Èdè Romaníà: Ìyàtọ̀ láàrin àwọn àtúnyẹ̀wò

Content deleted Content added
k Bot Títúnṣe: arz:لغه رومانى
No edit summary
Ìlà 4:
|nativename = română, limba română
|pronunciation = {{IPA|[roˈmɨnə]}}
|states = By a majority:<br />
{{Flag|Romania}} <br /> {{Flag|Republic of Moldova}} <br />Minority speakers in:<br /> {{Flag|Ukraine}} <br /> {{Flag|Serbia}} <br /> {{Flag|Bulgaria}} <br /> {{Flag|Hungary}} <br /> {{Flag|Greece}} <br />{{Flag|Albania}} <br />{{Flag|Croatia}} <br />{{Flag|Republic of Macedonia}} <br />{{Flag|Russia}} <br /> {{Flag|Kazakhstan}} <br />Migrant speakers in:<br />[[Americas|North and South America]]<br /> [[Western Europe|Western]] and [[Southern Europe]] <br />{{Flag|Australia}} <br /> {{Flag|Israel}} <br> {{Flag|New Zealand}}
|region = [[Southeastern Europe|Southeastern]], [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]]
|speakers = First language: 24 million <br />Second language: 4 million <ref name="28mil">The Latin Union reports 28 million speakers for Romanian, out of whom 24 million are native speakers of the language: ''Latin Union - The odyssey of languages:'' [http://dpel.unilat.org/DPEL/Creation/Odyssee/5.ro.asp ro], [http://dpel.unilat.org/DPEL/Creation/Odyssee/5.es.asp es], [http://dpel.unilat.org/DPEL/Creation/Odyssee/5.fr.asp fr], [http://dpel.unilat.org/DPEL/Creation/Odyssee/5.it.asp it], [http://dpel.unilat.org/DPEL/Creation/Odyssee/5.pt.asp pt]; see also [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ron Ethnologue report for Romanian]</ref>
|rank = 34 (native),<ref name=Encarta>{{cite webencyclopedia |url=http://encarta.msn.com/media_701500404/Languages_Spoken_by_More_Than_10_Million_People.html |title=Languages Spoken by More Than 10 Million People |publisher=Microsoft Encarta 2006 }}</ref>, 41 ([[List of languages by number of native speakers#10 to 60 million native speakers|ranking by SIL estimate]])
|fam2 = [[Italic languages|Italic]]
|fam3 = [[Romance languages|Romance]]
|fam4 = [[Eastern Romance languages|East Romance]]
|nation = {{flag|Romania}}<br />{{flag|Moldova}} <ref name=Moldova>The [[constitution]] of the Republic of [[Moldova]] refers to the country's language as ''Moldovan'' rather than ''Romanian'', though in practice it is often called "Romanian". The introduction of the law concerning the functioning of the languages (September 1989), still effective in the Republic of Moldova according to the Constitution ,[http://www.parlament.md/law/constitution/t7/ Parlament.md], asserts the linguistic identity between the Romanian language and the Moldovan language. [http://www.iatp.md/ladom/downloads/M3.doc] IATP.md]</ref> <br />{{flagicon|Greece}} [[Mount Athos]] (Greece) <br />{{flag|Vojvodina}} ([[Serbia]])
{{flag|European Union}}<br />[[Latin Union]]
|minority={{UKR}}
|agency = [[Romanian Academy|Academia Română]]
|iso1 = ro|iso2b=rum|iso2t=ron|iso3=ron|map=[[FáìlìImage:Map Roumanophone World.png|center|300px]]<br /><center><small>Map of the Romanian-speaking territories</center></small>}}
{{Wiktionary|Romanian}}
'''Romanian''' (or '''Daco-Romanian'''; obsolete spellings '''Rumanian''', '''Roumanian'''; self-designation: ''română'', ''limba română'' {{IPA-ro|ˈlimba roˈmɨnə||Limba_Română.ogg}} ("the Romanian language") or ''româneşte'' (lit. "in Romanian") is a [[Romance languages|Romance language]] spoken by around 24 to 28 million people,<ref name="28mil"/><ref name=Encarta /> primarily in [[Romania]] and [[Moldova]]. It has official status in Romania, Republic of Moldova, the Autonomous Province of [[Vojvodina]] in [[Serbia]] and in the autonomous [[Mount Athos]] in [[Greece]]. In the Republic of Moldova, the language is officially called ''limba moldovenească'' ("[[Moldovan language|Moldovan]]") for political reasons.
 
[[Romanians|Romanian speakers]] are scattered across many other countries, notably [[Italy]], [[Spain]], [[Ukraine]], [[United States]], [[Canada]], [[Israel]], [[Russia]], [[Portugal]], [[United Kingdom]], [[France]], and [[Germany]].
'''Romanian'''
 
==History==
{{ẹ̀kúnrẹ́rẹ́}}
{{Main|History of Romanian language|Origin of the Romanians}}
== Itokasi ==
{{reflist}}
<!-- interwiki -->
 
The [[Dacia]]ns, an Indo-European people, were the ancient inhabitants of Romanian territory. They were defeated by the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] in 106, and part of [[Dacia]] ([[Oltenia]], [[Banat]], and [[Transylvania]]) became a [[Roman Dacia|Roman province]]. This province, which was rich in ores, especially silver and gold,<ref>{{cite web|title = Dacia-Province of the Roman Empire|publisher =United Nations of Roma Victor|url =http://www.unrv.com/provinces/dacia.php|text="gold and silver were found in great quantities in the Western Carpathians. After Trajan's conquest, he brought back to Rome over 165 tons of gold and 330 tons of silver"}}</ref> was colonized by the Romans,<ref>{{cite book|last = Deletant|first = Dennis|title = Colloquial Romanian|publisher = Routledge|year=1995|location =New York|page =1}}</ref> who brought with them [[Vulgar Latin]] as the language of administration and commerce, and who started a period of intense [[Romanization (cultural)|romanization]], which gave birth to the proto-Romanian language.<ref>{{cite book| last =Matley| first =Ian| title =Romania; a Profile| publisher =Praeger|year=1970| page =85}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last = Giurescu| first =Constantin C.| title = The Making of the Romanian People and Language| publisher =Meridiane Publishing House|year=1972| location =Bucharest| pages =43, 98–101,141}}</ref> But in the 3rd century CE, under the pressure of [[Free Dacians]] and from invasions of migratory populations such as [[Goths]], the [[Roman Empire]] was forced to withdraw from [[Dacia]], in 271 CE, leaving it to the Goths.<ref>{{cite book|last =Eutropius|authorlink = Eutropius (historian)|coauthors = Justin, Cornelius Nepos|title =Eutropius, Abridgment of Roman History|publisher =George Bell and Sons|year=1886| location =London| url = http://www.ccel.org/p/pearse/morefathers/eutropius_breviarium_2_text.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last = Watkins|first = Thayer|title = The Economic History of the Western Roman Empire |url =http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/barbarians.htm|text= "The Emperor Aurelian recognized the realities of the military situation in Dacia and around 271 CE withdrew Roman troops from Dacia leaving it to the Goths. The Danube once again became the northern frontier of the Roman Empire in eastern Europe"}}</ref> It is a matter of debate whether modern-day Romanians are descendants of the people that abandoned the area and settled south of the Danube or of the [[Daco-Roman|romanized people]] that remained in Dacia.
[[Ẹ̀ka:Húngárì]]
[[Image:Map-balkans-vlachs.png|thumb|300px|left|Map of [[Balkan]]s with regions inhabited by Romanians/Vlachs highlighted]]
[[Ẹ̀ka:Àwọn èdè|Romania]]
 
Owing to its people's geographical isolation, Romanian was probably among the first of the [[Romance language]]s to split from Latin.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} It received little influence from other Romance languages until the modern period (the middle of the 19th century), and is therefore one of the most uniform languages in Europe. It has the largest number of speakers of the remaining [[Eastern Romance languages]] and is more conservative than other Romance languages in [[Romanian nouns|nominal]] [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]]. Romanian has preserved a part of the Latin [[declension]], but whereas Latin had six cases, Romanian has three: the [[nominative]]-[[accusative]], the [[genitive]]-[[dative case|dative]], and marginally the [[vocative]]. Romanian nouns also preserve the neuter [[Grammatical gender|gender]]. However, the [[verb]] morphology of Romanian has shown the same move towards a compound [[perfect tense|perfect]] and [[future tense]] as the other Romance languages. Compared to the other [[Romance languages]], during its evolution, Romanian simplified the original Latin [[Grammatical tense|tense]] system in extreme ways,<ref>Yves D’hulst, Martine Coene, Larisa Avram, “Syncretic and analytic tenses in Romanian”, in “Balkan Syntax ans Semantics”, pag. 366: "In its evolution, Romanian simplified the original Latin tense system in extreme ways."</ref> in particular the original Latin absence of [[sequence of tenses]].<ref>Yves D’hulst et al., “Syncretic and analytic tenses in Romanian”, in “Balkan Syntax ans Semantics”, p.355: "general absence of consecutio temporum."</ref>
 
