František Godla - The Romani Language
It was probably affected by the environment there. In fact, we lived surrounded by majority.
And thus, we were bicultural.
The Slovak and Romani cultures co-existed together, and somehow we perceived it as our own culture.
And in the meantime we participated in various meetings.
For example with the Roma people from Chmiňany.
They were musicians, and we knew them, they were quite close to us. So we used to meet.
But maybe once or twice a year, on the occasion of church festival.
So they came to the festival, of course, and we met at our house.
So it was a big time and non-Roma participated as well.
So, at home we spoke Romani language, when we went out, we spoke Slovak, it was common and natural.
We had no problem with it. It was the situation at my father's family.
The family of my uncle spoke only Slovak and only my uncle could speak Romani.
His sons and daughters could not speak Romani but when they got married and moved to the Spiš region, they learned the language.
Because they got to and had to live in a very strong Romani environment.
So they learned Romani language there.
And it was the same as Slovak for the Slovaks or Russian for the Russians because the language is an instrument in fact.
The language is what makes us being human. It changes us from biological beings to the social ones.
It is a cognitive communication tool.
It is impossible to live without a language.
And should there be no language we would probably be at the level of animals, maybe higher,
but simply the language and thinking are interconnected
and this has created the social aspect - social reality and environment
where we live and which determines us.
Maybe even more than the natural environment, which of courseN is also very important and determining.
And the Romani language is the language of national minority,
it came to Europe from completely different environment.
It was something what the majority society could not accept.
They were afraid because they didn't understand.
It was forbidden,
and it didn't develop in language or linguistic institutions
which were established in previous centuries.
The Romani language existed on a more or less spontaneous basis, simply in Roma families, Roma environment, Roma settlements.
So it absorbed a lot of words from the environment where the Roma people lived.
For example in Slovakia, it was especially from dialects.
And from many other languages as well, e.g. Greek, Persian, Arabic and Balkan languages
And I think this is not bad.
Because it also happens with the Slovak language. At present many new words are taken from
English, German or even Hungarian.
It means it is a natural and regular process and the Romani language is not an exception.
On the other hand, Romani and literature in this language started to develop especially after 1989,
and this increases its value.
Its value rises because it has become the language of art even though it exists in the form of dialects.
Even if we talk about standard Romani language, dialects continue to be used in practice.
And thus it is necessary to guard the purity of this language to a certain extent.
I mean, the use of original words should be renewed where they were replaced with foreign words in the past.
For example with words from Slovak or dialect.
But we know that there are equivalent expressions in the Romani language.
A typical example of this phenomena is the fact that in everyday practice
many Roma people are not able to use numerals in Romani.
They talk in Romani and out of the sudden they use a numeral in Slovak.
But there are numerals in Romani that are original and also taken from Greek, for example.
So one day, when I was going to work I could hear two young boys talking and I stopped them.
And I explained the issue to them because for them it was natural taking like this.
I mean the language needs to be cultivated, developed and it has to be given the cultural value.
Because it is the manifestation of culture. There is no culture without a language.
So the nation without a language has no culture.
And this naturally raises doubts about such nation and whether we can talk about the nation.
The Roma people have their language despite dialect diversity
which exists in Roma communities in Europe.
In most of cases people using various dialects can understand each other in principle.
For us, the least understandable is the language of the Vlach Roma because
it is more or less affected by the Romanian language and some Romanian and Hungarian impacts.
But they are able to understand our dialect so communication is possible.
Well, I think that the fact that poetry and prose started to be written in the Romani language and dramatic art started to develop,
enables us to talk about the real Roma culture not only in the form of folklore,
I mean, yes, Roma people sing, play the instruments and dance,
but I am really very happy and I personally do appreciate that the state of art improved with the literature.
Quite important translations from world literature were made into the Romani language.
And this process can be expected to continue so
the Romani language will develop further.
Of course, the use of this language by ordinary people in everyday life is another issue.
In Roma settlements, as I said, there are serious problems in terms of language.
And this is also the reason, why the Romani language may hardly be used in direct school language or language of instruction.
Well, it may be used as a supporting language, that is necessary where applicable
and where the children need it, so they can talk in their mother tongue.
