Languages of Romania
[See also SIL publications on the languages of Romania.]Romania. 21,628,000. National or official language: Romanian. Literacy rate: 96%–98%. Immigrant languages: Armenian (760), Czech (3,340), Eastern Yiddish (1,100), Gheg Albanian (480), Italian (2,560), Russian (29,900), Slovak (16,100), Ukrainian (57,600). Information mainly from F. Agard 1984; B. Comrie 1987; A. Du Nay 1977; I. Hancock 1979, 1987, 1988. Blind population: 15,918. Deaf population: 1,405,464. Deaf institutions: 20. The number of individual languages listed for Romania is 15. Of those, all are living languages.
| Aromanian | [rup]
28,000 in Romania (official). Southeast, especially Dobrudja (75%); major cities like Bucharest and Constanta.
Alternate names: Macedo Romanian.
Classification: Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Eastern
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| Bulgarian | [bul]
6,750 in Romania (2002 census). Romanian Banat. Palityan also in Bulgaria and Hungary.
Dialects: Palityan (Palitiani, Bogomil).
Classification: Indo-European, Slavic, South, Eastern
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| Crimean Tatar | [crh]
22,000 in Romania (2006 Goriainov). East.
Alternate names: Crimean Turkish.
Dialects: Northern Crimean (Crimean Nogai, Steppe Crimean), Central Crimean, Southern Crimean.
Classification: Altaic, Turkic, Southern
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| Gagauz | [gag]
Alternate names: Gagauzi.
Dialects: Bulgar Gagauz, Maritime Gagauz.
Classification: Altaic, Turkic, Southern, Turkish
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| German, Standard | [deu]
45,100 in Romania (2002 census). Transylvania.
Dialects: Transylvania.
Classification: Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, German, Middle German, East Middle German
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| Greek | [ell]
4,150 in Romania (2002 census).
Classification: Indo-European, Greek, Attic
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| Hungarian | [hun]
1,450,000 in Romania (2002 census). Trans-Carpathian provinces.
Alternate names: Magyar.
Classification: Uralic
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| Polish | [pol]
2,760 in Romania (2002 census).
Alternate names: Polski.
Classification: Indo-European, Slavic, West, Lechitic
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| Romani, Balkan | [rmn]
Black sea region.
Dialects: Ursári (Usari).
Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Central zone, Romani, Balkan
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| Romani, Carpathian | [rmc]
One dialect in Transylvania.
Dialects: Galician, Transylvanian.
Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Central zone, Romani, Northern
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| Romani, Vlax | [rmy]
242,000 in Romania (2002 census). 6,000,000 to 11,000,000 Gypsies in the world (1987 Ian Hancock). Population total all countries: 885,970. Also in Albania, Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation (Europe), Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States.
Alternate names: Danubian, Gypsy, Romanese, Tsigene, Vlax Romany.
Dialects: Sedentary Romania, Kalderash (Kelderashícko, Coppersmith), Ukraine-Moldavia, Eastern, Churari (Churarícko, Sievemakers), Lovari (Lovarícko), Machvano (Machvanmcko), North Albanian, South Albanian, Serbo-Bosnian, Zagundzi, Sedentary Bulgaria, Ghagar, Grekurja (Greco). Kalderash, Ursari, Churari are occupational ethnonyms; Machvano is a geographical one. Other names are Argintari ‘silversmith’ and Lingurari ‘spoonmakers’. Machvano and Serbian Kalderash have south Slavic superstratum; Russian Kalderash influenced by east Slavic, mainly Russian; Lovari influenced by Hungarian [hun]; Grekurja is probably Turkish [tur] influenced, distinct from Greek Romani dialect of Balkan Romani [rmn]. All 20 or more Vlax dialects are inherently intelligible; differences are mainly lexical and sociolinguistic (I. Hancock).
Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Central zone, Romani, Vlax
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| Romanian | [ron]
19,700,000 in Romania (2002 census). Population total all countries: 23,351,080. Moldavian in Moldova northeast; Muntenian in Muntenia, or Wallachia southeast; other dialects north and west, including Transylvania. Also in Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mozambique, Russian Federation (Europe), Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United States, Uzbekistan.
Alternate names: Daco-Rumanian, Moldavian, Rumanian.
Dialects: Moldavian, Muntenian (Walachian), Transylvanian, Banat, Bayash. Little dialect variation. Bayash are Gypsies whose dialect is based on Banat, but influenced by Romani [rmn] and Hungarian [hun]. Lexical similarity: 77% with Italian, 75% with French, 74% with Sardinian [sdn], 73% with Catalan [cat], 72% with Portuguese and Rheto-Romance [roh], 71% with Spanish.
Classification: Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Eastern
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| Romanian Sign Language | [rms]
Classification: Deaf sign language
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| Romany | [rom]
A macrolanguage.
Population total all countries: 2,933,206.
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| Serbian | [srp]
27,000 in Romania (2002 census).
Classification: Indo-European, Slavic, South, Western
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| Turkish | [tur]
28,700 in Romania (2002 census). Southeast along the Danube.
Alternate names: Osmanli.
Dialects: Danubian.
Classification: Altaic, Turkic, Southern, Turkish
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