All the dialects of Romanian are believed to have been unified in a [[Proto-Romanian]] language up to sometime between the 7th and 10th centuries, when the area came under the influence of the [[Byzantine Empire]]. It was then that Romanian became influenced by the [[Slavic languages]]<ref>Graham Mallinson, “Rumanian”, in “The Romance Languages”, Taylor & Francis, 1997, p. 413: "Much more substantial than the Germanic adstrate in the Western Romance Languages is the Slavic adstrate in Balkan Romance."</ref> and to some degree by [[Greek language|Greek]]. For example, [[Aromanian language|Aromanian]], one of the closest relatives of Romanian, has very few Slavic words.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} Also, the variations in the "Daco-Romanian" dialect (spoken throughout Romania and Moldova) are very small. The use of this uniform "Daco-Romanian" dialect extends well beyond the borders of the Romanian state: a Romanian-speaker from Moldova speaks the same language as a Romanian-speaker from the Serbian [[Banat]]. Romanian was influenced by Slavic, Greek (Byzantine, then [[Phanariotes|Phanariote]]), Turkish, and Hungarian, while the other Romance languages were influenced by [[Germanic languages|Germanic]], [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] and [[Arabic]].
 
==Geographic distribution==
{{See also|Romanian-American}}
{{Romanian language clickable map}}
{| border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" style="float:right; width:345px; margin:0 0 1em 1em; border:1px #ddd solid; border-collapse:collapse; font-size:95%;"
|+<big><big>'''Romanian speaking countries and territories'''</big></big>
|-
! style="background:#ddd;"| '''Country'''
! style="background:#ddd;"|Speakers <br> (%)
! style="background:#ddd;"|Speakers <br>(native)
! style="background:#ddd;"|Population
|-
! colspan="4" style="background:#f9f9f9;"|[[Europe]]
|-
|[[Romania]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 91%
| style="text-align:right;"| 19,736,517
| style="text-align:right;"| 21,698,181
|-
|[[Moldova]] ²
| style="text-align:right;"| 76.4%
| style="text-align:right;"| 2,588,355
| style="text-align:right;"| 3,388,071
|-
|[[Transnistria]] (Eastern Moldova)³
| style="text-align:right;"| 31.9%
| style="text-align:right;"| 177,050
| style="text-align:right;"| 555,500
|-
|[[Vojvodina]] ([[Serbia]])
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.5%
| style="text-align:right;"| 29,512
| style="text-align:right;"| 2,031,992
|-
|colspan="4"|<small>not official:</small>
|-
|[[Timočka Krajina]] (Serbia) <sup>4</sup>
| style="text-align:right;"| 8.2%
| style="text-align:right;"| 58,221
| style="text-align:right;"| 712,050
|-
|[[Spain]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.7%
| style="text-align:right;"| 796,576<ref>Instituto Nacional de Estadística: ''Avance del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero de 2009. Datos provisionales.'' [http://www.ine.es/prensa/np551.pdf INE.es]</ref>
| style="text-align:right;"| 46,661,950
|-
|[[Italy]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.06%
| style="text-align:right;"| 640,000<ref>[http://www.istat.it/dati/catalogo/20080528_00/inbreve5.pdf ISTAT.it]</ref>
| style="text-align:right;"| 60,345,000
|-
|[[Ukraine]] <sup>5</sup>
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.8%
| style="text-align:right;"| 327,703
| style="text-align:right;"| 48,457,000
|-
|[[Hungary]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.1%
| style="text-align:right;"| 8,480<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ron |title=Number of speakers of Romanian in Hungarry in 1995 according to Ethnologue |publisher=Ethnologue.com |date= |accessdate=2010-05-23}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;"| 10,198,315
|-
! colspan="4" style="background:#f9f9f9;"|[[Asia]]
|-
|colspan="4"|<small>not official:</small>
|-
|[[Israel]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.7%
| style="text-align:right;"| 250,000
| style="text-align:right;"| 6,800,000
|-
|[[Kazakhstan]] <sup>1</sup>
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.1%
| style="text-align:right;"| 20,054
| style="text-align:right;"| 14,953,126
|-
|[[Russia]] <sup>1</sup>
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.12%
| style="text-align:right;"| 169,698 <ref>[http://www.perepis2002.ru/index.html?id=87 Perepis2002.ru] Perepis 2002</ref>
| style="text-align:right;"| 145,537,200
|-
! colspan="4" style="background:#f9f9f9;"|[[The Americas]]
|-
|colspan="4"|<small>not official:</small>
|-
|[[Canada]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.34%
| style="text-align:right;"| 110,000
| style="text-align:right;"| 32,207,113
|-
|[[United States]] <sup>6</sup>
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.12%
| style="text-align:right;"| 340,000
| style="text-align:right;"| 281,421,906
|-
! colspan="4" style="background:#f9f9f9; text-align:left;"| <small>
<sup>1</sup> Many are Moldovans who were deported<br />
² Data only for the districts on the right bank of Dniester (without Transnistria and the city of Tighina). In Moldova, it is sometimes referred to as the "[[Moldovan language]]"<br />
³ In Transnistria, it is officially called "[[Moldovan language]]" and is written in [[Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet]].<br />
<sup>4</sup> Officially divided into Vlachs and Romanians<br />
<sup>5</sup> Most in Northern Bukovina and Southern Bessarabia; according to a ''Moldova Noastră'' study (based on the latest Ukrainian census).<ref>[http://noinu.rdscj.ro/article.php?articleID=146&document=4 RDSCJ.ro]{{dead link|date=May 2010}}</ref><br />
<sup>6</sup>
|}
 
Romanian is spoken mostly in [[Southeastern Europe|Southeastern]], [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]], although speakers of the language can be found all over the world, mostly due to emigration of Romanian nationals and the return of immigrants to Romania back to their original countries. Romanian speakers account for 0.5% of the world's population,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dtil.unilat.org/LI/2005/ro/rezultatele_detaliate.htm |title=Latin Union - Languages and cultures online 2005 |publisher=Dtil.unilat.org |date= |accessdate=2010-05-23}}</ref> and 4% of the Romance-speaking population of the world.<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/media_701500404/Languages_Spoken_by_More_Than_10_Million_People.html MSN Encarta - Languages Spoken by More Than 10 Million People]{{dead link|date=May 2010}}</ref>
 
Romanian is the single official and national language in [[Romania]] and [[Moldova]], although it shares the official status at regional level with other languages in the Moldovan autonomies of [[Gagauzia]] and [[Transnistria]]. Romanian is also an official language of the [[Autonomous Province of Vojvodina]] in [[Serbia]] along with five other languages. Romanian minorities are encountered in [[Serbia]] ([[Timok Valley]]), [[Ukraine]] ([[Chernivtsi oblast|Chernivtsi]] and [[Odessa oblast]]s), [[Hungary]] ([[Gyula, Hungary|Gyula]]) and [[Bulgaria]] ([[Vidin]]). Large immigrant communities are found in [[Italy]], [[Spain]], [[France]], and [[Portugal]].
 
As of 1995, the largest Romanian-speaking community in [[Asia]] is found in [[Israel]], where Romanian is spoken by 5% of the population.<ref>According to the 1993 ''Statistical Abstract of Israel'' there were 250,000 Romanian speakers in Israel, at a population of 5,548,523 (census 1995).</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eurojewcong.org/ejc/news.php?id_article=110 |title=Reports of about 300,000 Jews that left the country after WW2 |publisher=Eurojewcong.org |date= |accessdate=2010-05-23}}</ref> Romanian is also spoken as a second language by people from Arabic-speaking countries who have studied in [[Romania]]. It is estimated that almost half a million [[Middle East]]ern Arabs studied in Romania during the 1980s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.evz.ro/article.php?artid=185041 |title=Evenimentul Zilei |publisher=Evz.ro |date= |accessdate=2010-05-23}}</ref> Small Romanian-speaking communities are to be found in [[Kazakhstan]] and [[Russia]]. Romanian is also spoken within communities of Romanian and Moldovan immigrants in the [[United States]], [[Canada]] and [[Australia]], although they don't make up a large homogeneous community state-wide.
 
