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The term Moldovan (also Moldavian) is sometimes used to refer to the Romanian language in the Republic of Moldova and in its breakaway region of Transnistria.^[1] ^[2] The Constitution of Moldova (Title I, Article 13) states that the "Moldovan language" is the official language of the country.^[3] In the Declaration of Independence of Moldova from the Soviet Union, the Romanian language is declared the official language of the state, and the Moldovan language is not mentioned^[4]. Linguists consider standard "Moldovan" to be identical to standard Romanian, and many Moldovan officials and official bodies do or have done so as well.^[5] Linguists condemn such artificial language of Moldovan".^[6] The European Parliament has included in its documents the recommendations not to make references to the so-called "Moldovan language".^[7]

"Moldovan" (Romanian: graiul moldovenesc) can also refer to a northern variety of colloquial Romanian approximately within the territory of the former Principality of Moldavia (now split between Moldova and Romania). There is no particular linguistic break at the Prut River, which divides Moldova from Romania. "Moldovan" variety is considered one of the five major spoken varieties of Romanian, all five being written identically, but only about half of the speakers of this variety live in Moldova, while the other half live in the neighboring regions of Romania.

The standard alphabet of the language is the Latin alphabet (currently official in the Republic of Moldova). Between 1940 and 1989, Soviet authorities have imposed the usage of the Cyrillic alphabet. The latter remains currently in use only in breakaway region of Transnistria.

"Moldovan" was assigned code mo in ISO 639-1 and code mol in ISO 639-2 and ISO/DIS 639-3.^[8]

History and politics

The history of the "Moldovan" (Romanian) language in Moldova is closely tied to the region's political status, with long periods of occupation by Russia and the Soviet Union influencing the language's name and (when Cyrillic script was in use) orthography. Major recent developments include the return to a Latin script from Cyrillic in 1989 and several changes in the statutory name of the language used in Moldova, from "Moldovan" to Romanian and by some individuals back. At one point of particular confusion about identity in the 1990s, all references to geography in the name of the language was dropped, and it was officially known simply as Romanian: limba de stat - "The State Language".

Controversy

The matter of whether or not "Moldovan" is a separate language is a contested political issue within and beyond the Republic of Moldova.

The 1989 law on language of the Moldavian SSR, which is still effective in Moldova according to the Constitution,^[9] asserts the real existence of "linguistic Moldo-Romanian identity".^[10] Title I, Article 13 of the Moldovan Constitution, names it "the national language of the country" (the original Moldovan/Romanian uses the term limba de stat, which literally means the language of the state, or official language, thus avoiding the term national, whose sense is that of ethnicity). In the breakaway region of Transnistria, it is co-official with Ukrainian and Russian.

Despite the official nomenclature, standard "Moldovan" is widely considered to be identical to standard Romanian^[11]. Writing about "essential differences", Vasile Stati, supporter of Moldovenism, is obliged to concentrate almost exclusively on lexical rather than grammatical differences. Whatever language distinctions may once have existed, these have been decreasing rather than increasing: "... in the main, Moldovan in its standard form was more Romanian by the 1980s than at any point in its history".^[12]

In 2002, the Moldovan Minister of Justice, Ion Morei, said that Romanian and "Moldovan" are the same language and that the Constitution of Moldova should be amended, not necessarily by changing the word Moldovan into Romanian, but by adding that "Romanian and Moldovan are the same language".^[13] Education Minister Valentin Beniuc said, "I have stated more than once that the notion of a Moldovan language and a Romanian language reflects the same linguistic phenomenon in essence."^[14] The President of Moldova, Vladimir Voronin, acknowledged that the two languages are identical, but said that Moldovans should have the right to call their language "Moldovan".^[15]

The official language of Moldova is regulated by the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, which calls it Romanian. The name Romanian is also used in all schools and universities in Moldova.

