| Population |
19,700,000 in Romania (2002 census). Population total all countries: 23,351,080. |
| Region |
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 |
| Language use |
Official language. |
| Language development |
Fully developed. Bible: 1688–1989. |
| Writing system |
Cyrillic script, no longer in use. Latin script. |
| Comments |
SVO. Peasant agriculturalists. Christian. |
| Language name |
Romanian |
| Population |
2,660,000 in Moldova (1979 census). |
| Region |
Widespead. |
| Alternate names |
Moldavan, Roumanian, Rumanian |
| Dialects |
Moldavan (Moldovian, Moldovean), Muntenian (Walachian, Muntean), Banat, Bayash, Chrishana, Maramuresh, Oltenia-Lesser Wallachia (Oltean). |
| Language use |
Official language. Many Gypsies in Moldova and southern Ukraine speak Moldavan dialect as L1. |
| Comments |
Called ‘Moldavan’ in Moldova. Christian. |
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