Laiuse Romani language

Laiuse Romani
Spoken in Estonia
Extinct ca. 1940
Language family
Language codes
ISO 639-3 None

Laiuse Romani was a Romani variety spoken in Estonia. It was a mixed language based on Romani and Estonian.[1]

The Romani people first appeared to Estonia in the 17th century. Tale says they were first part of Swedish King Charles XII's Gypsy orchestra which he, after spending a winter in Laiuse, left behind. From that on they made a lot of trouble all around Estonia. In 1841 all of the 44 Estonian Romani were collected and settled around Laiuse Parish. Of course that didn't stop them from wandering, but part of them still kept living in Laiuse. Their main stop was Raaduvere village, but they also lived in Tähkvere, Jõgeva and it's precincts. Before the Second World War there was 60 Romani in Laiuse.[2] Laiuse Romani became extinct in the German occupation, when all its speakers were killed by the Nazis during the Porajmos.[1][3]

Linguistic features

Laiuse Romani shares a number of linguistic features with Finnish Kalo,[3] such as palatalization of velar consonants before front vowels[4] and initial devoicing.[5]

Notes and References

  1. ^ a b Smith, p. 365.
  2. ^ "Laiuse mustlased" (in Estonian). eestigiid.ee. http://www.eestigiid.ee/?SCat=7&CatID=4&ItemID=1560. Retrieved 23 September 2011. 
  3. ^ a b Matras, p. 10.
  4. ^ Matras, p. 49.
  5. ^ Matras, p. 54.
  • Matras, Yaron (2002). Romani: A Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge University Press. 
  • Smith, Norval (1994). "An annotated list of creoles, pidgins, and mixed languages". In Jacque Arends, Pieter Muysken & Norval Smith. Pidgins and Creoles. John Benjamins.