Romanes

Romanes, also called Romani language, is the language spoken by the Romani people, who have historically lived across Europe and the diaspora. The term Romanes is the endonym used by speakers to refer to their language, while Romani or Romany are common exonyms in English. It is an umbrella term for a family of related dialects and varieties rather than a single standardized form.

Romanes is an Indo-Aryan language, part of the wider Romani language family. It comprises a diverse range of dialects grouped into major subfamilies such as Northern Romani and Vlax Romani. Dialects can differ markedly in phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, and there is no single universally adopted standard form of the language. The influence of regional languages is strong, and mutual intelligibility varies among dialects.

Linguistically, Romanes draws its core vocabulary from its Indic ancestor, while everyday speech frequently includes loanwords and calques from surrounding languages. Grammatical features can include gender and number in nouns in some dialects, complex verb conjugation systems, and flexible word order that adapts to emphasis and discourse. Phonology and syntax often reflect long-standing contact with host communities across Europe and beyond.

Status and revitalization: There are documentation efforts, including grammars and dictionaries, and some communities pursue education programs to support Romanes literacy and use. Speaker numbers are difficult to pin down due to dialect diversity and sociolinguistic factors, but Romani languages are spoken by millions in Europe, the Americas, and other regions. There is no single standard orthography, though Latin scripts are common and Cyrillic usage occurs in certain areas.