Aromanian language

Not to be confused with: Armenian or Romanian

Aromanian
Armãneashti, Rrãmãneshti
Native to	Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia
Region	Southern Balkans
Ethnicity	Aromanians
Native speakers	(estimated 250,000 cited 1997)
Language family	Indo-European Italic Romance Eastern Romance Aromanian
Early form	Eastern Romance
Writing system	Latin (Aromanian alphabet)
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Albania Macedonia
Language codes
ISO 639-2	rup
ISO 639-3	rup
Glottolog	arom1237
ELP	Aromanian
Linguasphere	51-AAD-ba

Dialects of Aromanian

Aromanian -- Armãneashti / Rrãmãneshti,

Aromanian language -- limba Armãneascã / Rrãmãneascã

Aromanian language, also known as Vlach, is considered alongside : Megleno-Romanian, modern Romanian and Istro-Romanian as being branches of the Eastern Romance language, which in its turn, is considered to be the eastern branch of the big Latin language, family.

Its speakers are called Aromanians or Vlachs, the last one being a broader term and an exonym in widespread use, to define Latin people (in its early stages for all Latin people of Europe and later on reduced to only those from the Balkans).

As the Aromanian language is part of the Eastern Romance language, it shares many features with : Megleno-Romanian, modern Romanian and Istro-Romanian language, including similar morphology and syntax, as well as, a large common vocabulary, inherited from their similar substratum (the ancient Thracian) and their first, common, adstratum (the Latin language). An important source of dissimilarity between Romanian and Aromanian is the second adstratum. Whereas Romanian has been influenced to a greater extent by Slavic, Aromanian has been influenced mainly by Greek, with which it has been in close contact throughout its long history.

Given the fact that the Aromanian language is a Latin one, it is written with a version of the Latin script. (Aromanian alphabet)

Geographic distribution

The greatest number of Aromanian speakers is in Greece, followed by a substantial number of speakers found in Albania and FYROM and less in Bulgaria and Serbia.

Aromanian-speaking communities are also found in diaspora like: Romania, where they migrated from Greece, Albania, Bulgaria and Serbia, mainly after 1925, in Turkey due to the influence of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans and in Europe, United States, Australia, Canada, etc. due to their migration in modern times.

Official status

— FYROM was the first country, after its Declaration of Independence from Yugoslavia, that officially recognized Aromanians as an ethnic minority, so as a result of that the Aromanian language has a degree of official status. Aromanian is taught as a subject in some primary schools (in Skopje, Bitola, Štip and Kruševo) and Aromanian speakers also have the right to use the language in court proceedings. Since 2006, the Aromanian language has been the second official municipal language (after Macedonian) in the city of Kruševo, even though it is spoken by ~ 10% of the municipal population.

— Albania became the second country, to officially recognize Aromanians as an ethnic minority, on October 2017, therefore it is expected to provide a degree of official status regarding the language (education, mass media, administration, etc.)

— The language yet, has no official status in Greece, Bulgaria and Romania, despite the high number of Aromanians living in these countries.

History

Dictionary of four Balkan languages (Greek, Aromanian, Bulgarian and Albanian) by Daniel Moscopolites, an Aromanian from Moscopole, written c. 1770 and published c. 1794; republished in 1802 in Greek.

Probably the most realistic theory, being able to explain the origin of the Aromanian language, is that, that the language descends from the Vulgar Latin (a mix of ancient Thracian and Latin) spoken by people living in the southern Balkans. In the same way, standard Romanian is believed to be descended from the Vulgar Latin, spoken by the Getae and Dacians, in the geographical area of nowadays Romania.

It is generally considered that sometime between 800 and 1,200 years ago, after the migration of Slavic people in the Balkans, Vulgar Latin spoken in the Balkan provinces of the Roman Empire, which is also known as Proto-Eastern Romance, broke up into four languages: Romanian,Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian and Istro-Romanian. The effect of that major event, was that all four branches followed somehow a different and independent way from each other. So the Romanian language started to have a new interconnection with the Slavic language, [traceable by the presence of many Slavic words in its vocabulary, although later those words were replaced by neologisms taken mainly from French], while Aromanian continued its interconnection with the Greek language.

