Romanian | Ethnologue

Romanian

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A language of Romania

Alternate Names
Daco-Rumanian, Moldavian, Rumanian
Population

19,700,000 in Romania (2002 census). Population total all countries: 23,623,890.

Location

Moldavian in Moldova northeast; Muntenian in Muntenia, or Wallachia southeast; other dialects north and west, including Transylvania. Also in Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova (Moldovan), Mozambique, Russian Federation, Serbia, Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United States, Uzbekistan.

Language Maps
Language Status

1 (National). Statutory national language (2003, Constitution, Article 13).

Dialects

Banat, Bayash, Moldavian, Muntenian (Walachian), Transylvanian. Little dialect variation. Bayash are Gypsies whose dialect is based on Banat, but influenced by Balkan Romani [rmn] and Hungarian [hun]. Lexical similarity: 77% with Italian [ita], 75% with French [fra], 74% with Sardinian [sdn], 73% with Catalan [cat], 72% with Portuguese [por] and Rheto-Romance [roh], 71% with Spanish [spa].

Typology

SVO

Language Development
Fully developed. Bible: 1688–1989.
Writing
Braille script. Cyrillic script, official usage in Moldova until 1991. Latin script, primary usage.
Other Comments

Christian.

Also spoken in:

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