| Vlax Romani | |
|---|---|
| romani shib | |
| Native to | Bosnia,Romania,Serbia,Albania,Hungary,Israel; scattered in numerous other states |
Native speakers | 538,480 (2002–2014)[1] |
Indo-European
| |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | rmy |
| Glottolog | vlax1238 |
| ELP | Vlax Romani |
 | |
Vlax Romani varieties are spoken mainly inSoutheastern Europe by theRomani people.[2] Vlax Romani can also be referred to as an independent language[3] or as one dialect of theRomani language. Vlax Romani is the second most widely spoken dialect subgroup of the Romani language worldwide, afterBalkan Romani.
The language's nameVlax Romani was coined by British scholar Bernard Gilliat-Smith in his 1915 study on Bulgarian Romani, in which he first divided Romani dialects intoVlach andnon-Vlach.[4][5] The Vlax Roma, a subgroup of the Romani people that speak the Vlax Romani language, originate from theformer Roma slaves in the principalities ofMoldavia andWallachia (with the name "Vlax", which comes from "Vlach", coming from the latter), nowRomania.[6]The wordsRomani andRomania arefalse cognates, the former deriving fromRomanirom – ultimately from Sanskrit word ḍoma/डोम, and the latter deriving fromRomanianromân – ultimately from Latin.
Vlax Romani is classified in two groups: Vlax I, or Northern Vlax (includingKalderash andLovari), and Vlax II, or Southern Vlax.[2]
Elšík[7] uses this classification and dialect examples (geographical information from Matras[8]):
| Sub-group | Dialect | Place |
|---|---|---|
| Ukrainian Vlax | - | Ukraine |
| Northern Vlax | Cerhari | Hungary |
| Hungarian Lovari | ||
| Slovakia | ||
| Austrian Lovari | Austria | |
| Polish Lovari | Poland | |
| Norwegian Lovari | Norway | |
| Serbian Kalderaš | Serbia | |
| Italian Kalderaš | Italy | |
| Russian Kalderaš | Russia | |
| Taikon Kalderaš | Sweden[9] | |
| American Vlax | USA | |
| Southern Vlax | Vallachian | Romania |
| Ihtiman | Bulgaria(named after thecity) | |
| Gurbet | Serbia and BosniaGurbeti | |
| Korça | Albania(named after thecity) | |
| Italian Xoraxane | Italy(Xoraxane translates as "Muslims" in the dialect) | |
| Ajia Varvara | Greece(named after asuburb of Athens) |
Vlax Romani is written using theRomani orthography, predominantly using theLatin alphabet with several additional characters. In the area of the formerSoviet Union, however, it can also be written in theCyrillic script.[10][failed verification]
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