Another factor that explains the considerable influence of Greek upon Aromanian language, is the fact that, the influence of the ancient Greek was already present in southern Balkans, before the invasion of the region by the Roman Empire. So, the connection between the Aromanian and the Greek language, dates back to ancient times.

With the arrival of the Turks in the Balkans, Aromanian like all other languages of the region, also received some Turkish words.

Despite all influences that have been exercised upon it, the Aromanian still remains a Romance language.

Dialects

There is some kind of consensus that the Aromanian language has two dialects: the Fãrshãrot and the Pindean one.

-- The first one, the so-called in Aromanian <<Rrãmãneshti>>, is spoken by Aromanians in central and southern Albania, in some areas of Greece like Epirus and Thessalia and by part of the FYROM Aromanian community.This one has been used in different written texts in Moscopole in the XVIII century.

-- The second one, the so-called in Aromanian <<Armãneashti>>, is spoken by Aromanians in Greece, mainly in the Pindus mountain region, in part of Thessalia and Macedonia; by part of FYROM Aromanian community and in south-western Bulgaria.

• There are also small regional differences within each of the two dialects.

An Aromanian dictionary currently under development can be found on wiktionary.

Phonology

Aromanian has numerous differences from standard Romanian in its phonology. Some of them are probably due to influence from Greek, such as having fricatives that do not exist in Romanian like /θ, ð, x, ɣ/. Other differences are the sounds /dz/ and /ts/, which correspond to Romanian /z/ and /tʃ/, and the sounds: /ʎ/, final /u/, and /ɲ/, which exist only in local dialects in Romanian.

Aromanian is usually written with a version of the Latin script with an orthography that resembles both that of Albanian (in the use of digraphs such as dh, sh, and th) and Italian (in its use of c and g), along with the letter ã, used for the sounds represented in Romanian by ă and â/î.

Grammar

Aromanian grammar book, with the title in Greek and German, 1813

The grammar and morphology are very similar to those of other Romance languages:

• It has two grammatical numbers: singular and plural (no dual).
• It is a null-subject language.
• Verbs have many conjugations, including:
  • A present tense, a preterite, an imperfect, a pluperfect and a future tense in the indicative mood, for statements of fact.
  • An imperative mood, for direct commands.
  • Three non-finite forms: infinitive, gerund, and past participle.
  • Distinct active and passive voices, as well as an impersonal passive voice.

The Aromanian language has some exceptions from the Romance languages, some of which are shared with Romanian: 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 has features that distinguish it from Romanian, an important one being the complete disappearance of verb infinitives, a feature of the Balkan sprachbund. As such, the tenses and moods that, in Romanian, use the infinitive (like the future simple tense and the conditional mood) are formed in other ways in Aromanian. 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 four conjugations. The table below gives some examples and indicates the conjugation of the corresponding verbs in Romanian.

Conjugation	Aromanian (ind. pres. 1st sg.)	Romanian (ind. pres. 1st sg.)	Romanian (infinitive)	English
I	cãntu dau lucredzu	cânt dau lucrez	a cânta I a da I a lucra I	sing give work
II	ved shed armãn	văd șed rămân	a vedea II a ședea II a rămâne III (or a rămânea II)	see sit stay
III	duc cunoscu ardu	duc cunosc ard	a duce III a cunoaște III a arde III	carry, lead know burn
IV	mor fug ndultsescu	mor fug îndulcesc	a muri IV a fugi IV a îndulci IV	die run away, flee sweeten

Future tense

The future tense is formed using an auxiliary invariable particle "va" or "u" and the subjunctive mood.