===Legal status===
====In Romania====
According to the [[Constitution of Romania]] of 1991, as revised in 2003, Romanian is the official language of the Republic.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cdep.ro/pls/dic/site.page?den=act2_1&par1=1 |title=Constitution of Romania |publisher=Cdep.ro |date= |accessdate=2010-05-23}}</ref>
 
[[Romania]] mandates the use of Romanian in official government publications, public [[education]] and legal [[contract]]s. [[Advertisement]]s must bear a translation of foreign words, while trade signs and logos shall be written predominantly in Romanian.<ref>Art. 27 (3), Legea nr. 26/1990 privind Registrul Comerţului</ref>
 
The [[Romanian Language Institute]] (''Institutul Limbii Române''), established by the Ministry of Education of Romania, promotes Romanian and supports people willing to study the language, working together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department for Romanians Abroad.<ref>[http://www.edu.ro/index.php/articles/c262/ Ministry of Education of Romania]</ref>
 
====In Moldova====
{{Main|Moldovan language}}
The [[Constitution of Moldova]] names the state language of the country "[[Moldovan language|Moldovan]]". However, linguists consider it to be largely identical to Romanian. It has been the sole official language since the adoption of the Law on State Language of the [[Moldavian SSR]] in [[1989]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Dalby |first=Andrew |authorlink=Andrew Dalby |title=Dictionary of Languages |origyear=1998 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=0-7475-3117-X |page=518}}</ref> This law mandates the use of Moldovan in all the political, economical, cultural and social spheres, as well as asserting the existence of a "linguistic [[Moldovan language|Moldo]]-Romanian identity".<ref>[http://www.iatp.md/ladom/downloads/M3.doc Legea cu privire la functionarea limbilor vorbite pe teritoriul RSS Moldovenesti Nr.3465-XI din 01.09.89 Vestile nr.9/217, 1989] (Law regarding the usage of languages spoken on the territory of the Republic of Moldova): ''"Moldavian RSS supports the desire of the Moldovans that live across the borders of the Republic, and - considering the existing Moldo-Romanian linguistic identity - of the Romanians that live on the territory of the USSR, of doing their studies and satisfying their cultural needs in their maternal language."''</ref> It is also used in schools, mass media, education and in the colloquial speech and writing. Outside the political arena the language is most often called "Romanian". In the breakaway territory of [[Transnistria]], it is co-official with [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] and [[Russian language|Russian]].
 
In the [[2004 Moldovan Census|2004 census]], out of the 3,383,332 people living in Moldova, 16.5% (558,508) stated Romanian as their mother tongue, whereas 60% stated Moldovan. While 40% of all [[urban area|urban]] Romanian/Moldovan speakers identified their native tongue as Romanian, in the countryside under 12% of Romanian/Moldovan speakers indicated Romanian as their mother tongue.<ref>National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova: [http://www.statistica.md/recensamint.php?lang=ro Census 2004]</ref> However, the group of experts from the international census observation Mission to the Republic of Moldova concluded that the items in the questionnaire dealing with nationality and language proved to be the most sensitive ones, particularly with reference to the recording of responses to these questions as being "Moldovan" or "Romanian", and therefore it concluded that special care would need to be taken in interpreting them.<ref>[http://azi.md/news?ID=34282 Experts Offering to Consult the National Statistics Bureau in Evaluation of the Census Data], ''Moldova Azi'', May 19, 2005, story attributed to [[AP Flux]]. Retrieved October 11, 2005.</ref>
 
====In Vojvodina====
{{Main|Official status of Romanian language in Vojvodina}}
[[Image:Vojvodina romanian map.png|thumb|300px|Official usage of Romanian language in [[Vojvodina]], Serbia]]
[[Image:Romanian language Serbia.png|thumb|Romanian language in entire [[Serbia]] ''(see also [[Romanians of Serbia]])'', census 2002
{| style="width:100%;"
|-
| valign=top |
{{legend|#DFB5F7|1-5%}}
{{legend|#D094EE|5-10%}}
{{legend|#B366FF|10-15%}}
| valign=top |
{{legend|#903CC4|15-25%}}
{{legend|#6B0194|25-35%}}
{{legend|#490165|over 35%}}
|}]]
The [[Constitution of the Republic of Serbia]] <ref>Official Gazette of Republic of Serbia, No. 1/90</ref> determines that in the regions of the Republic of Serbia inhabited by national minorities, their own languages and scripts shall be officially used as well, in the manner established by law.
 
The Statute of the Autonomous Province of [[Vojvodina]] <ref>Official Gazette of Autonomous Province of Vojvodina</ref> determines that, together with the Serbo-Croat language and the Cyrillic script, and the Latin script as stipulated by the law, the [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], Romanian and [[Rusyn language]]s and their scripts, as well as languages and scripts of other nationalities, shall simultaneously be officially used in the work of the bodies of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, in the manner established by the law. The bodies of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina are: the Assembly, the Executive Council and the Provincial administrative bodies.<ref>[http://www.puma.vojvodina.sr.gov.yu/text.php?sek=42&vr=1&PHPSESSID=e5dca20bb275318e6915ffc24968d402 Official use of languages and scripts in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina] published by the ''Provincial Secretariat for Regulations, Administration and National Minorities''</ref>
 
<!-- let the Romanian language names of the municipalities, as Romanian is official there -->
The Romanian language and script are officially used in eight municipalities: [[Alibunar]], [[Biserica Albă (Vojvodina)|Biserica Albă]] ({{lang-sr|Bela Crkva}}), [[Zitişte]] (Žitište), [[Zrenianin]] (Zrenjanin), [[Kovăciţa]] (Kovačica), [[Cuvin]] (Kovin), [[Plandişte]] (Plandište) and [[Sečanj]]. In the municipality of [[Vârşeţ]] (Vršac), Romanian is official only in the villages of [[Voivodinţ]] (Vojvodinci), [[Marcovăţ]] (Markovac), [[Straja]] (Straža), [[Jamu Mic]] (Mali Žam), [[Malo Središte|Srediştea Mică]] (Malo Središte), [[Mesić (Vršac)|Mesici]] (Mesić), [[Jablanka]], [[Salčica|Sălciţa]] (Salčica), [[Ritiševo|Râtişor]] (Ritiševo), [[Oreşaţ]] (Orašac) and [[Coştei]] (Kuštilj).<ref>Provincial Secretariat for Regulations, Administration and National Minorities: [http://www.puma.vojvodina.sr.gov.yu/dokumenti/sljezik.xls Official use of the Romanian language in the APV]</ref>
 
In the 2002 Census, the last carried out in Serbia, 1.5% of Vojvodinians chose Romanian as their mother tongue.
 
====In other countries and organisations====
{{See also|Romanian diaspora}}
In parts of Ukraine where Romanians constitute a significant share of the local population (districts in [[Chernivtsi Oblast|Chernivtsi]], [[Odessa Oblast|Odessa]] and [[Zakarpattia Oblast|Zakarpattia]] [[oblast]]s) Romanian is being taught in schools as a primary language and there are newspapers, TV, and radio broadcasting in Romanian.<ref>Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research: [http://www.ucipr.kiev.ua/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3384&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0], [http://www.ucipr.kiev.ua/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3377&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0]</ref><ref>[http://www.saske.sk/cas/1-2000/gulpa-petrisce.html Slovak Academy of Sciences in Kosice]{{dead link|date=May 2010}}</ref>
The [[University of Chernivtsi]] trains teachers for Romanian schools in the fields of Romanian philology, mathematics and physics.<ref>{{cite web|author=Kramar Andriy |url=http://www.chnu.cv.ua/index.php?page=ua/gradinf/rules/02bac_d |title=University of Chernivtsi |publisher=Chnu.cv.ua |date= |accessdate=2010-05-23}}</ref>
 
Romanian is an official or administrative language in various communities and organisations, such as the [[Latin Union]] and the [[European Union]]. Romanian is also one of the five languages in which religious services are performed in the autonomous monastic state of [[Mount Athos]], spoken in the monk communities of [[Prodromos (Mount Athos)|Prodromos]] and [[Lacu (Mount Athos)|Lacu]].
[[Image:DiagramăLimbaRomână.png|350px|thumb|Distribution of first-language native Romanian speakers by country]]
 
===As a second and foreign language===
Romanian is taught in some areas that have Romanian minority communities, such as [[Vojvodina]] in Serbia, [[Bulgaria]], [[Ukraine]] and [[Hungary]]. The [[Romanian Cultural Institute]] (ICR) has since 1992 organised summer training courses in Romanian for language teachers in these countries.<ref>[http://www.ziua.net/display.php?id=183071&data=2005-08-19&ziua=f08bdeacd2583ee59a42d5f08d1fba7e ''Cursuri de perfecţionare''], published in [[Ziua]] on August 19, 2005</ref> In some of the schools, there are non-Romanian nationals who study Romanian as a foreign language (for example the Nicolae Bălcescu High-school in [[Gyula, Hungary]]).
 