In the 2004 census, out of the 3,383,332 people living in Moldova, 16.5% (558,508) chose Romanian as their mother tongue, whereas 60% chose "Moldovan". While 40% of all urban Romanian/Moldovan speakers chose Romanian as their mother tongue, in the countryside barely one in seven Romanian/Moldovan speakers indicated Romanian as his mother tongue.^[16]

There are, however, few regional differences between the colloquial spoken languages of Moldova and Romania, as might be found within any linguistic territory, and the common speech of areas such as Chişinău or Transnistria can be distinguished from the speech of Iaşi, a Romanian city that is also part of the former Principality of Moldavia, while the difference in the common speech between Iaşi and the capital of Romania Bucharest is even greater. In general, before 1988-89, the less educated, the greater the difference from standard Romanian, and the more words were borrowed ad hoc from Russian into the daily speech.

The 1917 poem Limba noastră ("Our language") by Alexei Mateevici has been the national anthem of Moldova since 1994. It does not, however, make any claims relating to whether it is 'Romanian' or 'Moldovan' which is "our language."

Latin as the official alphabet

Between 1940 and 1989, i.e. during the Soviet rule, Cyrillic replaced Latin as the official alphabet in Moldova (then Moldavian SSR). In 1989, Latin replaced Cyrillic in turn, adopting entirely the contemporary orthographic rules of Romanian language.

Notes

^ Kogan Page 2004, p 242
^ http://ec.europa.eu/translation/language_aids/recognition/field_guide_main_languages_of_europe_en.pdf A Field Guide to the Main Languages of Europe - Spot that language and how to tell them apart], on the website of the European Commission
^ From 1989 until 1994 there was a tendency in the official circles to use more the term "Romanian", until the point that from 1992 the term "Moldovan" was no longer in official use. After 1994, "Moldovan" made a come back and was used in some instances. These grew after 2001, but fell back to the pre-2001 levels two years later. Very often officials prefer to use "official language" or "state language" to avoid making a public choice.
^ RECALLING that during the recent years the democratic national liberation movement of the population of the Republic of Moldova reaffirmed its aspirations for freedom, independence and national unity, expressed in final documents of the Great National Reunion of Kishinau [sic] on 27 August, 1989, 16 December, 1990 and 27 August, 1991, laws and decisions of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova concerning the laws reintroducing Romanian as the state language and the Latin alphabet on August 31, 1989, the state flag on 27 April, 1990, the state emblem on November 3, 1990 and the change of the official name of the republic on May 23, 1991[1]Template:Ro [2]
^ Omniglot http://www.omniglot.com/writing/moldovan.htm
^ Template:Ro icon"Ziare.ro - Linguists condemn "Moldovan language"". Retrieved 2007-11-10.
^ Ziua, November 14, 2007: "Parliament of Europe rejects Moldovan language"
^ SIL International: ISO 639 code sets: Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: mol
^ Constitution of the Republic of Moldova, Title 7, Article 7: "The law of 1 September 1989 regarding the usage of languages spoken on the territory of the Republic of Moldova remains valid, excepting the points where it contradicts this constitution."
^ Legea cu privire la funcţionarea limbilor vorbite pe teritoriul RSS Moldoveneşti Nr.3465-XI din 01.09.89 Vestile nr.9/217, 1989 (Law regarding the usage of languages spoken on the territory of the Republic of Moldova): "Moldavian SSR supports the desire of the Moldovans that live across the borders of the Republic, and considering the really existing linguistical Moldo-Romanian identity - of the Romanians that live on the territory of the USSR, of doing their studies and satisfying their cultural needs in their maternal language."
^ Kogan Page 2004, p 291 ; IHT, 16 June 2000, p. 2 ; Dyer 1999 , 2005
^ King 2000
^ Ion Morei: The Moldovan language is identical to the Romanian language, Moldova Azi, 10 September 2002
^ Din nou fără burse, Jurnal de Chişinău, 25 May 2004
^ Mediafax interview
^ National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova: Census 2004

