Yaron Matras

University of Manchester (United Kingdom)

A contrast language? Toward a theory of Romani linguistic hybridity

Some of the tensions in Romani studies – between mainstream approaches to linguistics on the one hand, and to anthropology on the other – arise from the tendency of linguists to focus on historical change (and so by necessity to stress historical roots), while anthropologists tend to emphasise context-dependent adaptation as a principal feature of Romani society. Streck (2002) goes as far as to characterise Romani culture as a “contrast culture”, which constitutes itself as a matter of principle in relation to the cultures of others. Similar thoughts can be found in work by other influential anthropologists, such as Stewart (1997), Okely (1983), and Gay-y-Blasco (1999). Even writers who acknowledge Romani ethnicity in the more conventional sense, often still regard Romani culture as a strictly context-bound “performance” (Lemon 1998, Theodossiou 2004).

Despite the odd accusation to the contrary (such as Okely’s claim that linguists propagate a view of “racial purity” encapsulated via language), modern Romani linguistics has certainly not ignored the hybridity of the language. In recent years, in fact, linguistic studies of Romani have served as groundbreaking test-cases for the theoretical study of hybridity in language, or language contact (cf. Boretzky 1989, Bakker & Cortiade 1991, and more recently Elšík & Matras 2006, among many others). This is supported by the diversity of contact constellations, as well as the massive extent of contact-induced change in some dialects.

The purpose of this contribution is to test whether there is a linguistic trajectory to the hypothesis of a Romani “contrast culture”: whether the maintenance of Romani might be seen as largely emblematic, and the permissiveness toward the incorporation of structural material from the surrounding languages as a reflection of a fundamental acceptance of hybridity, or indeed as a functionally-motivated, context-oriented flexibility of “performance”. I draw on case studies of linguistic contact influences, gathered as part of the team-work of the RMS Database in Manchester, to develop conceptual notions of linguistic hybridity such as “pattern replication”, “fusion”, and “functional turnover”, which essentially constitute a range of strategies to balance language maintenance (“contrastive” culture) against language shift (“assimilation”). I conclude by offering ways in which such concepts might be applied to other domains of culture, beyond language.

Markéta Hajská & Ondřej Poduška

Charles University, Prague (Czech Republic)

Interdialectal code switching and the maintainance of social prestige

The authors of this article, both of whom are cultural anthropologists, have – over the past six years – spent a considerable amount of time in one particular Romani settlement in Eastern Slovakia. This Romani settlement is unusual in this area, in that it is inhabited predominantly by Vlax Romanies. After a massive migration in the 70th and 80th from rural settlements into bigger towns and cities in Slovakia, Czech Republic and later to western European countries, the natural-traditional marital circles of the community members have been interrupted. Consequently, due to the lack of Vlax partners, marriages were performed with NonVlax Romanies. In this period of time, the populations of traditionally Vlax Romani settlements turned increasingly mixed – with non Vlax Romani partners, the so-called Rumungri. Currently, only about half of the lasting marriages are strictly Vlax.

For the actors themselves, being of Vlax origin retains a high social prestige. One of the key mechanisms of reinforcing the Vlax identity is a persistent use of the Vlax dialect of the Romani language. New NonVlax partners, mainly women, but occasionally men as well, have been required (or rather forced) to learn the language as well as accept it as their primary means of communication. The Vlax Romani dialect has thus become the language that these originally NonVlax Romani community members use while communicating with their children. Similarly, they – the Rumungri – use it daily to communicate amongst each other. All community members – traditional Vlax Romanies as well as NonVlax Romanies who have married into the community – attribute great importance to the use of the Vlax Romani language.

The authors of this study have focused on describing situations of code switching. These involve instances when the Slovak Romani language, that of the Rumungri, is used and when it is demonstratively substituted by the Vlax Romani dialect.

Kimmo Granqvist

Research Institute for the Languages of Finland, Helsinki (Finland)

Finnish Roma: the limits of discourse

While the Finnish Roma community is fairly egalitarian within age groups, it is markedly gerontocratic between age groups. Further restrictions affect the social intercourse between the sexes. This paper attempts to outline the manifestations of the social structure of the community in intergenerational and intergender discourse. This kind of discourse shows interaction patterns that are inherently asymmetric. Central in this paper are social principles for interactional co-operation such as politeness strategies. It is well-know that younger Roma address the older formally by means of 2P plural, whereas older Roma may reciprocally use singular. Other, less salient asymmetries occur in the choice of speech acts and turn-taking mechanisms as well as in the syntax. One obvious outcome is that the factors constraining spoken syntax are partly interactional or social, and not merely determined by the internal grammar (cf. Ochs et al. 1996; Couper-Kuhlen & Selting 2001).