Romanian is taught as a [[foreign language]] in various tertiary institutions, mostly in European countries such as [[Germany]], [[France]] and [[Italy]], as well as the [[Netherlands]], and elsewhere, like the [[USA]]. Overall, it is taught as a foreign language in 38 countries around the world.<ref>Romanian Language Institute: [http://www.old.edu.ro/download/ilrdoc3.pdf Data concerning the teaching of the Romanian language abroad]</ref>
 
===Popular culture===
Romanian has become popular in other countries through movies and songs performed in the Romanian language. Examples of recent Romanian acts that had a great success in non-Romanophone countries are the bands [[O-Zone]] (which had great success with their #1 single ''[[Dragostea din tei]]/Numa Numa'' across the world), [[Akcent]] (popular in the [[Netherlands]], [[Poland]] and other European countries), [[Activ]] (successful in some Eastern European countries) as well as high-rated movies like [[4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days]], [[The Death of Mr. Lazarescu]], [[12:08 East of Bucharest]] or [[California Dreamin' (film)|California Dreamin']] (all of them with awards at the prestigious [[Cannes Film Festival]]).
 
<span style="font-size:90%">
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NwJzdPIJPA Trailer of ''4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days'' on YouTube]
</span>
 
On the other hand, some artists wrote songs dedicated to the Romanian language. The multiplatinum pop trio [[O-Zone]] (originally from [[Moldova]]) released a song called "''Nu mă las de limba noastră''" ('I won't forsake our language'). The final verse of this song, ''Eu nu mă las de limba noastră, de limba noastră cea română'' is translated in [[English language|English]] as ''I won't forsake our language, our Romanian language''. Also, the [[Moldova]]n musicians Doina and Ion Aldea Teodorovici performed a song entitled "The Romanian language".
 
<span style="font-size:90%">
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBKIpALH_Mw ''O-Zone - Nu mă las de limba noastră'' on YouTube]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xbe6sq9FVU ''Doina and Ion Aldea Teodorovici - Limba română'' on YouTube]
</span>
 
===Dialects===
{{Main|Varieties of the Romanian language}}
{{See also|Proto-Romanian language|Origin of Romanians#Daco-Romanian continuity}}
 
The term "Romanian" is sometimes<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/508587/Romanian-language Encyclopaedia Britannica article on "Romanian"]</ref> (although not often) used also in a more general sense, which envelops four hardly mutually intelligible languages: Romanian, [[Istro-Romanian language|Istro-Romanian]], [[Aromanian language|Aromanian]], and [[Megleno-Romanian language|Megleno-Romanian]]. The four languages are the offspring of the [[Romance languages|Romance varieties]] spoken both to the north and to south of [[Danube]], before the settlement of the [[Slavic peoples|Slavonian]] tribes south of the river - Romanian in the North, the latter two in the south, while Istro-Romanian is believed to be the offspring of a 11th century migration from Romania. These four are also known as the [[Eastern Romance languages]]. When the term "Romanian" is used in this larger sense, the term "Daco-Romanian" is used for Romanian itself. The origin of the term "Daco-Romanian" can be traced back to the first printed book of Romanian grammar in 1780,<ref>Samuil Micu, Gheorghe Şincai, ''Elementa linguae daco-romanae sive valachicae'', Vienna, 1780.</ref> by [[Samuil Micu]] and [[Gheorghe Şincai]]. There, the Romanian dialect spoken north of the [[Danube]] is called ''lingua Daco-Romana'' to emphasize its origin and its area of use, which includes the former [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] province of [[Dacia]] (though it is spoken also south of the Danube, in [[Dobrudja]], [[Vlachs of Serbia|Central Serbia]] and northern Bulgaria).
 
This article deals with Romanian language, and thus only its regional variations are discussed here. The differences between these varieties are usually small, usually consisting in a few dozen regional words and some phonetic changes, but also grammar aspects. Standard literary Romanian language is identical when it comes to writing, regardless of the region or country.
 
[[Image:Romania Graiuri.jpg|thumb|350px|Romanian (specifically Daco-Romanian) varieties (''graiuri'').<br />Blue: Southern varieties<br />Red: Northern varieties]]
Like most natural languages, Romanian can be regarded as a [[dialect continuum]]. The dialects of Romanian are distinguished by minor differences in pronunciation. Romanians themselves speak of the differences as accents or "speeches" (in Romanian: ''accent'' or ''grai''). Several regional ''accents'' are usually distinguished:
* Muntenian accent (Graiul muntenesc), spoken mainly in [[Wallachia]] and southern parts of Dobruja.
* Oltenian accent (Graiul oltenesc), spoken mainly in [[Oltenia]] and by the Romanian minority in [[Timok region]] of Serbia. In Oltenia a notable dialectal feature is the preferred usage of the [[Romanian verbs#Verb paradigm|simple perfect]] tense rather than the compound perfect which is preferred elsewhere.
* Moldavian accent (Graiul moldovenesc), spoken mainly in [[Moldavia]], northern parts of [[Dobruja]] and [[Moldova]]. Written <nowiki><p></nowiki> is at times realised as {{IPA|/k/}}, written <nowiki><c></nowiki> before front vowels is sometimes realised as {{IPA|/ʃ/}}, written <nowiki><ă></nowiki>, in final position, is sometimes palatalized, written <nowiki><e></nowiki> is rarely also pronounced {{IPA|/i/}}.
* Maramureşian accent (Graiul maramureşean), spoken mainly in [[Maramureş]].
* Transylvanian accent (Graiul ardelenesc), spoken mainly in [[Transylvania]].
* Banatian accent (Graiul bănăţean), spoken mainly in [[Banat]]. Written <nowiki><t></nowiki> before front vowels is sometimes realised as {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}} and <d> as {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}}.
 
Over the last century, however, regional accents have been weakened due to mass communication and greater mobility.
 
==Classification==
{{See also|Romance languages}}
[[Image:Romance languages and Romanian.png|thumb|450px|Romanian language in the Romance language family]]
Romanian is a Romance language, belonging to the [[Italic languages|Italic branch]] of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language family]], having much in common with languages such as [[French language|French]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], and [[Spanish language|Spanish]].
 
However, the languages closest to Romanian are the other [[Eastern Romance languages]], spoken south of Danube: [[Aromanian language|Aromanian/Macedo-Romanian]], [[Megleno-Romanian language|Megleno-Romanian]] and [[Istro-Romanian language|Istro-Romanian]], which are frequently classified as dialects of Romanian. An alternative name for Romanian used by linguists to disambiguate with the other Eastern Romance languages is "Daco-Romanian", referring to the area where it is spoken (which corresponds roughly to the onetime [[Roman Empire|Roman]] province of [[Dacia]]).
 
Compared with the other Romance languages, the closest relative of Romanian is [[Italian language|Italian]]; the two languages show a limited degree of asymmetrical [[mutual intelligibility]], especially in their cultivated forms: speakers of Romanian seem to understand Italian more easily than the other way around.{{Citation needed|date=October 2007}} Even though Romanian has obvious grammatical and [[lexical similarity|lexical similarities]] with [[French language|French]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]] or [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], it is not mutually intelligible with them to a practical extent; Romanian speakers will usually need some formal study of basic grammar and vocabulary before being able to understand even the simplest sentences in those languages (and vice-versa).
 