References

Dyer, D. (1999). The Romanian Dialect of Moldova: A Study in Language and Politics. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press. (ISBN 0-7734-8037-4)
Dyer, Donald Leroy, ed. Studies in Moldovan. New York: Columbia University Press (East European Monographs), 1996. (ISBN 0-88033-351-0)
Stati, V.N. Dicţionar moldovenesc-românesc. [=Moldovan-Romanian dictionary.] Chişinău: Tipografia Centrală (Biblioteca Pro Moldova), 2003. (ISBN 9975-78-248-5)
Dumbrava, V. (2004). Sprachkonflikt und Sprachbewusstsein in der Republik Moldova: Eine empirische Studie in gemischtethnischen Familien (Sprache, Mehrsprachigkeit und sozialer Wandel). Bern: Peter Lang. (ISBN 3-631-50728-3)
Movileanu N. Din istoria Transnistriei (1924-1940), Revista de istorie a Moldovei, 1993, #2.
Negru E. Introducerea si interzicerea grafiei latine in R.A.S.S.M, 1999, Revista de istorie a Moldovei, #3-4.
(2004). Europe Review 2003/2004. Kogan Page.
King, C. The Moldovans: Romania, Russia and the Politics of Culture, Hoover Institution Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8179-9792-X.

External links

[1] Kogan Page 2004, p 242

[2] ttp://ec.europa.eu/translation/language_aids/recognition/field_guide_main_languages_of_europe_en.pdf A Field Guide to the Main Languages of Europe - Spot that language and how to tell them apart], on the website of the European Commission

[3] From 1989 until 1994 there was a tendency in the official circles to use more the term "Romanian", until the point that from 1992 the term "Moldovan" was no longer in official use. After 1994, "Moldovan" made a come back and was used in some instances. These grew after 2001, but fell back to the pre-2001 levels two years later. Very often officials prefer to use "official language" or "state language" to avoid making a public choice.

[4] RECALLING that during the recent years the democratic national liberation movement of the population of the Republic of Moldova reaffirmed its aspirations for freedom, independence and national unity, expressed in final documents of the Great National Reunion of Kishinau [sic] on 27 August, 1989, 16 December, 1990 and 27 August, 1991, laws and decisions of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova concerning the laws reintroducing Romanian as the state language and the Latin alphabet on August 31, 1989, the state flag on 27 April, 1990, the state emblem on November 3, 1990 and the change of the official name of the republic on May 23, 1991[1]Template:Ro [2]

[omniglot-5] Omniglot http://www.omniglot.com/writing/moldovan.htm

[6] Template:Ro icon"Ziare.ro - Linguists condemn "Moldovan language"". Retrieved 2007-11-10.

[7] Ziua, November 14, 2007: "Parliament of Europe rejects Moldovan language"

[8] SIL International: ISO 639 code sets: Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: mol

[9] Constitution of the Republic of Moldova, Title 7, Article 7: "The law of 1 September 1989 regarding the usage of languages spoken on the territory of the Republic of Moldova remains valid, excepting the points where it contradicts this constitution."

[10] Legea cu privire la funcţionarea limbilor vorbite pe teritoriul RSS Moldoveneşti Nr.3465-XI din 01.09.89 Vestile nr.9/217, 1989 (Law regarding the usage of languages spoken on the territory of the Republic of Moldova): "Moldavian SSR supports the desire of the Moldovans that live across the borders of the Republic, and considering the really existing linguistical Moldo-Romanian identity - of the Romanians that live on the territory of the USSR, of doing their studies and satisfying their cultural needs in their maternal language."

