Borrowing from the Slavic languages to the Central Romani language was discussed at the Ebergard Karl University of Tübingen (Department of Slavic Studies, Institute of Neolinguistics). Associate Professor of the Department of Journalism and Philology, Faculty of FPSC SSU Alla Yarova took part in the discussion.

The organizers of the guest lecture “Slavic borrowings in Central Romani” invited Professor of Charles University in Prague Viktor Elšík (Viktor Elšík) – a recognized expert in the Romani language.

The researcher offered the audience an overview of phonological, lexical, semantic, pragmatic, morphological and syntactic borrowings from different Slavic languages, presented in the central group of dialects of the Romani language. They talked about the social deixis of pronouns, the position of emphasis in words, the length of vowels, the palatalization of consonants, and in general the degree of “Slavicization” of the Central Romani language.

The research is based on lexical and grammatical descriptions, previously unpublished field research materials of several hundred local varieties of this language, as well as materials of the Linguistic Atlas of the Central Romani Language.

Let us remind you: novels are a language of Indian origin, the only one among European and Balkan ones. The modern Romani language is a number of dialects that have undergone phonetic, lexical, morphological and syntactic influences of the languages in which the Roma live. Native speakers of the Romani language are mostly bilingual: the native language is used in everyday life, interpersonal communication, song folklore, and in other cases the dominant language of the territory where the Roma live predominates.

It should be noted that among the Slavic languages, Professor Viktor Elshik also considers the Ruthenian language. Note that most Ukrainian linguists speak of an array of Ukrainian dialects in the Transcarpathian region, rather than a single Ruthenian language, the isolation of which is often associated with purely political processes.

According to Alla Yarova, associate professor of journalism and philology of FPSC SSU, such an approach may lead to erroneous conclusions, because the Ruthenian language is nothing but an array of Ukrainian dialects in the Transcarpathian region, and not a separate language.

– The vast majority of domestic scholars associate the separation of the Ruthenian language with purely political processes that threaten the integrity of Ukraine, – she said during the discussion.

The discussion was also attended by the Head of the Department of Slavic Studies of the Institute of Neolinguistics, Professor Tilman Berger, Professors Anja Gattnar, Tatiana Perevozchikova.