In the following sample sentence (meaning "She always closes the window before having dinner.") [[cognate]]s are written in bold:
<!-- in bold are words that derive from the same Latin word; words are bolded together with their articles: e.g. fereastră=finestra but fereastra=la finestra -->
 
:'''''Illa semper fenestram claudit antequam cenat.''''' ([[Latin]])
:'''''Ea închide''' totdeauna '''fereastra înainte de a cina.''''' (Romanian)
:'''''Lei''' '''chiude sempre la finestra''' prima '''di cenare'''''. ([[Italian language|Italian]])
:'''''Elle''' ferme toujours '''la fenêtre avant de''' dîner.'' ([[French language|French]])
:'''''Ella siempre''' cierra la ventana '''antes de cenar'''.'' ([[Spanish language|Spanish]])
:'''''Ela sempre '''fecha''' a '''janela''' antes de '''jantar''' (cear).'' ([[Portuguese language|Portuguese]])
:'''''Eilla''''' pecha '''siempre''' la ventana '''enantes de cenare'''. ([[Leonese language|Leonese]])
:'''''Idda sempri chiudi la finestra àntica cina'''.'' (Sicilian)
:'''''Ella sempre''' tanca '''la finestra''' '''abans de''' sopar.'' ([[Catalan language|Catalan]])
:'''''Ela''' pecha '''sempre''' a xanela '''denantes de cear'''.'' ([[Galician language|Galician]])
:'''''Eya siempre''' serra la ventana '''antes de senar.''' ([[Judaeo-Spanish language | Judaeo-Spanish ]])
:'''''Essa''' nzerra '''sempe''' ''''a fenesta''' primme '''de cenà'''.'' ([[Neapolitan language|Neapolitan]])
:'''''Ea''' '''sempre''' '''sera''' ''''a fenestra''' prima '''de cenà'''.'' ([[Venetian language|Venetian]])
{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}}
 
A study done by Italian-American linguist [[Mario Pei]] in [[1949]], which analyzed the evolutionary degree of languages in comparison to their inheritance language (in the case of [[Romance languages]] to [[Latin]] comparing [[phonology]], [[inflection]], [[discourse]], [[syntax]], [[vocabulary]], and [[intonation (linguistics)|intonation]]) revealed the following percentages:<ref>{{cite book |title=Story of Language |last=Pei |first=Mario |authorlink=Mario Pei |year=1949 |isbn=0397004001 }}</ref>
 
*[[Sardinian language|Sardinian]]: 8%;
*[[Italian language|Italian]]: 12%;
*[[Spanish language|Spanish]]: 20%;
*Romanian: 23.5%;
*[[Occitan language|Occitan]]: 25%;
*[[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]: 31%;
*[[French language|French]]: 44%.
 
The [[lexical similarity]] with Italian is estimated at 77%, followed by French at 75%, Sardinian 74%, Catalan 73%, Spanish 71%, Portuguese, and [[Rhaeto-Romance]] at 72%.
 
In modern times Romanian vocabulary has been strongly influenced by French, Italian and other international words.
 
===Contacts with other languages===
====Dacian language====
The [[Dacian language]] was an Indo-European language spoken by the ancient Dacians. It may have been the first language to influence the Latin spoken in Dacia, but little is known about it. About 300 words found only in Romanian or with a cognate in the [[Albanian language]] may be inherited from Dacian, many of them being related to pastoral life (for example: ''balaur'' "dragon", ''brânză'' "cheese", ''mal'' "shore"<!--The connection between pastoral life on the one hand and dragons and shores on the other is a bit confusing. /Peter Isotalo-->). Some linguists have asserted that Albanians are Dacians who were not romanized and migrated southward.<ref name="georgiev">Vladimir Georgiev (Gheorghiev), {{ro icon}} ''Raporturile dintre limbile dacă, tracă şi frigiană'', "Studii Clasice" Journal, II, 1960, 39-58</ref>
 
A different view is that these non-Latin words (many with Albanian cognates) are not necessarily Dacian, but rather were brought into the territory that is modern Romania by Romance-speaking shepherds migrating north from Albania, Serbia, and northern Greece who became the Romanian people. However, the Eastern Romance substratum appears to have been a [[satem language]], while the Paleo-Balkan languages spoken in northern Greece ([[Ancient Macedonian language|Ancient Macedonian]]) were most likely [[centum languages]]. The general opinion is that Dacian was a satem language, as was [[Thracian language|Thracian]], which, however, was indeed spoken in the south.<ref name="georgiev"/>
 
====Balkan linguistic union====
While most of Romanian grammar and morphology are based on Latin, there are some features that are shared only with other languages of the Balkans and not found in other Romance languages. The languages of the [[Balkan linguistic union]] belong to individual branches of the [[Indo-European language family]]: [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] and [[Albanian language|Albanian]], and in some cases [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Serbian language|Serbian]]. The shared features include a suffixed [[Article (grammar)|definite article]], the [[syncretism (linguistics)|syncretism]] of genitive and dative case, the formation of the future and perfect tenses, and the lack of infinitives.
 
====Slavic languages====
{{Main|Slavic superstratum in Romanian}}
The Slavic influences on Romanian are especially noticeable and can be observed at all linguistic levels: lexis, phonetics, morphology and syntax. About 20% of Romanian words are of Slavic origin. This is due to the migration of Slavic tribes who traversed the territory of present-day Romania during the early evolution of the language. This process of the introduction of Slavic in Dacia was similar to the appearance of various Germanic dialects in the Western Roman Empire, where Gallic Latin and Northern Italian dialects became strongly germanized.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} However, due to lower Romance-speaking populace in the East, Slavic remained spoken for much longer and did not die out immediately.
 
====Other influences====
Even before the 19th century, Romanian came in contact with several other languages. Some notable examples include:
* [[Greek language|Greek]]: ''folos'' < ''ófelos'' "use", ''buzunar'' < ''buzunára'' "pocket", ''proaspăt'' < ''prósfatos'' "fresh", ''cutie'' < ''cution'' "box"
* [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]: ''oraş'' < ''város'' "town", ''a cheltui'' < ''költeni'' "to spend", ''a făgădui'' < ''fogadni'' "to promise", ''a mântui'' < ''menteni'' "to save"
* [[Turkish language|Turkish]]: ''cafea'' < ''kahve'' "coffee", ''papuc'' < ''papuç'' "slipper", ''ciorbă'' < ''çorba'' "wholemeal soup, sour soup"
* [[German language|German]]: ''cartof'' < ''Kartoffel'' "potato", ''bere'' < ''Bier'' "beer", ''şurub'' < ''Schraube'' "screw", ''turn'' < ''Turm'' "tower", ''ramă'' < ''Rahmen'' "frame", ''muştiuc'' < ''Mundstück'' "mouth piece", ''bormaşină'' < ''Bohrmaschine'' "drilling machine", ''cremşnit'' < ''Kremschnitte'' "cream slice", ''şvaiţer'' < ''Schweizer'' "Swiss cheese", ''şlep'' < ''Schleppkahn'' "barge", ''şpriţ'' < ''Spritzer'' "wine with soda water", ''abţibild'' < ''Abziehbild'' "decal picture", ''şniţel'' < ''Schnitzel'' "cutlet", ''şuncă'' < dialectal ''Schunke'' (''Schinken'') "ham", ''punct'' < ''Punkt'' "point", ''maistru'' < ''Meister'' "master"
* [[Romani language|Romany]], the [[Romanian Roma]] have provided several words to Romanian [[slang]]: ''mișto'' "cool", ''gagică'' < ''[[gadjo|gadji]]'' "girl"
 
====French, Italian and other international words====
Since the 19th century, many modern words were borrowed from the other Romance languages, especially from [[French language|French]] and [[Italian language|Italian]] (for example: ''birou'' "desk, office", ''avion'' "airplane", ''exploata'' "exploit"). It was estimated that about 38% of the number of words in Romanian are of French and/or Italian origin (in many cases both languages); and adding this to the words that were inherited from Latin, about 75%-85% of Romanian words can be traced to Latin. The use of these Romanianized French and Italian loanwords has tended to increase at the expense of Slavic loanwords, many of which have become rare or fallen out of use. As second or third languages, French and Italian themselves are better known in Romania than in Romania's neighbors. Along with the switch to the Latin alphabet in [[Moldova]], the re-latinization of the vocabulary has tended to reinforce the Latin character of the language.
 
