Romany language

Romany (or Romani) is the language of the Roma and Sinti, travelling peoples often referred to in English as "gypsies". They came originally from the Indian Subcontinent or what is now, northern India and parts of Pakistan, and their language belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language group. It was primarily through studies of the Romany language in comparison with north Indian dialects and languages that the origins of the Roma people have been traced geographically back to India. The Romany language must not be confused with the Romanian language (spoken by Romanians), nor with the Romansh language (spoken in Switzerland), both Romance languages.

Related Topics:
Language - Roma - Sinti - Gypsies - Indian Subcontinent - India - Pakistan - Indo-Aryan - Indo-European - Romanian language - Romanians - Romansh language - Switzerland - Romance languages

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Analysis of the Romany language has shown that it is closely related to those spoken in northern India, in particular Punjabi. This language relationship is believed to indicate the Roma's and Sinti's true geographical origin. Loanwords in Romany make it possible to trace the pattern of their migration west.

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Romany, Punjabi, and Pothohari share some identical words and grammar systems. However, one recent theory reported in Nature suggests that Romany is most closely related to Sinhala.

Related Topics:
Pothohari - Nature - Sinhala

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The Romany language is rather a collection of related languages that comprise all the members of a single genetic subgroup. Because variants of the language are only now in the process of being codified in those countries with high Roma populations (for example, Slovakia), these variants are sometimes classified as dialects.

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