[11] Kogan Page 2004, p 291 ; IHT, 16 June 2000, p. 2 ; Dyer 1999 , 2005

[12] King 2000

[13] Ion Morei: The Moldovan language is identical to the Romanian language, Moldova Azi, 10 September 2002

[14] Din nou fără burse, Jurnal de Chişinău, 25 May 2004

[15] Mediafax interview

[16] National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova: Census 2004

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 |{{Eastern Romance languages}}
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-The term '''Moldovan''' (also '''Moldavian''') is sometimes used to refer to the [[Romanian language]] in the [[Republic of Moldova]] and in its breakaway region of [[Transnistria]].<ref>Kogan Page 2004, p 242</ref> <ref>http://ec.europa.eu/translation/language_aids/recognition/field_guide_main_languages_of_europe_en.pdf A Field Guide to the Main Languages of Europe - Spot that language and how to tell them apart], on the website of the [[European Commission]]</ref> [[The Constitution of Moldova]] (Title I, Article 13) states that the "Moldovan language" is the official language of the country.<ref>From 1989 until 1994 there was a tendency in the official circles to use more the term "Romanian", until the point that from 1992 the term "Moldovan" was no longer in official use. After 1994, "Moldovan" made a come back and was used in some instances. These grew after 2001, but fell back to the pre-2001 levels two years later.{{Fact|date=November 2007}} Very often officials prefer to use "official language" or "state language" to avoid making a public choice.</ref> In the [[Declaration of Independence of Moldova from the Soviet Union]], the Romanian language is declared the official language of the state, and the Moldovan language is not mentioned<ref>''RECALLING that during the recent years the democratic national liberation movement of the population of the Republic of Moldova reaffirmed its aspirations for freedom, independence and national unity, expressed in final documents of the Great National Reunion of Kishinau [sic] on 27 August, 1989, 16 December, 1990 and 27 August, 1991, laws and decisions of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova concerning the laws reintroducing Romanian as the state language and the Latin alphabet on August 31, 1989, the state flag on 27 April, 1990, the state emblem on November 3, 1990 and the change of the official name of the republic on May 23, 1991''[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/moldova/md_appnd.html]{{ro}}[http://ro.wikisource.org/wiki/Declaraţia_de_independenţă_a_Republicii_Moldova]</ref>. Linguists consider standard Moldovan to be identical to standard Romanian, and many Moldovan officials and official bodies do or have done so as well.{{Fact|date=November 2007}} Romanian linguists condemned Moldovan as an artificial language.<ref> {{ro icon}}{{cite web |url=http://www.ziare.ro/articol.php?id=1193864896 |title=Ziare.ro - Linguists condemn "Moldovan language" |accessdate=2007-11-10 |format= |work=}}</ref>
+The term '''Moldovan''' (also '''Moldavian''') is sometimes used to refer to the [[Romanian language]] in the [[Republic of Moldova]] and in its breakaway region of [[Transnistria]].<ref>Kogan Page 2004, p 242</ref> <ref>http://ec.europa.eu/translation/language_aids/recognition/field_guide_main_languages_of_europe_en.pdf A Field Guide to the Main Languages of Europe - Spot that language and how to tell them apart], on the website of the [[European Commission]]</ref> [[The Constitution of Moldova]] (Title I, Article 13) states that the "Moldovan language" is the official language of the country.<ref>From 1989 until 1994 there was a tendency in the official circles to use more the term "Romanian", until the point that from 1992 the term "Moldovan" was no longer in official use. After 1994, "Moldovan" made a come back and was used in some instances. These grew after 2001, but fell back to the pre-2001 levels two years later. Very often officials prefer to use "official language" or "state language" to avoid making a public choice.