Laiuse Romani language

Laiuse Romani
Native to Estonia
Extinct ca. 1940
Language codes
ISO 639-3 None (mis)
Glottolog esto1257[1]

Laiuse Romani was a Romani variety spoken in Estonia. It was a mixed language based on Romani and Estonian.[2]

The Romani people first appeared to Estonia in the 17th century. According to rumors, they were first part of Swedish King Charles XII's Romani orchestra which he, after spending a winter in Laiuse, left behind. In 1841 all of the 44 Estonian Romani were collected and settled around Laiuse Parish. Their main stop was Raaduvere village, but they also lived in Tähkvere, Jõgeva and its precincts. Before the Second World War there was 60 Romani in Laiuse.[3] Laiuse Romani became extinct in the German occupation, when all its speakers were killed by the Nazis during the Porajmos.[2][4]

Linguistic features

Laiuse Romani shares a number of linguistic features with Finnish Kalo,[4] such as palatalization of velar consonants before front vowels[5] and initial devoicing.[6]

Notes and references

  1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Estonian Romani". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  2. 1 2 Smith, p. 365.
  3. "Laiuse mustlased" (in Estonian). eestigiid.ee. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  4. 1 2 Matras, p. 10.
  5. Matras, p. 49.
  6. Matras, p. 54.
  • Matras, Yaron (2002). Romani: A Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge University Press. 
  • Smith, Norval (1994). "An annotated list of creoles, pidgins, and mixed languages". In Jacque Arends, Pieter Muysken & Norval Smith. Pidgins and Creoles. John Benjamins. 


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