Posted
on August 31, 2016
Today's
Moldovan holiday is largely about glottonyms.
What-o-nyms?
“Glottonyms”
are names for languages. And, over the years, there has been a lot of
attention paid in Moldova to the name for their language.
The
people of Moldova speak Romanian – specifically, the Moldavian
sub-dialect of Romanian that is also spoken in northeastern Romania.
But
some people say that the language of Moldova is Moldovan.
So...is
the language of Moldova called Romanian, Moldavian, or Moldovan?
A
brief history of the language of Moldova...
Way
back when, pre-1857, the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet was used in the
Principality of Moldavia and by other Moldovan speakers. It was
replaced by a Latin Romanian alphabet (more like our own alphabet),
and when the Soviet Union dominated Moldova, the Cyrillic alphabet
that had evolved from the Russian alphabet was used. Since the
breakup of the USSR and independence for Moldova, Moldovans are back
to the Latin-based Romanian alphabet.
 |
Above, the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet. Below, the modern Latin-based Romanian alphabet. |
That
double-step, from X to Y to Z and back to Y, has nothing much to do
with the actual language – the sounds associated with each noun or
verb. As far as I can tell, all through the alphabet upheavals, the
words and grammar stayed pretty much the same. Of course, as with all
languages, there were new words being invented and old words falling
out of fashion. There were no words for cell phone or fax
machine, back in the early 1800s, for example, but now we don't
need the specialized words people used for the variety of carriages
or coaches that horses used to pull through the streets.
However,
the name for the language has also been a bit back-and-forth. When
Russia and the Soviet Union ruled Moldova, officials emphasized the
differences between Moldovans and Romanians in an effort to build up
Moldova as a separate-from-Romania entity, a Soviet Socialist
Republic. That's why the officials insisted on calling the language
Moldovan, and also why they swept away the Romanian alphabet.
 |
| A comparison of the Moldovan flag, above, and the Romanian flag, below, shows them to be very similar. |
The
Declaration of Independence of Moldova referred to the language as
Romanian. The 1994 Constitution called it Moldovan. The current
constitution, on the other hand, recognized both Moldovan and
Romanian as proper and official names for the language.
Apparently,
most people in the cities of Moldova call their native tongue
Romanian, but most people in rural areas call it Moldovan. In most
schools, the language is referred to as Romanian, but in 2007 the
president of Moldova asked that school personnel change to using the
term Moldovan; however, there was public outcry against his idea, and
the change wasn't made.
We
may wonder, why the struggle with what to call a language? We haven't
had so much struggle with the word English, which is not just spoken
in England, but also in Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the U.S., Canada,
Australia, New Zealand, and many other places as well. Most of the
countries that joined with England to make up the United Kingdom or
that were once colonies of Britain feel no shame in using the name
“English” for their language.
I
suppose it is all bound up in questions of identity and national
pride. I mean, clearly the language is important - there's a holiday for it! And the name for today's holiday, Limba noastră,
meaning “our language,” is also the name for the Moldovan
national anthem!
Check
out this earlier post
on Moldova.
Also
on this date:
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