But I think, in the long-term, it is impossible to use it as the language of instruction
because of the lack of technical terminology.
Another fact is that the people living in settlements are isolated quite a lot and unsociable.
Then it has to be taken into account that nobody took care of this language and it existed as it existed
with local terms and words being absorbed by it.
I would say that those so called settlement languages have never been technically developed
so, in fact, many original Roma words have been naturally removed or disappeared.
I remember when girls, Roma girls, from Čaklov were making fun of their grandfather
who used the word šut for vinegar.
And when I asked them how he should call it, they said octos.
So, this is an example of being unaware that the language, the Romani language
has its own words and terms to denote many various objects of everyday life
which need to be used.
And there are many other examples like this, so that's why I say that the language is sort of spoiled
into the Slovak and Romani combination and in the south and south-east Romani and Hungarian combination of words.
When I attended one meeting of parents and teachers and the Secondary Art School in Košice,
the director asked parents if they knew the Romani word for a mirror.
And one Roman woman, an older lady, immediately said ťikeris.
This is a Hungarian word for mirror.
Yes, it is notgendalos, ale ťikerisso this is the real condition of the language.
What we have here, of course, is good. It is good there is a dictionary and there are more of them.
And probably there will be other prepared and maybe on the level of technical terminology as well.
This must gradually get also to Roma settlements.
If fact, I do not know if I can dare to say that it should get to Roma settlements because it is a complicated process.
And a long-term process, simply, it can hardly be expected that it will happen in a period of several years.
The standard Slovak definitely hasn't developed that way.
There was the Šariš dialect, other various local dialects
commonly used and only a small group of intellectuals were dealing with the standard language.
And they started to use it as the language of literature and the like.
It means this needs a process, and it is a historical and long-term process.
And of course it has to be accompanied with development of education and the level of education.
Otherwise the process will not take place.
And, of course, we have to talk about integration.
The fact that today we support inclusive approaches to education and social life
despite many difficulties and lack of understanding we have to face,
I think this fact will have to get on but again this will take a long time.
Because the social adaptation of many Roma communities living in social and intellectual poverty
is impossible in the short term. Because these communities are not included and involved in the life of society.
They are at the edge, marginalized, yes, and they are fenced with a sort of Great Wall of China.
And this is what will hinder development although I feel or I think that
I have already said that poverty and destitution may not a barrier for the education.
It may be a motivation,
but this, on the other hand, requires consciousness and it needs help on the part of competent authorities, I mean
especially the area of schools, education, teachers, directors and school system in general and the change in their attitude.
The Neologisms
New words are created in every language, it is a process.
If we compare the Slovak language in 1920's and its present form,
for example letters which Slovaks living in America wrote home , we probably would laugh.
But in fact, this reflects the state of the Slovak language at that time.
The Romani language is subject to this process as well, and, of course, the need arises in connection with this.
It is not spontaneity, it is a must to create neologisms.
To create new words and include them in the language as life requires.
I used to translate quite often from the Slovak to Romani language and vice versa.
And one day I was requested by the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic
to translate the tax census in agriculture.
And this was almost a disaster because the Romani language is not the language of peasants, or farmers. Quite the contrary.
So there weren't many technical terms for agricultural issues.
And it was necessary to create new words, neologisms or translate things using brief description.
So I think this process is taking hold even in the Romani language.
And we can see it also in the works of some Roma writers or people dealing with the language.
Because they add these words to vocabulary and, yes,
it has to be said, that to most, vast majority of Roma people these words are unknown because they do not use them,
they do not circulate among the Roma people.
But they already exist and I think they are getting into dictionaries
and into technical texts.
So when translating my text, I was really very angry, because it was difficult and complicated.
But finally I was proud that i managed it.
And and the Statistical Office was satisfied and happy that they had their text translated.
So new words are necessary, they are a must and it is necessary to introduce them in the language
if there are no original words to denote reality
which we want to denote or write about.
The Future of the Romani Language
Definitely, the language should develop under some institution and by professional linguists.
