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.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify
Researched by: Claude
Purpose and description
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.
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.
What it is for: Not applicable; a language.
It can be describe dialects and classification; relay speaker numbers and status; explain origin and history; present standardisation efforts.
Distinguishing features
Indian origin
Diaspora without territory
Dialect diversity
Heavy contact influence
What it looks like
Not a visible object; written in Latin and Cyrillic based orthographies.
Physical character
speakers: about 3.5 million people - estimates vary widely
dialect groups: 4 major count - by common classification
How it is recognised
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
Related models
is a kind of - in registry terms
is spoken by - the Roma
is related to - a separate Indo-Aryan diaspora language
is protected by - in several states
In practice
Families and kinds
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
Identifiers
ISO 639-2 rom
ISO 639-3 rom macrolanguage with dialect codes
Standards and regulation
Minority language recognition in countries such as Sweden, Finland and Romania
Council of Europe initiatives on Romani
No single standard orthography
Failure modes and hazards
Use of exonyms considered offensive
Stereotyping of speakers
Unsourced speaker figures
Treating dialects as one uniform language
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.
Identify What Romani is.
Identity.
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.
Linguistics.
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.
Attribution.
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.
Attribution.
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
What the second pass must settle
- 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?