All the groups of the varieties of romany are a common compendium, more or less, in the levels lexical and morphologic. The syntactic level and the phoneticone have adapted, in each one of these varieties, to the own structures of the majority languages of the zones where these varieties live. This has given rise to the multilinguistic situation that characterizes the Rome groups nowadays, and explains how it has affected and affects the assimilation that the majority social groups infringe on the gypsys. In order to review which is the historical route that these languages have lived to the present time, it see the section “History of the emigration of the gypsys and their language , from as the own present characteristics can be understood far better of all these varieties, serving, for that reason, of perfect base to accede to the general description that now appears:
1-. The Lexicon
In the lexical plane, the romany language is characterized by the multitude of layers of words adopted at different historical moments. The calls “original words” indians and “soon loans” of the persian, armenian and the byzantine-greek, form the well-known level of “inherited words”. This level is the part of the asian romany lexicon. The european part of the lexicon is satisfied of denominated “later loans” and “adopted words”, that has its origin, respectively, in the languages of the balkan mountains and other european languages.
Over the eslavic word “prano”, this table suggests a common lexicon to all the romany languages. Lexemas more distant is coming from specific varieties: the rumanian “adopted word” “pomána” belongs to the lexicon of kalderash-romany variety; “kalápa”, of hungarian origin, is used, among others, for romany-burgenland; the lexema “vélto”, a “adopted word”, coming from Germany, is attributed to the varieties of Sinte.
It would be, then, possible, from the layers of the lexical level, to reconstruct the migratory route of the different romany groups towards Europe. The first shutdown from the exit of the Northeast of India was Persia. This is supposed by the presence of lexems of persian origin in all the romany varieties. In addition, the absence of arab loans in the lexicon of these varieties, it is easy to deduce that the exit of the gypsys, of these earth, took place before the arabicization of that region: therefore, before the mestization of the iranian and arab cultures in the direction of Armenia and following towards the area of byzantine influence. This theory is maintained on the base of the existence of loans from the armenian and not exclusively of the lexical influence of the greek-byzantine.
Continuing with the followed trajectory, the emigration from peninsular Minior Asia had to take place, necessarily, before this zone was influenced by the Turk (a process that is described like the mestization of two cultures), since the lexicon of the romany groups that arrived at Central Europe and from the East does not show to elements Turk-Ottomans.
The asian part of the migration, and the later one to the balkan mountains, is illustrated by the following oration in the romany of Lovara group:
The strong and mentioned characterization of the romany by (byzantine-)greek are reflected, among other things, in the cardinal numbers that appear listings in the following picture. These, after lexems of indian origin (a.i) are in favor compound of lexems exclusively greek:
2-. Phonologic
The phonologic inventory of the romany language does not differ, in most, of the european languages. As far as its vocalism, all the varieties have five main vowels: /i, e, a, o, u/. This vocal system has been satisfied, from an original model in which the quantitative character (duration) was distinguishing, to the purely qualitative present configuration (the duration like phonologic characteristic is lost). This contrasts, then, with which it happens in the languages present indians, in where this characteristic is distinguishing:
Depending on the contact with other languages, the romany varieties can get to contain centralized vowels, as it is the case of which they have adopted it of the rumanian or the turk; or even the cleared vowels who also are of Turkish origin:
The system of consonants differs in an aspect from the one of the european languages: this one has aspired tenuous and inhaled voiceless oclusivas /ph, th, kh /, which he is own of the indians languages and who can go back to the old indian, where already existed the expression of aspired the occlussives voiceless bh/, dh, gh/. For the great majority of the romany varieties, the system /ph, th, kh/ has distinguishing function at least on initial guard of word.
In many varieties, the inhaled voiceless affricative sounds and its complementary ones do not form pertinent phonologics oppositions. Also, they can appear two distinguishing phonemes /r/ in some varieties:
3-. Morphology
3.1-. The noun
The romany language has two sorts: masculine and feminine. Also, the category of number has been included of the singular and the plural one. Nevertheless, it is in the category of the case where the greater differences with respect to the european languages settle down. The conformation in two levels of nominal flexion, three primary cases and five secondary ones, comprises of the inheritance of the indian romany languages. The three primary cases are: the straight case, the oblique case and the vocative. While the vocative defends special an isolated position, the category [ +/- animated ] it pronounces in the functional differentiation between the straight case and the oblique one. The straight case always works like nominative case with animated nouns, also working as accusative in the case of the inanimate nouns; the oblique case, on the contrary, symbolizes accusative with animated nouns. It is more, the oblique case is the base for the five secondary cases: dative, ablative, locative, instruments and genitive. The double suffixing which he appears in the formation of the secondary cases (morfema oblique (/es /,/a/,/en/) + morfema of case: dative (/ke /,/ge/), ablative (/tar/,/dar/)...) is described, among others, in Boretzky (1989: 358) like a aglutinant characteristic of the romany languages. Morfemas of the secondary cases is gramaticalizated from the postpositions of languages previous Indians.
