August 31 – National Language Day in Moldova

nPostednon August 31, 2016

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nToday’snMoldovan holiday is largely about glottonyms.

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nWhat-o-nyms?

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“Glottonyms”nare names for languages. And, over the years, there has been a lot ofnattention paid in Moldova to the name for their language.

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nThenpeople of Moldova speak Romanian – specifically, the Moldaviannsub-dialect of Romanian that is also spoken in northeastern Romania.

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nButnsome people say that the language of Moldova is Moldovan. n

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nSo…isnthe language of Moldova called Romanian, Moldavian, or Moldovan?

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nAnbrief history of the language of Moldova…

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nWaynback when, pre-1857, the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet was used in thenPrincipality of Moldavia and by other Moldovan speakers. It wasnreplaced by a Latin Romanian alphabet (more like our own alphabet),nand when the Soviet Union dominated Moldova, the Cyrillic alphabetnthat had evolved from the Russian alphabet was used. Since thenbreakup of the USSR and independence for Moldova, Moldovans are backnto the Latin-based Romanian alphabet. n

Above, the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet.
Below, the modern Latin-based Romanian alphabet.

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nThatndouble-step, from X to Y to Z and back to Y, has nothing much to donwith the actual language – the sounds associated with each noun ornverb. As far as I can tell, all through the alphabet upheavals, thenwords and grammar stayed pretty much the same. Of course, as with allnlanguages, there were new words being invented and old words fallingnout of fashion. There were no words for cell phone or faxnmachine, back in the early 1800s, for example, but now we don’tnneed the specialized words people used for the variety of carriagesnor coaches that horses used to pull through the streets.

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nHowever,nthe name for the language has also been a bit back-and-forth. WhennRussia and the Soviet Union ruled Moldova, officials emphasized thendifferences between Moldovans and Romanians in an effort to build upnMoldova as a separate-from-Romania entity, a Soviet SocialistnRepublic. That’s why the officials insisted on calling the languagenMoldovan, 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.

nThenDeclaration of Independence of Moldova referred to the language asnRomanian. The 1994 Constitution called it Moldovan. The currentnconstitution, on the other hand, recognized both Moldovan andnRomanian as proper and official names for the language.

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nApparently,nmost people in the cities of Moldova call their native tonguenRomanian, but most people in rural areas call it Moldovan. In mostnschools, the language is referred to as Romanian, but in 2007 thenpresident of Moldova asked that school personnel change to using thenterm Moldovan; however, there was public outcry against his idea, andnthe change wasn’t made.

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nWenmay wonder, why the struggle with what to call a language? We haven’tnhad so much struggle with the word English, which is not just spokennin England, but also in Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the U.S., Canada,nAustralia, New Zealand, and many other places as well. Most of thencountries that joined with England to make up the United Kingdom ornthat were once colonies of Britain feel no shame in using the namen“English” for their language.

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Insuppose it is all bound up in questions of identity and nationalnpride. I mean, clearly the language is important – there’s a holiday for it! And the name for today’s holiday, Limba noastră,nmeaning “our language,” is also the name for the Moldovannnational anthem!

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nChecknout this earlier postnon Moldova.

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nAlsonon this date:

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