Aromanian pindean / fărshărot	Romanian (archaic)	Romanian (colloquial)	Romanian (modern)	English
va s'cãntu / u s'cãntu	va să cânt	o să cânt	voi cânta	I will sing
va s'cãnts / u s'cãnts	va să cânți	o să cânți	vei cânta	you (sg.) will sing
va s'cãntã / u s'cãntã	va să cânte	o să cânte	va cânta	(s)he will sing
va s'cãntãm / u s'cãntãm	va să cântăm	o să cântăm	vom cânta	we will sing
va s'cãntatsi / u s'cãntats	va să cântați	o să cântați	veți cânta	you (pl.) will sing
va s'cãntã / u s'cãntã	va să cânte	o să cânte	vor cânta	they will sing

Pluperfect

Whereas in Romanian the pluperfect (past perfect) is formed synthetically (as in literary Portuguese), Aromanian uses a periphrastic construction with the auxiliary verb am (have) as the imperfect (aveam) and the past participle, as in Spanish and French, except that French replaces avoir (have) with être (be) for intransitive verbs. Aromanian shares this feature with Meglenian as well as other languages in the Balkan language area.

Only the auxiliary verb inflects according to number and person (aveam, aveai, avea, aveamu, aveatu, avea), whereas the past participle does not change.

Aromanian pindean/fărshărot	Meglenian	Romanian	English
avea mãcatã / avia mãcatã	vea mancat	mâncase	(he/she) had eaten
avea durnjitã / avia durnjitã	vea durmit	dormise	(he/she) had slept

Gerund

The Aromanian gerund is applied to some verbs, but not all. These verbs are:

• 1st conjugation: acatsã (acãtsãnda(lui)), portu, lucreashce, adiľeashce.
• 2nd conjugation: armãnã, cade, poate, tatse, veade.
• 3rd conjugation: arupã, dipune, dutse, dzãse, featse, tradze, scrie.
• 4th conjugation: apire, doarme, hivrie, aure, pate, avde.

Situation in Balkans

Romanian Schools for Aromanians and Meglenoromanians in the Ottoman Empire (1886)

Use of the Aromanian language in the Florina Prefecture

Even before the incorporation of various Aromanian-speaking territories into the Greek state (1832, 1912), the language was subordinated to Greek, traditionally the language of education and religion in Constantinople and other prosperous urban cities. The historical studies cited below (mostly Capidan) show that especially after the fall of Moscopole (1788) the process of Hellenisation via education and religion gained a strong impetus mostly among people doing business in the cities.

The Romanian state began opening schools for the Romanian influenced Vlachs in the 1860s, but this initiative was regarded with suspicion by the Greeks, who thought that Romania was trying to assimilate them. 19th-century travellers in the Balkans such as W. M. Leake and Henry Fanshawe Tozer noted that Vlachs in the Pindus and Macedonia were bilingual, reserving the Latin dialect for inside the home.

By 1948, the new Soviet-imposed communist regime of Romania had 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. This has been a process encouraged by the community itself and is not an explicit State policy. The decline and isolation of the Romanian orientated groups was not helped by the fact that they openly collaborated with the Axis powers of Italy and Germany during the occupation of Greece in WWII. Notably, the vast majority of Vlachs fought in the Greek resistance and a number of their villages were destroyed by the Germans.

The issue of Aromanian-language education is a sensitive one, partly because of the resurgence in Romanian interest on the subject. Romanian nationalism maintains that Greek propaganda is still very strong in the area, inferring that Greeks define Aromanians as a sort of "Latinized Greeks". The fact remains that it is the majority of Greek Vlachs themselves that oppose the Romanian propaganda (those that supported it having emigrated in the early 20th Century to other countries), as they have done for the past 200 years. Most Greek Vlachs oppose the introduction of the language into the education system as EU and leading Greek political figures have suggested, viewing it as an artificial distinction between them and other Greeks. For example, the former education minister, George Papandreou, received a negative response from Greek-Aromanian mayors and associations to his proposal for a trial Aromanian language education programme. The Panhellenic Federation of Cultural Associations of Vlachs (Πανελλήνια Ομοσπονδία Πολιτιστικών Συλλόγων Βλάχων) expressed strong opposition to EU's recommendation in 1997 that the tuition of Aromanian be supported so as to avoid its extinction. On a visit to Metsovo, Epirus in 1998, Greek President Konstantinos Stephanopoulos called on Vlachs to speak and teach their language, but its decline continues.

