Romani
Let an agent describe the Romani language and its dialects with attribution, relay speaker numbers, status and standardisation efforts with sources, explain its Indian origin and contact history, and use the self-designation Romani and Roma rather than exonyms.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions
Identify What Romani is.
Definition
Language and dialects.
Definition
Definition.
- What is Romani, and how are its dialects classified, including the O and E superdialects? definition
- Is the question about the language, a para-Romani variety or the Roma people? boundary
Speakers
Speakers.
Speakers
Speakers.
- How many people speak Romani, and where, with sources and their limits? measurement
- Which entry fits the specific dialect? action
Structure Grammar and contact.
Grammar
Grammar.
Grammar
Grammar.
- What are the main features of Romani grammar and vocabulary? definition
- Which entry fits Indo-Aryan linguistics? action
Contact
Contact and borrowing.
Contact
Contact.
- How have contact languages shaped Romani dialects and para-Romani varieties? provenance
- Which references are standard? provenance
History Origin and history.
Origin
Indian origin.
Origin
Origin.
- What do linguistics and genetics say about the Indian origin and migration of the Roma, with findings attributed? provenance
- Which sources are cited? provenance
Europe
History in Europe.
Europe
Europe.
- How has the language survived persecution, including the Roma genocide, as historians document? provenance
- Is the presentation respectful and attributed? boundary
Today Status and standardisation.
Status
Status and rights.
Status
Status.
- Where is Romani recognised, and what education and media exist? provenance
- Which entry fits Roma rights? action
Standard
Standardisation.
Standard
Standard.
- What efforts exist to standardise Romani, and what debates surround them, with positions attributed? provenance
- Which entry fits Romani standardisation? action
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Information and virtual systems
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- INF
- Domain
- INF.MED
- Other names and narrower kinds
- Romani language in Bulgaria, Rodi, O and E superdialects, Auvergne Romani, Rumelian Romani, Colombian Romani, Romani jargon, Balkan Romani, Vlax Romani, Para-Romani, Servitka Romani, Carpathian Romani
What it is Filled
An Indo-Aryan language of the Romani people, descended from languages of northern India and spoken in many dialects across Europe and the Americas, including the Vlax, Balkan, Carpathian and Sinti groups and regional varieties such as Rumelian Romani and Romani in Bulgaria, with the O and E superdialect distinction used by linguists; Romani has no state and no single standard, has borrowed heavily from contact languages, is spoken by several million people and is recognised as a minority language in a number of countries.
Why it exists Filled
Let an agent describe the Romani language and its dialects with attribution, relay speaker numbers, status and standardisation efforts with sources, explain its Indian origin and contact history, and use the self-designation Romani and Roma rather than exonyms.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Indian origin
- Diaspora without territory
- Dialect diversity
- Heavy contact influence
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Treat one dialect's forms as the standard for all Romani speakers.
- Repeat slurs or stereotypes about Roma when describing the language.
- Identify people as Roma from their speech in ways that expose them to discrimination.
- Present Romani as a jargon or argot rather than a language.
Only with a human decision
- Publishing official or educational material in Romani.
May
- Translate to and from Romani, naming the dialect group and noting uncertainty.
- Help Romani speakers reach services in their own language where provision exists.
Moral aspects Filled
- Roma face persecution across Europe; language data can be used to target them.
- The language survives without a state behind it and loses speakers to assimilation pressure.
Who is affected
- Romani speakers
- Roma children in schools
- Diaspora communities
Owners Filled
Steward
Nobody owns the language; Roma communities hold it.
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q10979187 - registry parent class
related
- Central Indo-Aryan - in registry terms
- Romani people - the Roma
- Domari - a separate Indo-Aryan diaspora language
- European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages - in several states
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.romani
- Wikidata: Q13201 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q13201)
- ISO 639-2: rom
- ISO 639-3: rom macrolanguage with dialect codes
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
- speakers: about 3.5 million people - estimates vary widely
- dialect groups: 4 major count - by common classification
Plane INF: no invented physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- Indo-Aryan language of the Roma
- Vlax, Balkan, Carpathian, Sinti and other dialect groups
- Para-Romani varieties such as Angloromani mix Romani vocabulary with other grammars; Domari is a related but distinct language
- Not a visible object; written in Latin and Cyrillic based orthographies.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- describe dialects and classification
- relay speaker numbers and status
- explain origin and history
- present standardisation efforts
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Use of exonyms considered offensive
- Stereotyping of speakers
- Unsourced speaker figures
- Treating dialects as one uniform language
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- Minority language recognition in countries such as Sweden, Finland and Romania
- Council of Europe initiatives on Romani
- No single standard orthography
Context of use required Filled
- Not applicable; a language.
- Vlax Romani
- Balkan Romani including Rumelian
- Central or Carpathian Romani
- Northern groups including Sinti and Finnish Romani
- Romani in specific countries such as Bulgaria and Colombia
- para-Romani mixed varieties
- standardisation and literary Romani
Sources Filled
- Wikidata item Q13201: Romani - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: Romani language - general description of the item
Open questions
- Should dialect groups be separate entries?
- How should linguistic and rights sources be linked?
- The registry entry has merged aliases naming dialects and a classification term; should they be split off?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q13201/spec.json