Aromanian language
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{{language |name=Aromanian |nativename=armâneashti, armãneshce, aromână, armânească |familycolor=Indo-European |states=Greece, Albania, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia |region=Southeastern Europe |speakers=cca. 300,000 |fam2=Italic |fam3=Romance |fam4=Eastern Romance |iso2=rup|iso3=rup}}
Aromanian (also known as Macedo-Romanian, Arumanian or Vlach in most other countries; in Aromanian: limba aromână, limba armânească, armâneashti or armãneshce) is an Eastern Romance language spoken in Southeastern Europe. Its speakers are called Aromanians.
It was formed after the Romanization of the Balkans and shares many features with Romanian, having similar grammar and morphology. The most important dissimilarity between Romanian and Aromanian is the vocabulary, which in the case of the former has been influenced to a greater extent by its neighbouring Slavic languages, while Aromanian has borrowed much vocabulary from the Greek language with which it has been in close contact throughout its history.
Whether Romanian and Aromanian are two distinct languages or only dialects of the same language is still under debate although, it must be added that this question is often loaded with political implications.
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Geographic distribution
The Aromanian language and people are officially recognised as a minority in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, but large Aromanian communities are also found in Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro as well as in Romania, where some Aromanians having migrated from the Balkans after the destruction of the Aromanian settlements in Moscopole and Gramoste/Grammos.
History
The language is similar to Romanian and its greatest difference lies in the vocabulary. There are far fewer Slavic words in Aromanian than in Romanian, and many more Greek words, a reflection of the close contact of Aromanian with Greek through much of its history.
It is generally considered that sometime between 800 and 1,200 years ago, the Vulgar Latin spoken in the Balkan provinces of the Roman Empire split into four languages: Daco-Romanian (today's Romanian language), Aromanian, Meglenitic and Istro-Romanian. At the time of the split, the Balkan Vulgar Latin (often called Proto-Romanian) contained about 300 common words with Albanian (possibly of close genetic affiliation with the Dacian language) and about 70 early Slavic borrowings.
Greek influences are much stronger in Aromanian than in other East Romance languages, especially because Aromanian used Greek words to coin new words (neologisms), while Romanian based most of its neologisms on Italian and French.
Also, with the coming of the Turks in the Balkans, Aromanian received some Turkish words as well. Still the lexical composition remains mainly Romance.
Dialects
There are two major Aromanian dialects which are named after two respective places nowadays located in Albania: the Moscopole dialect (from the town of Moscopole, also known as the "Aromanian Jerusalem") and the Gramustean dialect (from the Gramostea/Grammos region).
Grammar
The grammar and morphology is very similar to the one in Romanian and unlike to the other Romance languages. The definite article is a clitic particle appended at the end of the word, both the definite and indefinite articles can be inflected, and nouns are classified in three genders, with neuter in addition to masculine and feminine.
Verbs
Aromanian grammar does have some features that distinguish it from Romanian, an important one being the complete disappearance of verb infinitives. As such, the tenses and moods that in Romanian use the infinitive (like the future simple tense and the conditional mood), are formed in Aromanian in other ways. For the same reason, verb entries in dictionaries are given in their indicative mood, present tense, first person, singular form.
Aromanian verbs are classified in five conjugations instead of just four in Romanian. The table below gives some examples, indicating also the conjugation of the corresponding verbs in Romanian.
| Conjugation | Aromanian (ind. pres. 1st sg.) | Romanian (ind. pres. 1st sg.) | Romanian (infinitive) | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | cîntu dau lucredu | cânt dau lucrez | a cânta I a da I a lucra I | sing give work |
| II | vedu şedu armînu | văd şed rămân | a vedea II a şedea II a rămâne III (or a rămânea II) | see sit stay |
| III | ducu cunoscu ardu | duc cunosc ard | a duce III a cunoaşte III a arde III | carry, lead know burn |
| IV | moru fugu ndulţescu | mor fug îndulcesc | a muri IV a fugi IV a îndulci IV | die run sweeten |
| V | paţu avdu mvirdascu | păţesc (or paţ) aud . | a păţi IV a auzi IV . | suffer hear . |
Future tense
The future tense is formed in the same way as in archaic Romanian, using an auxiliary invariable particle "va" (derived from the verb "to want") and the subjunctive mood.
| Aromanian | Romanian (archaic) | English |
|---|---|---|
| va s-cîntu | va să cânt | I will sing |
| va s-cîntî | va să cânţi | you (sg.) will sing |
| va s-cîntî | va să cânte | he/she will sing |
| va s-cîntámu | va să cântăm | we will sing |
| va s-cîntátî | va să cântaţi | you (pl.) will sing |
| va s-cîntî | va să cânte | they will sing |
Pluperfect tense
Whereas in Romanian the pluperfect tense (past perfect) is formed synthetically (like for instance in Portuguese), Aromanian uses a periphrastic construction with the auxiliary verb amu (have) at the imperfect tense (aveamu) and the past participle, like in French, except that French replaces avoir (have) with être (be) for some verbs. Aromanian shares this feature with Megleno-Romanian as well as other languages in the Balkan linguistic union.
Only the auxiliary verb inflects according to number and person: aveamu, aveai, avea, aveamu, aveatî, avea, whereas the past participle doesn't change.
| Aromanian | Megleno-Romanian | Romanian | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| avea mîcată | vea mancat | mâncase | (he/she) had eaten |
| vea durmit | dormise | (he/she) had slept |
Situation in Greece
Even before the incorporation of Aromanian-speaking territories into the Greek state, the language was subordinated to the national language, Greek, traditionally the Aromanians' language of education and religion.