A recent example of the sensitivity of the issue was the 2001 conviction (later overturned in the Appeals Court) 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 met with broad condemnation in Greece, where at least editorial compared the situation to the suppression of Kurdish and other minority languages in Turkey and noted the irony that some prosecutors in fact came from non-Hellenophone families that had once spoken Aromanian or Turkish. Bletsas was eventually acquitted.

Language sample

Pindean

Tatã a nostru, tsi eshtsã tu tserlu,

s'ayiseascã numa a Ta,

s'yinã amirãriljea a Ta,

si facã vrearea a Ta,

cumu tu tserlu, ashi sh'pisti loclu.

Pãnea a nostã atsea di cathi dzuã dãnã-u sh'adzã

sh'ljiartãnã amãrtiile a noastri

ashi cum li ljirtãmu sh'noi a amãrtoshloru a noshtsã.

Sh'nu nã du tu pirazmo,

Sh'aveagljinã di atsel arãulu.

Cã a Ta easti Amirãrijia sh'putearea

a Tatãlui shi Hillui sh'a Ayiului Duhu,

tora, totãna sh'tu eta a etilor.

Amen.

Fãrshãrot

Tatã a nostu tsi eshti tu tser,

si ayisiascã numa a Ta,

s’yinã amirãria a Ta,

si facã vrearea a Ta,

cum tu tser, ashe sh'pisti lloc.

Penia a nostã, atsa di cathi dzuã, dãni-u sh’azã,

sh’ljartãni amartiili a nosti,

ashe cum li ljãrtem sh’noi a amãrtorillor a noci,

sh’nu ni du la pirazmo,

ma viagljãni di atsell rãu.

Cã a Ta esti amirãria sh'puteria,

a Tatãllui shi Hiljãllui shi a Ayiullui Duh,

tora, totãna sh’tu eta a etillor.

Amin.

(The Lord's Prayer – source)

Tuti iatsãli umineshtsã s'fac liberi shi egali la nãmuzea shi ndrepturli. Eali suntu hãrdziti cu fichiri shi sinidisi shi lipseashti ca un cu alantu si poartã tu duhlu a frãtsãljiljei.

(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights), translated by Dina Cuvata

Comparison with Romanian

The following text is given for comparison in Aromanian and in Romanian, with an English translation. The spelling of Aromanian is that decided at the Bitola Symposium of August 1997. 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 unã son dit zburãrea a omlui, faptu cu tritsearea sonorã, libirã sh'fãrã cheadicã, a vimtului prit canalu sonor (adrat di coardili vocali shi ntreaga gurã) icã un semnu grafic cari aspuni un ahtari son.	Vocala este un sunet din vorbirea omului, făcut cu trecerea sonoră, liberă și fără piedică, a aerului prin canalul sonor (compus din coardele vocale și 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 cords and the whole mouth) or a graphic symbol corresponding to that sound.
Ashi bunãoarã, avem shasili vocali tsi s'fac cu vimtul tsi treatsi prit gurã, iu limba poati si s'aflã tu un loc icã altu shi budzãli pot si sta dishcljisi unã soe icã altã.	Astfel, avem șase vocale ce se fac cu aerul ce trece prin gură, unde limba poate să se afle într-un loc sau altul și buzele pot să stea deschise într-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'hibã pronuntsati singuri icã deadun cu semivocali i consoani.	Vocalele pot să fie pronunțate singure sau împreună cu semivocale sau consoane.	The vowels can be pronounced alone or together with semivowels or consonants.

