The Political Status of the Romani Language in Europe. Mercator Working Papers.

This paper examines the political status of Romani. the language of the Gypsies/Roma, in the European Union (EU). Even though some groups do not call themselves "Roma," all Romani speaking groups use the name "Romanes" for their language and "Romani/Romano/Romane" for everything related to their group. All groups use the same language, and all languages can be subdivided into dialects. Three aspects make Romani dialects more diverse than other EU dialects: absence of centuries long influence from a standard language or prestige dialect; influence from a variety of local languages; and a great number of communities of Romani speakers (with speakers not all in contact with each other). This paper highlights the following: (1) "Introduction"; (2) "The Roma"; (3) "Roma and International Organizations"; (4) "The Romani Language: Demographic and Sociolinguistic Data"; (5) "The Status of Romani in International Institutions"; (6) "Romani and European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (non-territorial languages and implementation); (7) "The Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities"; (8) "Article 27 of the Un-Covenant on Civil and Political Rights"; (9) "Country-by-Country Survey of Romani in EU Countries" (individual countries, Romani in education, and publications in and about Romani); and (10) "Conclusions: The Future of Romani." (Contains 47 references.) (SM)