Language Family

Romanian belongs to the Indo-European language family and is part of the Romance branch. The Romance languages evolved from Vulgar Latin, the spoken form of Latin used by common people during the Roman Empire. Romanian, like other Romance languages, shares much of its vocabulary, syntax, and grammatical structure with languages such as Italian, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. However, Romanian is unique in its linguistic evolution, having incorporated significant influences from Slavic languages, Hungarian, Turkish, and Greek due to Romania’s historical and geographical position.

Geographic Distribution and Number of Speakers

Romanian is primarily spoken in Romania and Moldova, but it also has significant communities of speakers in other countries, especially due to migration in the 20th and 21st centuries.

1. Romania

• Romanian is the official language of Romania, where it is spoken by approximately 20 million people (the majority of the country’s population).

• Romanian is used in all spheres of public life, including government, education, media, and business.

• The language is predominantly spoken in Standard Romanian, which is based on the Dacian dialect with influences from Vlach, Aromanian, and other regional dialects.

2. Moldova

• In Moldova, Romanian is the official language and is spoken by around 2.5 million people. However, in everyday use, the language is often referred to as Moldovan, a term that has been politically emphasized during periods of Soviet control.

• Russian and Ukrainian are also spoken by minorities in Moldova, but Romanian remains the primary language of education and government.

3. Diaspora Communities

• Significant Romanian-speaking communities can be found in countries like Italy, Spain, Germany, the United States, and Canada, primarily due to economic migration over the past few decades.

• The diaspora has helped increase the number of Romanian speakers to around 25 million worldwide.

Brief History of the Romanian Language

Romanian’s roots stretch back to the Roman Empire, particularly to the Romanization of the Dacians (the ancient people who lived in what is now modern-day Romania). The Roman Empire conquered Dacia in 106 AD, and the Latin language was introduced to the region. Over time, the Dacian language was replaced by Latin, which began to evolve in isolation, influenced by neighboring languages and cultures.

1. Early History (2nd–6th Century)

• After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, Latin began to evolve into distinct regional dialects across the former Roman territories.

• The Roman Empire’s withdrawal from Dacia in 271 AD left the region vulnerable to invasions by Goths, Huns, and other peoples, but Latin continued to serve as the base of the emerging Proto-Romanian language.

• Over the next centuries, Slavic peoples, who moved into the Balkans, left a strong imprint on Romanian, both in vocabulary and grammar.

2. Middle Romanian (12th–16th Century)

• During the Middle Ages, Romanian experienced significant Slavic influence due to the historical interactions with Slavic-speaking populations and the Byzantine Empire.

• In the 14th century, Old Romanian began to distinguish itself as a separate language from other Romance languages. The use of Latin was still prominent in religious and scholarly contexts.

• The introduction of the Cyrillic script in the 16th century marked an important step in the development of written Romanian.

3. Modern Romanian (17th Century–Present)

• In the 17th century, Romanian began to stabilize and standardize. The Latin alphabet was officially adopted in the 19th century, replacing the Cyrillic alphabet, which had been used during much of the Ottoman Empire’s influence.

• The 19th century was a period of national awakening for Romania, and the development of the Romanian language was closely tied to the formation of Romanian identity.

• During the 20th century, particularly after the fall of communism in the 1980s and 1990s, Romanian literature and the language became more integrated with Western European culture.

Writing System

Romanian uses the Latin alphabet, which consists of 26 letters. The alphabet is similar to that of other Romance languages but has several diacritical marks used to represent specific sounds unique to Romanian.

Key Features of the Romanian Writing System:

• The diacritical marks used in Romanian are:

  • Ă (ă) – used to represent a mid-central vowel sound.

  • Ș (ș) – represents a “sh” sound, as in the English word “shoes.”

  • Ț (ț) – represents the “ts” sound, similar to the English “ts” in “cats.”

  • Î (î) and  (â) – represent a specific high central unrounded vowel sound.

Romanian spelling is largely phonetic, and the language follows a relatively straightforward rule for pronunciation, though some exceptions exist due to historical and foreign influences.