Web to preserve Romani heritage

[Harold F. Schiffman]

>>From the BBC,

Web to preserve Romani heritage

A delegation of Romani gypsy families are to attend the launch of the
latest phase of a project to increase awareness of their culture.  The
families will be visiting a team at the University of Manchester which is
launching a website on Monday as part of research into the Romani
language. The project will codify the language to agree on how words are
spelt, which should make it easier to teach. Web visitors can find
different dialects on a map and listen to them. Romani is the second most
commonly spoken minority language in the European Union.

Oral tradition

Professor Yaron Matras, who is heading the project team at the university,
said: "Romani doesn't really have a literary tradition and is primarily an
oral language. "The codification of this language will be of great benefit
to this community, who have suffered discrimination and misunderstanding
across Europe. "For the first time, this information will give the Roma
(Gypsies) an easy way to find out about where they came from." "The work
will be of interest to linguists, historians and ethnographers." The team
has also been involved with drafting Romani language policy for the
Council of Europe.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/4660290.stm