The Future of Romani:Toward a Policy of Linguistic Pluralism
The Future of Romani:Toward a Policy of Linguistic Pluralism

Summary/Abstract: The past decade has seen the emergence of linguistic pluralism in the use of Romani in institutions such as media and education: language codification is primarily regional, targeting a regional audience. Regional initiatives are autonomous and implement their own solutions. At the same time, an international network of Romani language codification activities is emerging – through meetings, correspondence, exchange of publications, and via the internet. The question facing agencies engaged in language policy is how to pursue networking and international collaboration, while taking into account the de-centralised achievements of the past decade. The practical way forward is to adopt linguistic pluralism as a policy: to support regional initiative and creativity, while also strengthening international networking efforts and exchange. Users of written Romani should embrace the idea that different forms of the language may be used in different contexts, and that codification can be flexible and oriented toward practical communication, rather than rigid, serving as a symbol of loyalty to a particular Standard. Collective ownership of language will thus encompass a web of language varieties, and not just one single form of the language. Such a policy fits the specific Romani situation of a trans-national minority with dispersed, regional centres of cultural and public life. It is also suitable for the young generation of language users, who are accustomed to trial & error, individual creativity and flexibility in their use of written language in new communication technologies such as text-messages, internet chat-rooms and email.

• Details
• Contents