This article presents the language of Muslim Roms, who form a trilingual community in the northeastern part of Bulgaria, discussing language mixing between Romani, Turkish, and Bulgarian, applying the model of Myers-Scotton (1993). Two different Roma linguistic groups are observed speakers of Vlax (Zagondzi) and non-Vşax (Xoraxani). The non-vLax language, which is full of Turkish loanwords, is more prestigious that the Vlax language which is more conservative, but both show almost the same pattern of language mixing. The study argues for the connection between language mixing and language prestige and looks at the question: Why do Roma speakers use elements from other languages when speaking Romani?
To read the full article click here
This article was originally published on Hristo Kyuchukov’s website and it republished with the permission of author.