The Romanian state began opening schools for the Aromanians in the 1860s, but this initiative was regarded with suspicion by many Aromanians, who thought Romania was trying to assimilate them. Antagonism between Aromanians who rejected what they perceived as Romanian propaganda, and those who accepted the non-Greek identity promoted in the Romanian schools, tore apart the Aromanian community in the first half of the 20th century.
In 1948, the new Soviet-imposed communist regime of Romania closed all Romanian-run schools outside Romania and since the closure, there has been no formal education in Aromanian and speakers have been encouraged to learn and use the Greek language.
The issue of Aromanian-language education is still a sensitive one, partly because of the painful memories of the bitter divisions the presence of the Romanian schools caused in the past. Many Aromanians oppose the introduction of the language into the education system, viewing it as an officially-sanctioned distinction between them and other Greeks. The former education minister, George Papandreou, received a negative response from Aromanian mayors and associations to his proposal for a trial Aromanian language education programme. On a visit to Metsovo, Epirus in 1998, Greek President Costis Stephanopoulos called on Vlachs to speak and teach their language, but little has been done in practical terms since then to stem its rapid decline. In 1997, the European Union recommended that the Greek government should support the tuition of Aromanian so as to avoid its extinction. The Panhellenic Federation of Vlach Cultural Societies (Πανελλήνια Ομοσπονδία Πολιτιστικών Συλλόγων Βλάχων) expressed strong opposition to this proposal [1].
A recent example of the sensitivity of the issue was the 2001 conviction to 15 months in jail of Sotiris Bletsas, a Greek Aromanian who was found guilty of "dissemination of false information" after he distributed informative material on minority languages in Europe (which included information on minority languages of Greece), produced by the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages and financed by the European Commission. His conviction was condemned by Greek left-wing and progressive circles, and it emerged that his case was zealously pursued by Aromanian leaders who viewed themselves as patriotic Greeks and felt confronted by the suggestion that they belonged to a "minority".
Greek hypothesis
There is a controversial hypothesis among some Greek scholars that the Aromanians are Greeks who were Latinised in ancient times. They believe that some non-Romance words in Aromanian, which have cognates in ancient Greek (ex: Aromanian udare, ancient Greek ουθαρ), are evidence for their claim. This view, however, is not accepted by the majority of scholars, and it does not explain many features of Aromanian (such as the definitive article at the end of words) not found in ancient Greek or Romance.
Language sample
- Tuti iatsăli umineshtsă s-fac liberi shi egali la nămuzea shi-ndrepturli. Eali suntu hărziti cu fichiri shi sinidisi shi lipseashti un cu alantu sh-si poartă tu duhlu-a frătsăljiljei.
- (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Comparison with Romanian
The following text is given for comparison in Aromanian and in Romanian, with an English translation. The word choice in the Romanian version was such that it matches the Aromanian text, although in modern Romanian other words might have been more appropriate. The English translation is only provided as a guide to the meaning, with an attempt to keep the word order as close to the original as possible.
| Aromanian | Romanian | English |
|---|---|---|
| Vocala easti un son dit zburărea-a omlui, faptu cu tritsearea sonoră, libiră sh-fără cheadică, a vimtului prit canalu sonor (adrat di coardili vocali shi ntreaga gură) ică un semnu grafic cari aspuni un ahtari son. | Vocala este un sunet din vorbirea omului, făcut cu trecerea sonoră, liberă şi fără piedică, a vîntului prin canalul sonor (compus din coardele vocale şi întreaga gură) sau un semn grafic care reprezintă un atare sunet. | The vowel is a sound in human speech, made by the sonorous, free and unhindered passing of the air through the sound channel (composed of the vocal chords and the whole mouth) or a graphic symbol corresponding to that sound. |
| Ashi bunăoară, avem shasili vocali tsi s-fac cu vimtul tsi treatsi prit gură, iu limba poati si s-află tu un loc ică altu shi budzăli pot si sta dishcljisi ună soe ică altă. | Aşa bunăoară, avem şase vocale ce se fac cu vîntul ce trece prin gură, unde limba poate să se afle într-un loc sau altul şi buzele pot să stea deschise un soi sau altul. | This way, we have six vowels that are produced by the air passing through the mouth, where the tongue can be in one place or another and the lips can be opened in one way or another. |
| Vocalili pot s-hibă pronuntsati singuri ică deadun cu semivocali i consoani. | Vocalele pot să fie pronunţate singure sau deodată cu semivocale sau consoane. | The vowels can be pronounced alone or together with semivowels or consonants. |
See also
References
- Capidan, Theodor. Aromânii, dialectul Aromân, Academia Română, Studii şi cercetări, XX 1932.
- Friedman, Victor A., "The Vlah Minority in Macedonia: Language, Identity, Dialectology, and Standardization" in Selected Papers in Slavic, Balkan, and Balkan Studies, ed. Juhani Nuoluoto, Martii Leiwo, Jussi Halla-aho. Slavica Helsingiensa 21. University of Helsinki, 2001. online
- Rosetti, Alexandru. Istoria limbii române, 2 vols., Bucharest, 1965-1969.
External links
- Ethnologue entry for Aromanian
- Asterios Koukoudis: Studies on the Vlachs
- Greek Helsinki Human Rights Organization: Aromanians (Vlachs) in Greece
- Conjugation of verbs in Aromanian and Istro-Romanian
- Romanian and the Balkans, with some references to Aromanian
- Aromanian settlements on the beginning of the XX. century (map)
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