These cannot be "so called" linguists or self-proclaimed professionals but first of all real language specialists who
are well-qualified and who, in fact, could make the biggest step forward in this direction.
What kind of institution?
Maybe this is not that important but it should definitely be some scientific institution
or educational institution as minimum.
It shouldn't be any political or third-sector etc. institution.
Because with these institution there is no guarantee of professionalism.
But it should be really a scientific institution as for example Institute of Linguistics for the Slovak language.
So probably a mini institute of the Romani language could be established within this Institute.
Or maybe a section or the like that would deal with the issue.
That would monitor the development of for example literature, poetry and culture.
Because these connections are normal, natural and thus mutually interrelated.
So I think it could be either at the Slovak Academy of Science, Institute of linguistics of this Academy,
or in any other educational institution,
or at a department of some university with expert teams available.
Because it is people and their quality that matter in further development of the language.
As for Roma people, ordinary Roma people, they are not worried by this issue.
This is more the issue of better educated Roma people.
Intellectuals, people with secondary school or university education who understand and know what this is all about.
Yes, and what the value of the language and culture is, so its more the matter of this group of people.
But this is typical for other nations as well.
We are now experiencing something the Slovaks experienced maybe at the beginning or at the turn of 19th century.
Or also the Czechs, well, so I do think the Romani language should develop in this context.
Because even today, there aren't many experts, although we have to credit them for their work.
But to tell the truth, we have no or only a few own experts.
So we have to be thankful for what has already been done but we need to move on.
And, of course, this requires linguistic education at necessary expert level.
You know, for all my life, and I am 68 now so I have experienced quite a lot, I have participated in various processes
but during that time I haven't noticed any real interest in any single time.
I mean for example at the Ministry of Culture or Ministry of Education.
No real interest in creating conditions for development of that language.
From time to time, sporadically, some money was given to prepare a spelling book.
It was given to somebody.
Dežo Banga is originally a secondary school teacher, and, of course, he is a well-known personality in culture.
So he became the author of the spelling book.
And he also invited me, Mr Zeman and Mrs Macejková from Košice
to review the spelling book.
And when I saw the book for the first time, it was beautiful.
But my job was to assess its material content not pictures.
So my first idea was that children wouldn't understand it.
And we cannot teach children a foreign language instead of the Romani language. This would make their situation even worse.
So I pointed this out and I wrote 20-page review
because I thought it was very important. For me, it was my first spelling book ever.
The textbook was prepared very well, it was interesting with nice articles
so I had no reservations, but rather the opposite.
But I had reservations about the spelling book and I simply clearly defined them, named them and gave reasons for my reservations.
And Mr Banga promised me to correct everything I suggested before I left.
But nothing was done and the spelling book remained as he first made it.
And unfortunately, in other localities, where other dialect is used, it cannot be used.
Children couldn't understand although teachers tried.
Well, this was one attempt. Then several other works followed which were rather scientific, and represented a scientific interest of Mrs Hübschmann.
She dealt with the issue of the language and history of the Roma people in the long term and did an extensive research work.
It's a pity she died tragically because I am sure she would have a lot to say even today.
So during one of our meetings, it was some workshop or conference in Spišská Nová Ves,
she wanted to talk to me in the Romani language very much.
So we were having our coffee and talking and she said
that she liked our Prešov dialect
which she had already known from her meetings with Mrs Lacková, they were friends,
the most. This dialect was her favorite.
But I have one more experience. One woman from India visited me.
She was in my home and she wanted to talk in Romani.
So I was speaking the Romani language a she said that we use many Indian words.
These were the personalities I had a chance to meet.
But the Roma people, I mean educated Roma people
who want to deal and work with the language are unwilling, they don't want to accept new things.
And this is what I don't like.
Because to denote common things
they always use foreign words ending in -es instead of the words in the Romani language.
So the question arises whether and to what extent ordinary people
will need to be able to speak this language.
Because if they don't need it, they won't accept it.
And this means that if language ceases to exist, the nation will become extinct.
The nation becomes extinct because it can only present that it is still alive,
that it exists, only through its language and culture.
Narrator: František Godla Place: Prešov Date: 19.02.2014 Translation: Gabriela Kleinová