</ref> In the [[Declaration of Independence of Moldova from the Soviet Union]], the Romanian language is declared the official language of the state, and the Moldovan language is not mentioned<ref>''RECALLING that during the recent years the democratic national liberation movement of the population of the Republic of Moldova reaffirmed its aspirations for freedom, independence and national unity, expressed in final documents of the Great National Reunion of Kishinau [sic] on 27 August, 1989, 16 December, 1990 and 27 August, 1991, laws and decisions of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova concerning the laws reintroducing Romanian as the state language and the Latin alphabet on August 31, 1989, the state flag on 27 April, 1990, the state emblem on November 3, 1990 and the change of the official name of the republic on May 23, 1991''[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/moldova/md_appnd.html]{{ro}}[http://ro.wikisource.org/wiki/Declaraţia_de_independenţă_a_Republicii_Moldova]</ref>. Linguists consider standard "Moldovan" to be identical to standard Romanian, and many Moldovan officials and official bodies do or have done so as well.<ref name=omniglot>Omniglot http://www.omniglot.com/writing/moldovan.htm</ref> Linguists condemn such artificial language of Moldovan".<ref> {{ro icon}}{{cite web |url=http://www.ziare.ro/articol.php?id=1193864896 |title=Ziare.ro - Linguists condemn "Moldovan language" |accessdate=2007-11-10 |format= |work=}}</ref> The [[European Parliament]] has included in its documents the recommendations not to make references to the so-called "Moldovan language".<ref>''Ziua'', November 14, 2007: [http://www.ziua.ro/display.php?data=2007-11-14&id=229383 "Parliament of Europe rejects Moldovan language"]</ref>
-"Moldovan" ({{lang-ro|graiul moldovenesc}}) can also refer to a northern variety of colloquial Romanian approximately within the territory of the former [[Principality of Moldavia]] (now split between Moldova and [[Romania]]).{{Fact|date=November 2007}} There is no particular linguistic break at the [[Prut River]], which divides Moldova from Romania. "Moldovan" variety is considered one of the five major spoken varieties of Romanian, all five being written identically, but only about half of the speakers of this variety live in Moldova, while the other half live in the neighboring regions of Romania.
+"Moldovan" ({{lang-ro|graiul moldovenesc}}) can also refer to a northern variety of colloquial Romanian approximately within the territory of the former [[Principality of Moldavia]] (now split between Moldova and [[Romania]]). There is no particular linguistic break at the [[Prut River]], which divides Moldova from Romania. "Moldovan" variety is considered one of the five major spoken varieties of Romanian, all five being written identically, but only about half of the speakers of this variety live in Moldova, while the other half live in the neighboring regions of Romania.
 The standard alphabet of the language is the [[Romanian alphabet|Latin]] alphabet (currently official in the [[Republic of Moldova]]). Between 1940 and 1989, Soviet authorities have imposed the usage of the [[Moldovan alphabet|Cyrillic]] alphabet. The latter remains currently in use only in breakaway region of [[Transnistria]].
-Moldovan was assigned code <code>mo</code> in [[ISO 639-1]] and code <code>mol</code> in [[ISO 639-2]] and [[ISO 639-3|ISO/DIS 639-3]]. <ref>[http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/documentation.asp?id=mol SIL International: ISO 639 code sets: Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: mol]</ref> Still, there isn't asigned any code from Ethnologue.
+"Moldovan" was assigned code <code>mo</code> in [[ISO 639-1]] and code <code>mol</code> in [[ISO 639-2]] and [[ISO 639-3|ISO/DIS 639-3]].<ref>[http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/documentation.asp?id=mol SIL International: ISO 639 code sets: Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: mol]</ref>
 ==History and politics==
 {{see main|History of the Moldovan language}}
 <!-- DO NOT ADD quetes that: (1) do not fit into this section of the article. (2) have highly dubious references (3) are taken out of context from a reference and used with a different point than in the original reference-->