There are also a number of topics that are tabooed and cannot be overtly referred to by younger Roma in the presence of older people. These include any topics related to sexuality and reproduction, intimate relationships, marriage, and childbirth (Granqvist & Viljanen 2002). The interaction between generations and sexes is furthermore constrained by bodily schemes that divide the human being into a clean upper part and into unclean lower part and inside (Viljanen 1974, 1994; Viljanen-Saira 1979). Therefore overt reference to bodily functions and many types of diseases is considered shameful in intergenerational and intergender discourse.

However, these interactional constraints affect more strictly the formal (’externalized’) properties of communication than the actual discourse function or communicative intent. In many cases, semantic equivalence can be reached more covertly and in a socially accepted way by means of syntactic variation or periphrases, or paralinguistically (Granqvist & Viljanen 2002; Chambers & Trudgill 1998:50; Winford 1996).

References

• Chambers, J. K. & Trudgill, Peter 1998. Dialectology. Cambridge: CUP.
• Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth & Selting, Magret (eds.) 2001. Studies in Interactional Linguistics. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
• Granqvist, Kimmo & Viljanen, Anna-Maria 2002. Kielelliset tabut romani-identiteetin kuvaajana. In Moniääninen Suomi, Laihiala-Kankainen, Sirkka, Sari Pietikäinen & Hannele Dufva (eds.), 109–25. Jyväskylä: Soveltavan kielentutkimuksen laitos.
• Granqvist, Kimmo & Anna Maria Viljanen 2002. Kielelliset tabut romani-identiteetin kuvaajana. Ks.
• Ochs, Elinor, Schegloff, Emmanuel A. & Thompson, Sandra A. (eds.) 1996. Interaction and Grammar. Cambridge: CUP.
• Viljanen Anna Maria 1974. Mary Douglasin symboliteorian sovellus Suomen mustalaisilta kerättyyn perinteeseen. Master thesis. University of Helsinki.
• Viljanen, Anna Maria 1994. Psykiatria ja kulttuuri. Tutkimus oikeuspsykiatrisesta argumentaatiosta. Helsinki: Stakes & Suomen Antropologinen Seura.
• Viljanen-Saira, Anna Maria 1979. Mustalaiskulttuuri ja kulttuurin muutos. Licentiate. University of Helsinki.
• Winford, D. 1996. The problem of syntactic variation. In Sociolinguistic Variation: Data. Theory and Analysis. Selected Papers from NWAVE 23, Arnold, J et al. (eds.) 177–192. Stanford: CSLI.

Corinna Leschber

Viadrina European University, Frankfurt an der Oder (Germany)

A Romany cryptolect: Context of use and the structure of the lexicon

We describe the use of secret words in Romany, up to the formation of whole cryptolectical phrases, composed from such secret words. On the basis of examples, given by Kalderash speakers originally from Romania, we can demonstrate the context and the motivation for using these intra-Romany cryptolectical structures. We want to show the extent to which the characteristic features correspond to or differ from generally-known regularities of secret languages. The position of secret words in Romany will be commented on from a diachronic point of view and in relation to the problem of archaisms and neologisms.

Olga Abramenko

St. Petersburg Institute for Jewish Studies (Russia)

Oath and damnation in oral practice of Russka and Lotfitka Roma

1. Oaths and damnations (Rom. sovel) are widely used in oral behavior of Russka and Loftitka Roma. The structure of these formulas is similar: a) a statement; b) an appellation to sacral objects and a picture of a disaster if a statement is false. 2. Situations where oaths are used and people who swear: matchmaking, marital engagement (a bridegroom, a bride), suspicions in witchcraft directed to a man (a woman who is suspected in making magiribe). 3. Sacral phenomena that are referred to: God, dead relatives, life and health of children and young relatives, nature (lightning, storm). 4. Sacral objects used during oaths: an icon, kalo thaf “black thread” (specific band used in burial ritual).

Example: te skaz’n’ín man devél pe γará i po vastá, syr mé kryncynáv ikóna, te skryncýn d’áke devél mán i m’iró s’imják’iro, pšaléng’iro, phen’én’g’iro, babák’iro dž’iipé, te skryncýn m’iró i léng’iro šyró i te ná del mange i m’ire r’ib’onkóske devél raspút’ja, te č’uvél jóv man dre b’ída, te zakedén man o rajá, te otlén mandyr saró sastypé, jésl’i mé xuxaváva, jésli mé túke kerd’óm. Syr me terdyjóm pe mulésk’iro tháv kaló, te zamul’ak’ír jóv man i m’ir’i s’émja i m’ir’es č’avorés p’idál tr’ín dyvés. – May God execute me for hands and legs, as I twist the icon, may God twist me and the life of my family, brothers, sisters, grandmother, may He twist the head of mine and them and will not give the way to me and to my child, may He put me into prison, may policemen take me, may they take all my health away, if I lie, if I practiced witchcraft upon you. As I stood on black thread of the dead, may He kill me and my family and my children in three days.