Yaron Matras è un linguista distinto il cui lavoro si addentra profondamente nella lingua e nella cultura romanì. Basandosi su una base di attivismo e diritti civili, la sua carriera accademica include ruoli editoriali significativi, come quello per Romani Studies. Matras ha guidato estesi progetti di ricerca incentrati sulle migrazioni e sulla lingua romanì, contribuendo con numerose pubblicazioni che sottolineano la sua dedizione per tutta la vita. Il suo fluente padroneggiamento della lingua romanì gli consente di cogliere le sottigliezze della sua espressione con notevole intuizione e profondità.
Offering a comprehensive examination of Romani, this 2002 publication explores its structure, history, typology, and various dialects. It serves as the first English-language overview, making it a valuable resource for linguists and those interested in the cultural and historical aspects of the Romani language.
Domari is an Indo-Aryan language that is now highly endangered. Its speakers were traditionally nomadic metalworkers and musicians who lived in tiny, geographically scattered and socially isolated communities throughout the Middle East. The grammar is based on conversational material recorded in Jerusalem in the mid-1990s with some of the last speakers of this particular variety.
Mixed Languages are speech varieties that arise in bilingual settings, often as markers of ethnic separateness. They combine structures inherited from different parent languages, often resulting in odd and unique splits that present a challenge to theories of contact-induced change as well as genetic classification. This collection of articles is devoted to the theoretical and empirical controversies that surround the study of Mixed Languages. Issues include definitions and prototypes, similarities and differences to other contact languages such as pidgins and creoles, the role of codeswitching in the emergence of Mixed Languages, the role of deliberate and conscious mixing, the question of the existence of a Mixed Language continuum, and the position of Mixed Languages in general models of language change and contact-induced change in particular. An introductory chapter surveys the current study of Mixed Languages. Contributors include leading historical linguists, contact linguists and typologists, among them Carol Myers-Scotton, Sarah Grey Thomason, William Croft, Thomas Stolz, Maarten Mous, Ad Backus, Evgeniy Golovko, Peter Bakker, Yaron Matras.
Their origins myths place them at the Crucifixion, homeless and fated to wander, with divine permission to steal for survival. In the Middle Ages, they were thought to have emerged from Egypt, yet their language contains Greek elements and traces back to India. The Romani people, one of the last societies in the Western hemisphere with a strictly oral culture, lack a written history. Since the early 1990s, linguist Yaron Matras has engaged with the 'Rom', traveling across central and eastern Europe to study their language and dialects while observing their quest for recognition. In this comprehensive account, Matras explores their culture, language, and history, revealing a rich past reflected in their customs and the impact of Europe’s changing fortunes on their identity. The Romani are unique: without territory, national sovereignty, or formal institutions, and lacking a tradition of land ownership. As the surrounding global society seeks to define itself, the future of the Roms remains uncertain. Unlike other marginalized groups that have gained some inclusion, they continue to struggle for their voice. To ensure their future, it is essential to modernize our understanding of them and move beyond outdated perceptions.
Exploring the role of cities in fostering belonging through linguistic pluralism, this book utilizes real-world case studies to highlight the importance of cultural diversity. It examines how academics can contribute to these processes while addressing the challenges they encounter. Essential for those invested in safeguarding linguistic and cultural pluralism, the work emphasizes the significance of inclusivity in urban environments.
This revised edition serves as a foundational introduction to the study of language contact, offering insights into its key concepts and recent advancements. It explores the dynamics between languages in contact, addressing the implications for linguistics, culture, and communication. The book is essential for anyone interested in understanding how languages influence each other and evolve in diverse contexts.
