The position of Romani in Indo-Aryan revisited

Bibliographic Data

ID6450724
AuthorsMikhail Oslon (0000-0002-3962-1811, The Institute of the Polish Language of the Polish Academy of Sciences, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume35
Issue1
Pages1-32
Publication date2025-06-15
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueRomani Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1528-0748 • E-ISSN: 1757-2274
PublisherLiverpool University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3828/rost.2024.20
OpenAlexW4411320109
LanguageEN
References cited17

The article reassesses Turner’s (1926) classification of Romani within the Indo-Aryan group, drawing on insights from recent research and several years of the author’s work on the Romani Etymological Dictionary (ЭСЦЯ, jointly with Kirill Kozhanov). Turner’s approach has proven robust, but some of his specific conclusions need revision. While some of the isoglosses identified by him remain valid indicators of Romani’s historical position within Indo-Aryan, others appear less reliable upon closer examination of the etymological evidence. The article also presents some recent findings and hypotheses on Romani prosody, including evidence for preservation of ancient vowel length potentially detectable through comparison with Dardictonal-moraic systems. Additionally, it touches upon the puzzling distinction between OIA kh vs. kṣ preserved in Romani, mentions the preservation in Romani of vestiges of the neuter, and brings up non-trivial Romani stress patterns in connection with the reconstructed “rhythmic law.” This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by-nc-nd/4.0

Ancient history · Aryan race · Economics · Position (finance · History · Romani and Gypsy Studies · South Asian Studies and Conflicts

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