In the process of lexical modernization, many of the words already existing as Latin direct heritage, as a part of its core or ''popular'' vocabulary, have been doubled by words borrowed from other [[Romance languages]], thus forming a further and more modern and literary lexical layer. Typically, the ''popular'' word is a noun and the borrowed word an adjective. Some examples:
 
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Latin
!Romanian <br> direct Latin heritage
!Romanian <br> neologism
|-
|agilis <tt>(quick)</tt>
|ager <tt>(astute)</tt>
|agil (it.<''agile'', fr.<''agile'')<br><tt>(agile)</tt>
|-
|aqua <tt>(water)</tt>
|apă <tt>(water)</tt>
|acvatic (it. <''acquatico'', fr.<''aquatique'') <br><tt>(aquatic)</tt>
|-
|dens, dentem <tt>(tooth)</tt>
|dinte <tt>(tooth)</tt>
|dentist (it.<''dentista'', fr.<''dentiste'')<br> <tt>(dentist)</tt>
|-
|directus <tt>(straight)</tt>
|drept <tt>(straight, right)</tt>
|direct (it.<''diretto'', fr.<''direct'')<br> <tt>(direct)</tt>
|-
|frigus <tt>(cold)</tt>
|frig <tt>(cold - ''noun'')</tt>
|frigid (it.<''frigido'', fr.<''frigide'') <br><tt>(frigid)</tt>
|}
 
In the 20th century, an increasing number of [[English language|English]] words have been borrowed (such as: ''gem'' < jam; ''interviu'' < interview; ''meci'' < match; ''manager'' < manager; ''fotbal'' < football; ''sandviş'' < sandwich; ''bişniţă'' < business; ''ciungă'' < chewing gum; ''chec'' < cake). These words are assigned grammatical gender in Romanian and handled according to Romanian rules; thus "the manager" is ''managerul''.
 
==Grammar==
{{Main|Romanian grammar}}
 
Romanian nouns are characterized by gender (feminine, masculine, and neuter), and [[Declension|declined]] by number (singular and plural) and case (nominative/accusative, dative/genitive and vocative). The articles, as well as most adjectives and pronouns, [[agreement (linguistics)|agree]] in gender, number and case with the noun they reference.
 
Romanian is the only Romance language where [[Article (grammar)|definite articles]] are ''[[enclitic]]'': that is, attached to the end of the noun (as in [[North Germanic languages]]), instead of in front (''[[proclitic]]''). They were formed, as in other Romance languages, from the Latin demonstrative pronouns.
 
As in all Romance languages, Romanian verbs are highly inflected for person, number, tense, mood, voice. The usual word order in sentences is SVO (Subject - Verb - Object). Romanian has four verbal [[Grammatical conjugation|conjugations]] which further split into ten conjugation patterns. Verbs can be put in five [[mood (linguistics)|moods]] that are inflected for the person ([[indicative mood|indicative]], [[conditional mood|conditional]]/[[optative mood|optative]], [[imperative mood|imperative]], [[subjunctive mood|subjunctive]], and [[presumptive mood|presumptive]]) and four impersonal moods ([[infinitive]], [[gerund]], [[supine]], and [[participle]]).
 
==Phonology==
{{Main|Romanian phonology}}
 
Romanian has nine [[vowel]]s; the more "exotic" ones are {{IPA|/ɨ/}}, {{IPA|/ə/}} (also in stressed positions), and the diphthongs {{IPA|/e̯a/}} and {{IPA|/o̯a/}}. Additionally, {{IPA|/ø/}} and {{IPA|/y/}} may appear in some borrowed words. There are also twenty-two consonants. The two approximants {{IPA|/j/}} and {{IPA|/w/}} can appear before or after any vowel, creating a large number of glide-vowel sequences which are, strictly speaking, not [[diphthong]]s.
 
In final positions after consonants, a short {{IPA|/i/}} can be deleted, surfacing only as the [[palatalization]] of the preceding consonant (e.g. {{IPA|[mʲ]}}). Similarly, a deleted {{IPA|/u/}} may prompt labialization of a preceding consonant, though this has ceased to carry any morphological meaning.
 
===Phonetic changes===
{{Main|Latin to Romanian sound changes}}
 
Due to its isolation from the other Romance languages, the phonetic evolution of Romanian was quite different, but does share a few changes with Italian, such as {{IPA|[kl]}} > {{IPA|[kj]}} (Lat. '''cl'''arus > Rom. '''chi'''ar, Ital. '''chi'''aro) and also a few with [[Dalmatian language|Dalmatian]], such as {{IPA|/ɡn/}} (probably phonetically {{IPA|[ŋn]}}) > [mn] (Lat. co'''gn'''atus > Rom. cu'''mn'''at, Dalm. co'''mn'''ut).
 
Among the notable phonetic changes are:
* diphthongization of e and o
:* Lat. c'''e'''ra → Rom. c'''ea'''ră (wax)
:* Lat. s'''o'''le → Rom. s'''oa'''re (sun)
* [[iotacism]] {{IPA|[e]}} → {{IPA|[ie]}} in the beginning of the word
:* Lat. h'''e'''rba → Rom. '''ia'''rbă (grass, herb)
* velar {{IPA|[k ɡ]}} → labial {{IPA|[p b m]}} before alveolar consonants and {{IPA|[w]}} (eg. '''ngu''' → '''mb'''):
:* Lat. o'''ct'''o → Rom. o'''pt''' (eight)
:* Lat. li'''ng'''ua → Rom. li'''mb'''ă (tongue, language)
:* Lat. si'''gn'''um → Rom. se'''mn''' (sign)
:* Lat. co'''x'''a → Rom. coa'''ps'''ă (thigh)
* [[rhotacism]] {{IPA|[l]}} → {{IPA|[r]}} between vowels
:* Lat. cae'''l'''um → Rom. ce'''r''' (sky)
* Alveolars {{IPA|[d t]}} palatalized to {{IPA|[(d)z] [ts]}} when before short {{IPA|[e]}} or long {{IPA|[iː]}}
:* Lat. '''d'''eus → Rom. '''z'''eu (god)
:* Lat. '''t'''enem → Rom. '''ţ'''ine (hold)
 
On the other hand, it (along with French) has ''lost'' {{IPA|/kw/}} ('''qu''') sound before {{IPA|/a/}} from original Latin, turning it either into {{IPA|/p/}} (Lat. '''qu'''attuor → Rom.''patru'', "four"; cf. It. ''quattro'') or {{IPA|/k/}} (Lat. '''qu'''ando → Rom.''când'', "when"; Lat. '''qu'''alitas → Rom.''calitate'', "quality").
 
==Writing system==
[[Image:Scrisoarea lui Neacsu.jpg|thumb|[[Neacşu's letter]] is the oldest surviving document written in Romanian]]
 
The first written record of a Romance language spoken in the Middle Ages in the Balkans was written by the Byzantine chronicler [[Theophanes Confessor]] in the 6th century about a military expedition against the [[Eurasian Avars|Avars]] from 587, when a Vlach muleteer accompanying the Byzantine army noticed that the load was falling from one of the animals and shouted to a companion ''Torna, torna fratre'' (meaning "Return, return brother!").
 
The oldest written text in Romanian is a letter from late June 1521, in which Neacşu of [[Câmpulung]] wrote to the mayor of [[Braşov]] about an imminent attack of the Turks. It was written using the [[Romanian Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic alphabet]], like most early Romanian writings. The earliest writing in Latin script was a late 16th century [[Transylvania]]n text which was written with the [[Hungarian alphabet]] conventions.
[[Image:Romanian-kirilitza-tatal-nostru.jpg|thumb|left|300px|A sample of Romanian written in the [[Romanian Cyrillic alphabet]], which was still in use in the early 19th century]]
 
In the late 1700s, [[Transylvania]]n scholars noted the Latin origin of Romanian and adapted the [[Latin alphabet]] to the Romanian language, using some rules from [[Italian language|Italian]], recognized as Romanian's closest relative. The Cyrillic alphabet remained in (gradually decreasing) use until 1860, when Romanian writing was first officially regulated.
 
In the [[Moldavian SSR|Soviet Republic of Moldova]], a special version of the Cyrillic alphabet derived from the Russian version was used, until 1989, when it returned to the Romanian Latin alphabet.
 
===Romanian alphabet===
{{Main|Romanian alphabet}}
The Romanian alphabet is as follows:
:A, a (a); Ă, ă (ă); Â, â (â din a); B, b (be), C, c (ce); D, d (de), E, e (e); F, f (fe / ef); G, g (ghe / ge); H, h (ha / haş); I, i (i); Î, î (î din i); J, j (je), K, k (ka / kapa), L, l (le / el); M, m (me / em); N, n (ne / en); O, o (o); P, p (pe); Q (chiu); R, r, (re / er); S, s (se / es); {{lang|ro|[[Ș]]}}, ș (șe); T, t (te); Ţ, ţ (ţe); U, u (u); V, v (ve); W (dublu ve); X, x (ics); Y (i grec); Z, z (ze / zet).
 