Nevertheless, differences between the different varieties at the time of the accomplishment from the cases settle down. In the instrumental case, for example, there are divergences in the singular form:
In the genitive case, that it is used mainly in attributive form and he appears reduced in sort and number, also they appear differences:
Of a gradually different way, a multitude of varieties has developed an analytical formation of the case, in which the synthetic case frequently is replaced. They are affected by this process, fundamentally, the locative case and the ablative. The instrumental case, on the contrary, very rare time is implied. In the romany varieties that share this development, that is the result of the contacts with languages of the balkan mountains, “older” synthetic forms are complemented by “modern” analytical prepositional cases (frequently in the form “preposition + nominative”):
The declination in the remaining nominal area (articles, adjectives, pronominal adjectives) has two levels and it is characterized by denominated “dicotomy of nominative”: straight case / oblique case. Within the nominal oration, the reaction is satisfied according to the noun-nucleus, like it acquires knowledge in the following examples:
The following table sample the specific possibilities of variation of the definite article, that can go back to the influence of the greek language at its moment
:
The variation of the adjective and the pronominal adjective is restricted to the form of the feminine singular of the oblique case:
To part of these flexives adjectives, the romany language also has few irrevocable adjectives, as it is the case of šukar, “pretty”.
Until now, the noun used like examples have been elements of the inherited lexicon, that are marked morphologically of form different from the adopted words. As far as the adjectives, the adopted forms are flexioned of different form in comparison from the inherited ones: for example, there is no sort distinction or, even, neither of sort and number.
In addition, the masculine ones inherited / adopted are distinguished generally by the differences of vocalism of the oblique suffix of singular, that in the case of the thematic declination of the inherited words is made as /-es/ and in the case of the atematic declination of adopted words there is evidence of assimilation or analogy in agreement with the on guard final vowel of the nominative case.
In romany kalderash, among others, the inherited words are distinguished of the adopted words, in addition, through the accentuation: while to the inherited words the accentuation falls on the last syllable, to the adopted words falls, generally, on the penultimate one:
3.2-. The verb
In contrast to the thematic conjugation of the inherited verbs, the atematic conjugation of the adopted verbs is characterized by the addition of morphemes that, in agreement with Boretzky/Igla (1991: 35-38), they come from the Greek:
Two classes of morphemes of the category “person” participate in the conjugation of the verbs, these are: {av}, {es}, {el}; {as}, {en}, {en}, which they are added to the subject of the present form, and the suffixes which they adhere to the perfect form, {/om/um/em/}, {/an/al/}, {/as/ah/a/}; {am}, {/en/an/}, {e}. It has, in addition, two morphemes more: {a} and {/as/ahi/}. Depending on the appearance of the suffix {a}, distinguishes the short and long forms for the present:
The functions of forms release it and cut of the present differ from a romany variety to another one: in the romany kalderash, for example, the short form works like indicative present, whereas the long form has a conjuntive and future meaning. In the romany arlije and bugurdzi, the long form generally is used like indicative present, mientras la forma corta implica conjunción o alternativamente también presente de indicativo while the short form implies conjunction or alternatively present of indicative. In the romany burgenland, the short form works like present, and the long form like future. As it contrasts, the varieties spoken in the balkan mountains form the future through the particle {/ka/kam/kama/}, that derives from the verb kamel (“to love , to want, to wish”) plus the short form. The short form of present is, in addition, the base for the past perfect, which, as in the case of pluperfect, is formed through the pluperfect with morphemes {/as/ahi/}. For pluperfect, nevertheless, is the perfect form that works as it bases. These three past forms are in the following table:
The appearance of in-fixed formants between the subject and the end of word is characteristic of these past forms (in the case of the shown table above, /-d-/), that frequently appear palatalizated /-dj-/ or, as it is seen in the following example, changed by an affricative form. This example of the romany burgenland shows affix /-ahi/, that is characteristic of this variety and the surrounding ones in its geographic zone. It is more, the example shows to legitimate changes and reductions of the limits of morphemes, as well as modals functions of the past forms, with pluperfect used only like unreal:
The passive voice synthetically forms with the affix {/-ov-/-av-/}, for example: mardjovav (“I am being struck ”), of the form marav “I strike”.. If this formation is not productive, like it happens in romany burgenland, analytically makes by means of the participle of perfect past + the verb to be: mardo ojav “I am struck”. The formation of the passive one for the individual varieties cannot here be dealed with complete form. Like conclusion, the forms of the present of the verb to be are presented next in several romany varieties, including the etymology and the comparison with the new indians languages:
3.3-. Other particles
Within the category of the verbs, one is due to differentiate between the modals adverbs derived and the temporary adverbs and local inherited or lent adverbs. The modals adverbs derive from the adjectives by means of morphemes {/es/e/} that are suffixed to the subject: bar-e(s), tikn-e(s), etc. (“big”, “pretty”, “small”, etc.).
For the local adverbs, concur even formed with suffixes of locative and ablative coming from the old indian, such as:
These adverbs of place frequently work like preposition, by this, a part of the definite article that follows is assimilated or incorporated:
Between the varieties of the Balkan, there is a strong variability with respect to the inherited of place adverbs that do not distinguish between calm or movement (Boretzky/Igla 1994: 383):
The romany language conserve just a few adverbs of time inherited of the Indian. The great majority of these adverbs is product of loans and derivations that exist generally in many varieties:
On the other hand, the negation particle na appears in all the romany varieties and is from Indian origin:
In relation to the coordinated particles that can go back to the Indian origins, they stand out thaj/taj “and” (ai. tatha:pi) and vaj “or”(ai. Va); the last one of these has been replaced by other recent loans in multitude of varieties:
Finally, about the subordinated conjunctions, it generally persists the differentiation between kaj indicative (ai.kasmin) and conjuntive you (ai.tad), that are functional, for example, in the balkan languages. Like example, are the data of romany burgenland:
Some written samples of romany language (translation to English and Spanish)