 1994, the correct name of the language is Romanian.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Controversy

See also: Moldovenism

Major varieties of the Romanian language

Demonstration in Chişinău, January 2002. The text on the inscription is "Romanian people -Romanian language"

The matter of whether or not "Moldovan" is a separate language is a contested political issue within and beyond the Republic of Moldova.

The 1989 Language Law of the Moldavian SSR, which is still in force in Moldova (according to the Constitution,^[17]) asserts the existence of a "linguistic Moldo-Romanian identity".^[18] Article 13 of the Moldovan Constitution, names it "the national language of the country" (the original Moldovan/Romanian uses the term limba de stat, which literally means the language of the state, or official language, thus avoiding the term national, whose sense is that of ethnicity).

In the breakaway region of Transnistria, it is co-official with Ukrainian and Russian.

Despite the official nomenclature, standard "Moldovan" is widely considered to be identical to the standard Romanian.^[19] Writing about "essential differences", Vasile Stati, supporter of Moldovenism, is obliged to concentrate almost exclusively on lexical rather than grammatical differences. Whatever language distinctions may once have existed, these have been decreasing rather than increasing: "... in the main, Moldovan in its standard form was more Romanian by the 1980s than at any point in its history".^[20]

In 2002, the Moldovan Minister of Justice, Ion Morei, said that Romanian and "Moldovan" are the same language and that the Constitution of Moldova should be amended, not necessarily by changing the word Moldovan into Romanian, but by adding that "Romanian and Moldovan are the same language".^[21] Education Minister Valentin Beniuc said, "I have stated more than once that the notion of a Moldovan language and a Romanian language reflects the same linguistic phenomenon in essence."^[22] The President of Moldova, Vladimir Voronin, acknowledged that the two languages are identical, but said that Moldovans should have the right to call their language "Moldovan".^[23]

In the 2004 census, out of the 3,383,332 people living in Moldova, 60% chose Moldovan as their mother tongue, whereas only 16.5% chose Romanian. While 37% of all urban Romanian/Moldovan speakers chose Romanian as their mother tongue, in the countryside barely one in seven Romanian/Moldovan speakers indicated Romanian as his mother tongue.^[24]

[edit] Moldovan language and the EU

When reporting on the proposal for a decision of the EU Council concerning the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Community and Republic of Moldova, the Romanian rapporteur Jean Marin Marinescu included a recommendation not to make references to the Moldovan language.^[25] This has led to speculation in the Romanian press to the conclusion that supposedly the EU (or Leonard Orban, European Commissioner for Multilingualism) banned the usage of the term "Moldovan language (e.g.,^[26]) In his November 17, 2007 interview, Leonard Orban denied these allegations, stating: "It is not the European Commission who acknowledges one language or the other. I want to be very clear about it: it is a decision that belongs to every national state. When views are different, of course they have to be settled politically, not at the European Commission level, but by the states that have different views."^[27] On December 19, 2007, in a Q&A session in the European Parliament, the European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, answered that the Moldovan language is referred in the 1998 Cooperation Agreement between the EU and Moldova because that name is used in the Constitution of Moldova, and hence it is considered a part of the acquis, binding to all member states. She also called for a future practical solution that would avoid the controversy.^[28]

[edit] Orthography

See also: Romanian alphabet and Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet

Moldovan was generally written in a localized version of Cyrillic before the 20th century, but Latin was also occasionally used. In the interwar period, Soviet authorities alternately used Latin or Cyrillic for writing the language, mirroring the political goals of the moment. Between 1941 and 1989, i.e. during the Soviet rule, Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet replaced Latin as the official alphabet in Moldova (then Moldavian SSR).^[29] In 1989, Latin script was adopted again, along with the orthographic rules used in Romania at the time.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Dyer, D. (1999). The Romanian Dialect of Moldova: A Study in Language and Politics. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press. (ISBN 0-7734-8037-4)
• Dyer, Donald Leroy, ed. Studies in Moldovan. New York: Columbia University Press (East European Monographs), 1996. (ISBN 0-88033-351-0)
• Stati, V.N. Dicţionar moldovenesc-românesc. [=Moldovan-Romanian dictionary.] Chişinău: Tipografia Centrală (Biblioteca Pro Moldova), 2003. (ISBN 9975-78-248-5)
• Dumbrava, V. (2004). Sprachkonflikt und Sprachbewusstsein in der Republik Moldova: Eine empirische Studie in gemischtethnischen Familien (Sprache, Mehrsprachigkeit und sozialer Wandel). Bern: Peter Lang. (ISBN 3-631-50728-3)
• Movileanu N. Din istoria Transnistriei (1924-1940), Revista de istorie a Moldovei, 1993, #2.
• Negru E. Introducerea si interzicerea grafiei latine in R.A.S.S.M, 1999, Revista de istorie a Moldovei, #3-4.
• (2004). Europe Review 2003/2004. Kogan Page.
• King, C. The Moldovans: Romania, Russia and the Politics of Culture, Hoover Institution Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8179-9792-X.

[edit] Further reading

• Matthew H. Ciscel (2007) The Language of the Moldovans: Romania, Russia, and Identity in an Ex-Soviet Republic", ISBN 0739114433 - About the identity of the contemporary Moldovans in the context of debates about the their language.

[edit] External links

• Ethnologue report for Moldova
• Academy of Sciences of Moldova
• Conference presentation by Tamara Cărăuş, about identity issues in Moldova (Romanian)