Common words and phrases

English	Aromanian
Aromanian (person)	(m.) Armãn / Rrãmãn, (f.) Armãnã / Rrãmãnã
Aromanian (language)	Armãneashti / Rrãmãneshti
Good day!	Bunã dzua!
What's your name?	Cum vã chljamã? (informal)
How old are you?	Di cãtsi anji hjitsi?
How are you?	Cum hjitsi? (formal) Cumu eshci? / Cum eshti? (informal)
What are you doing?	Tsi fatsi? / Tsi adari? (popular)
Goodbye!	S'nã videmu cu ghine! / Ghini s'ni videmu!
Bye!	S'nã avdzãmu ghiniatsa!
Please.	Vã plãcãrsescu. (formal) Ti plãcãrsescu. (informal)
Sorry.	S'mi hãrdzitsi.
Thank you.	Haristo.
Yes.	Ye.
No.	Nu.
I don't understand.	Nu akicãsescu
Where's the bathroom?	Lju easte toaletlu? / Lju esti tualetu?
Do you speak English?	Zburats anglikeashce? / Grits anglikiashti?
I am a student.	Mine escu un studentu / Mini estu un student.
You are beautiful.	Eshci mushat(ã) / Eshti mushat(ã).

See also

• Eastern Romance substratum
• Illyro-Roman
• Latin-Greek connection
• Legacy of the Roman Empire
• Romance languages
• Thraco-Roman
• The Balkan language area

References

• Bara, Mariana. Le lexique latin hérité en aroumain dans une perspective romane. Munich: Lincom Europa, 2004, 231 p.; ISBN 3-89586-980-5.
• Bara, Mariana. Limba armănească: Vocabular şi stil. Bucharest: Editura Cartea Universitară, 2007, ISBN 978-973-731-551-9.
• Berciu-Drăghicescu, Adina; Petre, Maria. Şcoli şi Biserici româneşti din Peninsula Balcanică: Documente (1864–1948). Bucharest: Editura Universităţii, 2004.
• 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, eds. Juhani Nuoluoto, Martti Leiwo, & Jussi Halla-aho. Slavica Helsingiensa 21. University of Helsinki, 2001. online
• Gołąb, Zbigniew. The Arumanian Dialect of Kruševo, SR Macedonia. Skopje: MANU, 1984.
• Kahl, Thede. "Aromanians in Greece: Minority or Vlach-speaking Greeks?". farsarotul.org. Archived from the original on 2007-08-08. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
• Kahl, Thede. “Sprache und Intention der ersten aromunischen Textdokumente, 1731–1809”, in Festschrift für Gerhard Birkfellner zum 65. Geburtstag: Studia Philologica Slavica I/I, ed. Bernhard Symanzik. Münstersche Texte zur Slavistik, 2006, p. 245–266.
• Marangozis, John. An Introduction to Vlach Grammar. Munich: Lincom Europa, 2010.
• Markoviḱ, Marjan. Aromanskiot i makedonskiot govor od ohridsko-struškiot region: vo balkanski kontekst [Aromanian and Macedonian dialects of the Ohrid-Struga region: in Balkan context]. Skopje: Makedonska akademija na naukite i umetnostite, 2007.
• Pascu, Giorge. Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. Iaşi: Cultura Naţionalâ, 1918.
• Rosetti, Alexandru. Istoria limbii române, 2 vols. Bucharest, 1965–1969.
• "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in Aromanian. Njiclu amirārush. Translated by Maria Bara and Thede Kahl, ISBN 978-3-937467-37-5.
• Vrabie, Emil. An English-Aromanian (Macedo-Romanian) Dictionary. University, Miss.; Stratford, CT: Romance monographs, 2000.
• Weigand, Gustav. Die Sprache der Olympo-Wallachen, nebst einer Einleitung über Land und Leute. Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1888.

External links

• Aromanian Language website
• Στα Βλάχικα – In Vlach: A website about the Vlach language in Greece
• Aromanian Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh list appendix)
• Aromanian basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
• 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
• Greek Vlach website
• Consiliul A Tinirlor Armanj – CTARM , webpage about Youth Aromanians and their projects
• Armans Association from Serbia
• Armans Cultural Association from Romania