Romani
Romani is documented on Dialect Atlas across 16 dialects, including Arli, Baltic Romani, Caló.
Dialects of Romani
- ArliA Balkan Romani variety spoken widely across North Macedonia, Kosovo, southern Serbia, and Bulgaria.
- Baltic RomaniPolska Roma · Xaladitka RomaA northern Romani variety historically rooted in Poland and the Baltic region, shaped by long contact with Slavic and Baltic languages.
- CalóIberian Romani · Zincaló · Caló RomaniThe Iberian para-Romani variety spoken by the Calé (Gitanos) of Spain and, in related forms, Portugal and southern France. A Romani-derived lexicon is embedded in a Castilian (or Catalan/Portuguese) grammatical frame; the older inflected Iberian Romani is no longer spoken. Caló vocabulary has left a marked imprint on Andalusian Spanish and flamenco.
- Central European RomaniCentral Slovak Romani · Servika RomaA Central European Romanes variety spoken by Romanes communities in Slovakia, with strong contact-influenced vocabulary from Slovak, Hungarian, and neighbouring languages.
- Crimean RomaniKrymitika Roma · Crimean RomaA Balkan Romani variety spoken by Roma communities of the Crimean peninsula and the northern Black Sea coast, marked by heavy contact influence from Crimean Tatar and other Turkic languages in both lexicon and phonology.
- Finnish KaloKaale · Finnish Kaale · Fíntiko RómmaA Northern Romani variety spoken by the Finnish Kale in Finland and, through twentieth-century migration, in Sweden. It shows heavy structural and phonological influence from Finnish, including consonant gradation, and is one of the most distinctive Northern Romani dialects. Intergenerational transmission has weakened markedly.
- GurbetiA Balkan Romani variety with communities across Bosnia, Serbia, and surrounding countries.
- KalderashA Vlax Romani variety with a long history in Romania and the Balkans. Traditionally associated with coppersmith trades.
- LovariA Vlax Romani variety with strong Hungarian and Slavic influence. Spoken across Central Europe.
- RomanichalAngloromani · British Romani · Pogadi ChibThe Romani variety of the Romanichal Travellers of England and the wider British Isles. The older inflected dialect is no longer spoken; it survives as Angloromani, a para-Romani register in which a substantial Romani-derived lexicon is embedded in an English grammatical frame. Diaspora communities exist in North America and Australia.
- Ruska RomaRussian Romani · North Russian Romani · Xaladitka RomaA Northern Romani variety spoken by the Ruska Roma across Russia and Ukraine, shaped by long and intensive contact with Russian. It was the basis of a short-lived literary standard developed in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s and remains one of the more vital Northern Romani dialects.
- ScandoromaniTavringer Romani · Traveller Romani · RommaniA para-Romani variety spoken by Traveller communities in Sweden and Norway, combining a Romani-derived lexicon with a Scandinavian grammatical frame. It descends from the speech of Romani groups present in the region since the sixteenth century and survives today largely as an in-group vocabulary register.
- Sinte ManoucheSinti · Manush · SintéA northwestern Romanes variety spoken by Sinti and Manouche communities across Germany, France, the Benelux, and northern Italy. Shaped by long contact with Germanic and Romance languages.
- UrsariUrsaritska · RićhinariA Balkan Romani variety spoken in Romania and Moldova, traditionally associated with the Ursari, the Roma groups historically known as bear-leaders. It is grouped with the Balkan dialects rather than the surrounding Vlax varieties and shows substantial Romanian contact influence.
- Welsh RomaniKååle · Welsh KaleThe inflected Northern Romani variety historically spoken by the Kååle of Wales. It was extensively documented by John Sampson in the early twentieth century and is now extinct as a first language, the last fluent speakers having died in the mid-twentieth century. It is notable as the last conservatively inflected Romani dialect attested in Britain.
- ZargariZargari Romani · Zargari Romanes · Zargar RomaniA highly endangered Romani variety spoken in and around the village of Zargar in Qazvin province of north-western Iran, west of Tehran. The community is traditionally said to have been settled in the Safavid period and is one of the easternmost Romani-speaking populations on record; the dialect retains a Romani lexical core but shows heavy contact influence from Persian and Azerbaijani Turkish in phonology, vocabulary, and grammar. Speaker numbers are small and intergenerational transmission has weakened sharply.
Common comparisons
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