ELL: Re: gipsy languages

[Carmen Gavin]

Can you clarify what you mean by "gipsy languages"?  The fact that you used "gipsy" in the lower case rather than "Gypsy" or "Romani" makes me wonder whether you are talking solely about the dialects of Romani, or whether you are also referring to languages spoken by other travelling groups who are not of Romani ethnicity (eg. Irish Travellers). 

 If you are referring to Romani, there are many publications available.  W.R. Rishi compiled a Romani-Punjabi-English phrasebook (based on the Balkan dialects of Romani, 1980, printed by Rajdhani Press, 83, Wazirpur Industrial Complex, Delhi-110052).  The Hertfordshire Press publishes many books related to Roma (http://www.herts.ac.uk/UHPress/interface.html) including the recent book, What is the Romani Language? (there is a description of it at the above link).  The Patrin website has some general information (http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/sitemap.htm), for example, see the articles, "Lexical Impoverishment as Control" (by Ian Hancock, who has written extensively on Romani, his e-mail is xulaj at mail.utexas.edu) and "The Language of the Roma".  The Patrin website also has an associated e-mail discussion list, and many members are Romani speakers.  One of the list members recently reprinted a set of Romani lessons based off of a text by Barthelemy.  

Another general description of Romani is at www.romove.cz/lang.html.  There is a more detailed linguistic description of Romani at http://www-gewi.kfunigraz.ac.at/romani/ (see the article "Romani in General"), as well as information regarding Romani textbooks for Austrian dialects.  There is a brief discussion of Romani dialects at www.romove.cz/dialects.html.  If you can read Italian, there is a description of the Xoraxane dialect at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Bridge/5847/03.htm  If you can read Spanish, there is an article on Kalo (a Spanish dialect of Romani) at www.unionromani.org/ftp.idioma05.asc.  If you want to listen to Romani spoken/sung by native speakers, one of the best sites is http://www.lachurch.net/music.html.  I am not sure exactly what you are looking for, but I hope the above suggestions were helpful.  If you need information on more resources, please e-mail me at gavi0022 at tc.umn.edu.  
Sincerely, 
Carmen Gavin



----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Lucas Husgen 
  To: endangered-languages-l at cleo.murdoch.edu.au 
  Sent: Monday, September 03, 2001 4:39 AM
  Subject: ELL: gipsy languages


   Dear list, 
   
  can anyone tell me where I'd be able to find some more in depth information on gipsy languages and their situation at present? Websites, books, you name it, all of it will be heartily welcomed.
   
  Best,
   
  Lucas
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