K, Q, W and Y are not part of the native alphabet, were officially introduced in the Romanian alphabet in 1982 and are mostly used to write loanwords like ''kilogram'', ''quasar'', ''watt'', and ''yoga''.
 
The Romanian alphabet is based on the [[Latin alphabet]] with five additional letters Ă, Â, Î, {{lang|ro|[[Ș]]}} , Ţ. Formerly, there were as many as 12 additional letters, but some of them were abolished in subsequent reforms. Also, until the early 20th century, a short vowel marker was used.
 
Today the Romanian alphabet is largely [[Phonemic orthography|phonemic]]. However, the letters ''â'' and ''î'' both represent the same [[close central unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|/ɨ/}}. ''Â'' is used only inside words; ''î'' is used at the beginning or the end of single words and in the middle of compound words). Another exception from a completely phonetic writing system is the fact that [[vowel]]s and their respective [[semivowel]]s are not distinguished in writing. In dictionaries the distinction is marked by separating the entry word into [[syllable]]s for words containing a [[Hiatus (linguistics)|hiatus]].
 
Stressed vowels also are not marked in writing, except very rarely in cases where by misplacing the stress a word might change its meaning and if the meaning is not obvious from the context. For example ''trei copíi'' means "three children" while ''trei cópii'' means "three copies".
 
===Pronunciation===
{{See also|Romanian alphabet#Î versus Â}}
* ''h'' is not silent like in other Romance languages such as Spanish and French, but represents the phoneme {{IPA|/h/}}, except in the digraphs ''ch'' /k/ and ''gh'' /g/ (see below)
* ''j'' represents {{IPA|/ʒ/}}, as in [[French language|French]] or [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] (the sound spelled with ''s'' in the English words 'vision, pleasure, treasure').
* There are two letters with a comma below, {{lang|ro|[[Ș]]}} and {{lang|ro|[[Ț]]}}, which represent the sounds {{IPA|/ʃ/}} and {{IPA|/t͡s/}}. However, the allographs with a cedilla instead of a comma, ''[[Ş]]'' and ''[[Ţ]]'', became widespread when pre-[[Unicode]] and early Unicode [[character sets]] did not include the standard form.
* A final orthographical ''i'' after a consonant often represents the palatalization of the consonant (e. g. ''lup'' {{IPA|/lup/}} "wolf" vs. ''lupi'' {{IPA|/lupʲ/}} "wolves") -- it is ''not'' pronounced like Italian ''lupi'' (which also means "wolves"), and is indeed an example of the [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] influence on Romanian.
* ''ă'' represents the [[schwa]], {{IPA|/ə/}}.
* ''î'' and ''â'' both represent the sound {{IPA|/ɨ/}}. In rapid speech (for example in the name of the country) the ''â'' sound may sound similar to a casual listener to a short [[schwa]] sound but careful speakers will distinguish the sound. The nearest equivalent is found in some English regional accents (it is the first part of the diphthong in ''reed'' in the English accent of Birmingham in the West Midlands of England (''rî-eed'').
* The letter ''e'' generally represents the [[Mid front|mid front unrounded]] vowel {{IPA|[e]}}, somewhat like in the English word ''s'''e'''t''. However, the letter ''e'' is pronounced as ''ie'' {{IPA|[je]}} ([j] sounds like 'y' in 'you') when it is the first letter of any form of the verb ''a fi'' "to be", or of a personal pronoun, for instance ''este'' {{IPA|/jeste/}} "is" and ''el'' {{IPA|/jel/}} "he".<ref>{{ro icon}} Several Romanian dictionaries specify the pronunciation [je] for word-initial letter ''e'' in some personal pronouns: [http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv=el ''el'', ''ei'', etc.] and in some forms of the verb ''a fi'' (''to be''): [http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv=fi ''este'', ''eram'', etc.]</ref><ref>{{ro icon}} Mioara Avram, [http://www.geocities.com/georgepruteanu/carti/avram-ortog-pdf.zip ''Ortografie pentru toți''], Editura Litera, Chișinău, 1997, p. 29</ref> This addition of the semivowel {{IPA|/j/}} does not occur in more recent loans and their derivatives, such as ''eră'' "era", ''electric'' "electric" etc. Some words (such as ''iepure'' "hare", formerly spelled ''epure'') are now written with the initial ''i'' to indicate the semivowel.
* ''x'' represents either the phoneme {{IPA|/ks/}} as in ''expresie'' = expression, or {{IPA|/ɡz/}} as in ''exemplu'' = example, as in [[English language|English]].
* As in [[Italian language|Italian]], the letters ''c'' and ''g'' represent the affricates {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}} and {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}} before ''i'' and ''e'', and {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}} elsewhere. When {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}} are followed by vowels {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/i/}} (or their corresponding [[semivowel]]s or the final {{IPA|/ʲ/}}) the digraphs ''ch'' and ''gh'' are used instead of ''c'' and ''g'', as shown in the table below.
 
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Group
!Phoneme
!Pronunciation
!Examples
|-
|ce, ci
||{{IPA|/tʃ/}}
| ''ch'' in '''chest''', '''cheek'''
| ''cerc'' (circle), ''cine'' (who)
|-
|che, chi
||{{IPA|/k/}}
| ''k'' in '''kettle''', '''kiss'''
| ''chem'' (I call), ''chimie'' (chemistry)
|-
|ge, gi
||{{IPA|/dʒ/}}
| ''j'' in '''jelly''', '''jigsaw'''
| ''ger'' (frost), ''gimnast'' (gymnast)
|-
|ghe, ghi
||{{IPA|/ɡ/}}
| ''g'' in '''get''', '''give'''
| ''gheţar'' (glacier), ''ghid'' (guide)
|}
 
===Punctuation and capitalization===
Uses of punctuation peculiar to Romanian are:
* The quotation marks use the [[Quotation mark, non-English usage#Polish|Polish format]] in the format „quote «inside» quote”, that is, „. . .” for a normal quotation, and double angle symbols for a quotation inside a quotation.
* Proper quotations which span multiple paragraphs don't start each paragraph with the quotation marks; one single pair of quotation marks is always used, regardless of how many paragraphs are quoted;
* Dialogues are identified with [[Quotation mark, non-English usage#Quotation dash|quotation dashes]];
* The [[serial comma|Oxford comma]] before "and" is considered incorrect ("red, yellow and blue" is the proper format);
* Punctuation signs which follow a text in parentheses always follow the final bracket;
* In titles, only the first letter of the first word is capitalized, the rest of the title using sentence capitalization (with all its rules: proper names are capitalized as usual, etc.).
* Names of months and days are not capitalized (''ianuarie'' "January", ''joi'' "Thursday")
* Adjectives derived from proper names are not capitalized (''Germania'' "Germany", but ''german'' "German")
 
==Spelling issues between Romania's and Moldova's usage==
There are minor spelling differences between standard forms of Romanian language used in [[Romania]] and the variant (also called [[Moldovan language|Moldovan]]) used in the [[Republic of Moldova]]&mdash; the [[Academy of Sciences of Moldova]] hadn't switched to the new spelling rules introduced by the [[Romanian Academy]] in 1993. In 2000, the Moldovan Academy recommended adopting the spelling rules used in Romania; in practice, however, many Moldovans persist in using the older spellings.<ref>The new edition of "Dicţionarul ortografic al limbii române (ortoepic, morfologic, cu norme de punctuaţie)" &ndash; introduced by the [[Academy of Sciences of Moldova]] and recommended for publishing following a conference on 15 November 2000 &ndash; applies the decision of the General Meeting of the [[Romanian Academy]] from 17 February 1993, regarding the return to "â" and "sunt" in the orthography of the Romanian language. ([[:ro:Imagine:Asm lbro3.jpg|Introduction, Institute of Linguistics of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova]]) The decision is mandatory in schools.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}</ref>
 
==Language sample==
{{Wiktionary|Category:Romanian language}}
English text:
: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
::''([[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]])''
 
Contemporary Romanian - highlighted words are French or Italian [[loanword]]s:
: Toate fiinţele '''umane''' se nasc '''libere''' şi '''egale''' în '''demnitate''' şi în drepturi. Ele sunt înzestrate cu '''raţiune''' şi '''conştiinţă''' şi trebuie să se '''comporte''' unele faţă de altele în '''spiritul''' '''fraternităţii'''.
 