-The history of the "Moldovan" (Romanian) language in Moldova is closely tied to the region's political status, with long periods of rule by [[Russia]] and the [[Soviet Union]] influencing the language's name and (when Cyrillic script was in use) [[orthography]]. Major recent developments include the return to a Latin script from Cyrillic in 1989 and several changes in the statutory name of the language used in Moldova, from "Moldovan" to Romanian and by some individuals back.  At one point of particular confusion about identity in the 1990s, all references to geography in the name of the language was dropped, and it was officially known simply as ''limba de stat'' - "The State Language".
+The history of the "Moldovan" (Romanian) language in Moldova is closely tied to the region's political status, with long periods of occupation by [[Russia]] and the [[Soviet Union]] influencing the language's name and (when Cyrillic script was in use) [[orthography]]. Major recent developments include the return to a Latin script from Cyrillic in 1989 and several changes in the statutory name of the language used in Moldova, from "Moldovan" to Romanian and by some individuals back.  At one point of particular confusion about identity in the 1990s, all references to geography in the name of the language was dropped, and it was officially known simply as {{lang-ro|limba de stat}} - "The State Language".
 ==Controversy==
 {{see also|Moldovenism}}
-[[Imagine:Captura MAPL MD.png|thumb|300px|Situl web al Ministerului Administraţiei Publice Locale oferă între opţiunile sale de vizualizare „limba română” (rom) şi nu „moldovenească”]]
 [[Image:Romania Graiuri.jpg|thumb|340px|Major varieties of the [[Romanian language|Romanian]] language]]
 The matter of whether or not "Moldovan" is a separate language is a contested political issue within and beyond the Republic of Moldova.
@@ Line 32: / Line 30: @@
 In the [[2004 Moldovan Census|2004 census]], out of the 3,383,332 people living in Moldova, 16.5% (558,508) chose Romanian as their mother tongue, whereas 60% chose "Moldovan". While 40% of all [[urban area|urban]] Romanian/Moldovan speakers chose Romanian as their mother tongue, in the countryside barely one in seven Romanian/Moldovan speakers indicated Romanian as his mother tongue.<ref>National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova: [http://www.statistica.md/recensamint.php?lang=ro Census 2004]</ref>
-There are, however, few regional differences between the colloquial spoken languages of Moldova and [[Romania]], as might be found within any linguistic territory, and the common speech of areas such as [[Chişinău]] or  Transnistria can be distinguished from the speech of [[Iaşi]], a Romanian city that is also part of the former Principality of Moldavia, while the difference in the common speech between Iaşi and the capital of Romania [[Bucharest]] is even greater.{{Fact|date=November 2007}} In general, before 1988-89, the less educated, the greater the difference from standard Romanian, and the more words were borrowed ad hoc from Russian into the daily speech.{{Or|date=November 2007}}
+There are, however, few regional differences between the colloquial spoken languages of Moldova and [[Romania]], as might be found within any linguistic territory, and the common speech of areas such as [[Chişinău]] or  Transnistria can be distinguished from the speech of [[Iaşi]], a Romanian city that is also part of the former Principality of Moldavia, while the difference in the common speech between Iaşi and the capital of Romania [[Bucharest]] is even greater. In general, before 1988-89, the less educated, the greater the difference from standard Romanian, and the more words were borrowed ad hoc from Russian into the daily speech.
 The 1917 poem ''[[Limba noastră]]'' ("Our language") by [[Alexei Mateevici]] has been the national anthem of Moldova since 1994.
 It does not, however, make any claims relating to whether it is 'Romanian' or 'Moldovan' which is "our language."
+==Latin as the official alphabet==
-==Orthography==
 {{see also|Romanian alphabet|Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet}}
-Between 1940 and 1989, i.e. during the Soviet rule, Cyrillic replaced Latin as the official alphabet in Moldova (then [[Moldavian SSR]]). In 1989, Latin replaced Cyrillic in turn, adopting entirely the contemporary orthographic rules of [[Romanian language]].
+Between 1940 and 1989, i.e. during the Soviet rule, Cyrillic replaced Latin as the official alphabet in Moldova (then [[Moldavian SSR]]). In 1989, [[Latin]] replaced [[Cyrillic]] in turn, adopting entirely the contemporary orthographic rules of [[Romanian language]].
 ==Notes==