The Current State of Megleno-Romanian Language in the Context of Slavic – Non-Slavic Contacts (North Macedonia)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31168/2073-5731.2025.3-4.07Keywords:
Megleno-Romanian idiom, Megleno-Romanians, linguistic contacts, Slavic-non-Slavic contact zones, North MacedoniaAbstract
This article examines the characteristics of the Megleno-Romanian idiom, drawing on dialectal texts recorded from a native speaker in Gevgelija, North Macedonia (originally from the village of Uma). These texts were gathered during an ethnolinguistic field trip focused on the funerary and commemorative traditions, and related terminology, among the Balkan Romanian-speaking population of North Macedonia, with a particular emphasis on the Megleno-Romanians. Documenting the speech of the few remaining speakers of endangered Megleno-Romanian is the primary means of preserving evidence of the language’s current state. Researchers have always noted a significant Slavic influence on the Megleno-Romanian. Nevertheless, with the emergence of national languages and the language policies of the states in which Megleno-Romanian communities are located, an intensified impact of the respective languages on the idiom is being observed. This work focuses on the situation in North Macedonia. The analysis also includes a comparison of Megleno-Romanian in North Macedonia with earlier descriptions of the idiom. The article emphasizes the unique nature of the collected material, reflecting a speaker’s spontaneous language in a specific ethnocultural context. Consequently, the gathered material is of significant value not only for Romance linguistics but also for Slavic studies, as it showcases linguistic phenomena resulting from close contact with the Slavic populations and Slavic dialects.
Acknowledgements
The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant No. 22-18-00484-П, https://rscf.ru/project/22-18-00484-P/.
Received: 22.05. 2025.
Revised: 03.08.2025.
Accepted: 16.09.2025.
Citation
Kazakov I. I., Chivarzina A. I. The Current State of Megleno-Romanian Language in the Context of Slavic – Non-Slavic Contacts (North Macedonia) // Slavic Almanac. 2025. No 3–4. P. 149–167 (in Russian). DOI: 10.31168/2073-5731.2025.3-4.07