Romanian, excluding French and Italian loanwords - highlighted words are Slavic loanwords:
: Toate fiinţele omeneşti se nasc '''slobode''' şi '''deopotrivă''' în '''destoinicie''' şi în drepturi. Ele sunt înzestrate cu înţelegere şi cuget şi '''trebuie''' să se poarte unele faţă de altele în '''duh''' de frăţietate.
 
Romanian, excluding loanwords:
: Toate fiinţele omeneşti se nasc nesupuse şi asemenea în preţuire şi în drepturi. Ele sunt înzestrate cu înţelegere şi cuget şi se cuvine să se poarte unele faţă de altele după firea frăţiei.
 
==See also==
* [[Latin Europe]]
* [[Romanian vocabulary]]
* [[Romanianization]]
 
==Notes==
<!--Acest articol foloseşte mecanismul de citare de la Cite.php. Dacă doriţi să aflaţi detalii despre cum se adaugă note de subsol la un articol, vedeţi http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cite/Cite.php -->
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
 
==References==
* Uwe, Hinrichs (ed.), ''Handbuch der Südosteuropa-Linguistik'', Wiesbaden, 1999.
* Rosetti, Alexandru, ''Istoria limbii române'', 2 vols., Bucharest, 1965-1969.
* Kahl, Thede (ed.), ''Das Rumänische und seine Nachbarn'', Berlin, 2009.
* Giurescu, Constantin, ''The Making of the Romanian People and Language'', Bucharest, 1972.
 
==External links==
{{InterWiki|code=ro}}
{{Wikibooks|Romanian}}
{{Wiktionarylang|code=ro}}
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ron Ethnologue report for Romanian]
* [http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/sampa/rom-uni.htm SAMPA for Romanian]
 
===Learning Romanian===
* [http://www.romanianlessons.com/ Romanian Lessons]
* [http://cnt.dnt.md/romint/undp/nivel1.php Romanian lessons], prepared by the Department for Interethnic Relations, Chişinău, Republic of Moldovia
* [http://www.seelrc.org:8080/grammar/pdf/stand_alone_romanian.pdf Romanian Reference Grammar, by Dana Cojocaru, University of Bucharest (183 pages) - 4.6 MB - pdf]
* [http://www.etc.tuiasi.ro/sibm/romanian_spoken_language/index.htm Romanian Language Sounds]
 
===Phrasebooks===
* [http://wikitravel.org/en/Romanian_phrasebook Romanian phrasebook] on [[Wikitravel]]
{{Romanian language|show=yes}}
{{Romanian topics}}
{{Official EU languages}}
{{Romance languages}}
{{Languages of Europe}}
{{Latinunion}}
<!-- spellfixno -->
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romanian Language}}
[[Category:Romanian language| ]]
[[Category:Languages of Austria]]
[[Category:Languages of Hungary]]
[[Category:Languages of Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Languages of Moldova]]
[[Category:Languages of Romania]]
[[Category:Languages of Russia]]
[[Category:Languages of Serbia]]
[[Category:Languages of Ukraine]]
[[Category:Languages of Vojvodina]]
 
{{Link FA|hu}}
{{Link FA|ro}}
<!-- interwiki -->
 
[[af:Roemeens]]
[[als:Rumänische Sprache]]
[[an:Idioma rumán]]
[[ang:Rumǣnisc sprǣc]]
[[ar:لغة رومانية]]
[[arzan:لغهIdioma رومانىrumán]]
[[roa-rup:Română]]
[[frp:Roumen]]
[[ast:Rumanu]]
[[az:Rumın dili]]
[[bn:রুমানীয় ভাষা]]
[[bcl:Rumano]]
[[zh-min-nan:România-gí]]
[[be:Румынская мова]]
[[be-x-old:Румынская мова]]
[[bcl:Rumano]]
[[bg:Румънски език]]
[[bn:রুমানীয় ভাষা]]
[[br:Roumaneg]]
[[bs:Rumunski jezik]]
[[br:Roumaneg]]
[[bg:Румънски език]]
[[ca:Romanès]]
[[ceb:Pinulongang Rumano]]
[[co:Lingua rumena]]
[[crh:Roman tili]]
[[cs:Rumunština]]
[[co:Lingua rumena]]
[[cy:Rwmaneg]]
[[da:Rumænsk (sprog)]]
[[de:Rumänische Sprache]]
[[et:Rumeenia keel]]
[[el:Ρουμανική γλώσσα]]
[[enes:RomanianIdioma languagerumano]]
[[eo:Rumana lingvo]]
[[es:Idioma rumano]]
[[et:Rumeenia keel]]
[[eu:Errumaniera]]
[[fa:زبان رومانیایی]]
[[fi:Romanian kieli]]
[[fr:Roumain]]
[[frp:Roumen]]
[[fy:Roemeensk]]
[[ga:An Rómáinis]]
[[gv:Romaanish]]
[[gd:Ròmainis]]
[[gl:Lingua romanesa]]
[[gvko:Romaanish루마니아어]]
[[hy:Ռումիներեն]]
[[he:רומנית]]
[[hsb:Rumunšćina]]
[[hr:Rumunjski jezik]]
[[hsbio:RumunšćinaRumaniana linguo]]
[[huid:RománBahasa nyelvRumania]]
[[hy:Ռումիներեն]]
[[ia:Lingua romanian]]
[[id:Bahasa Rumania]]
[[io:Rumaniana linguo]]
[[is:Rúmenska]]
[[it:Lingua rumena]]
[[he:רומנית]]
[[ja:ルーマニア語]]
[[jv:Basa Rumania]]
[[ka:რუმინული ენა]]
[[ko:루마니아어]]
[[ku:Zimanê rûmenî]]
[[kw:Roumanek]]
[[sw:Kiromania]]
[[ku:Zimanê rûmenî]]
[[la:Lingua Dacoromanica]]
[[li:Roemeens]]
[[lij:Lengua romenn-a]]
[[lt:Rumunų kalba]]
[[lv:Rumāņu valoda]]
[[mglt:FitenyRumunų romanakalba]]
[[mhrlij:РумынLengua йылмеromenn-a]]
[[li:Roemeens]]
[[hu:Román nyelv]]
[[mk:Романски јазик]]
[[mg:Fiteny romana]]
[[mr:रोमेनियन भाषा]]
[[arz:لغه رومانى]]
[[ms:Bahasa Romania]]
[[nah:Rumaniatlahtōlli]]
[[nds:Rumäänsche Spraak]]
[[nl:Roemeens]]
[[ja:ルーマニア語]]
[[nn:Rumensk språk]]
[[no:Rumensk]]
[[nn:Rumensk språk]]
[[nrm:Roumain]]
[[oc:Romanés]]
[[plmhr:JęzykРумын rumuńskiйылме]]
[[pnb:رومانی]]
[[nds:Rumäänsche Spraak]]
[[pl:Język rumuński]]
[[pt:Língua romena]]
[[qucrh:RumanyaRoman simitili]]
[[rm:Lingua rumena]]
[[rmy:Rumunikani chhib]]
[[ro:Limba română]]
[[rmy:Rumunikani chhib]]
[[roa-rup:Română]]
[[rm:Lingua rumena]]
[[qu:Rumanya simi]]
[[ru:Румынский язык]]
[[se:Romániagiella]]
[[sc:Limba romuna]]
[[scn:Lingua rumena]]
[[sco:Romanian leid]]
[[sesq:RomániagiellaGjuha rumune]]
[[shscn:RumunskiLingua jezikrumena]]
[[simple:Romanian language]]
[[sk:Rumunčina]]
[[sl:Romunščina]]
[[sq:Gjuha rumune]]
[[sr:Румунски језик]]
[[sh:Rumunski jezik]]
[[fi:Romanian kieli]]
[[sv:Rumänska]]
[[sw:Kiromania]]
[[ta:உருமானிய மொழி]]
[[th:ภาษาโรมาเนีย]]
[[tr:Rumence]]
[[ug:رۇمىنىيە تىلى]]
[[uk:Румунська мова]]
[[ug:رۇمىنىيە تىلى]]
[[vec:Łéngoa rumena]]
[[vi:Tiếng Romana]]
Line 133 ⟶ 609:
[[yi:רומעניש]]
[[zh:羅馬尼亞語]]
[[zh-min-nan:România-gí]]