Moldovan language

Not to be confused with Moldavian dialect, one of several dialects of the Romanian language.

Moldovan
  • limba moldovenească
  • лимба молдовеняскэ (in Moldovan Cyrillic)
Pronunciation[ˈlimba moldoveˈne̯askə]
Official status
Official language in
 Transnistria
Language codes
ISO 639-1mo (deprecated)
ISO 639-2mol (deprecated)
ISO 639-3mol (deprecated)
GlottologNone
IETFro-MD
Eastern Romance languages
Vulgar Latin language
Substratum
Thraco-Roman culture
Romanian
Aromanian
Megleno-Romanian
Istro-Romanian

Moldovan or Moldavian (Latin alphabet: limba moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet: лимба молдовеняскэ) is one of the two local names for the Romanian language in Moldova.[1][2] Moldovan was declared the official language of Moldova in Article 13 of the constitution adopted in 1994,[3] while the 1991 Declaration of Independence of Moldova used the name Romanian. In 2003, the Moldovan parliament adopted a law defining Moldovan and Romanian as glottonyms for the same language.[4] In 2013, the Constitutional Court of Moldova interpreted that Article 13 of the constitution is superseded by the Declaration of Independence,[5] thus giving official status to the name Romanian.[6][7] The breakaway region of Transnistria continues to recognize "Moldavian" as one of its official languages, alongside Russian and Ukrainian.[8] Ukraine also continued until recently to make a distinction between Moldovan and Romanian, with one village declaring its language to be Romanian and another declaring it to be Moldovan, though Ukrainian officials have announced an intention to remove the legal status of Moldovan.[9] On 16 November 2023, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Ukrainian government stated that it has initiated steps to abolish the Moldovan language and to replace it with Romanian.[10] On 13 January 2024, Ukrainian newspaper Dumska reported that the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science had announced all 16 schools in Odesa Oblast teaching "Moldovan" had dropped the term in favor of Romanian.[11] On 16 March 2023, the Moldovan Parliament approved a law on referring to the national language as Romanian in all legislative texts and the constitution. On 22 March, the president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, promulgated the law.[12]

The language of the Moldovans had for centuries been interchangeably identified by both terms, but during the time of the Soviet Union, Moldovan, or as it was called at the time, Moldavian, was the only term officially recognized. Its resolution declared Moldavian a distinct Romance language from Romanian.

Majority of the Moldovans in the country[13] call their language Moldovan. Most rural residents indicated Moldovan as their native language in the 2004 census.[13] Schools in Moldova have mostly used the term "Romanian language" since independence.[14]

The variety of Romanian spoken in Moldova is the Moldavian subdialect, which is spread approximately within the territory of the former Principality of Moldavia (now split between Romania, Moldova and Ukraine). Moldavian is considered one of the five major spoken varieties of Romanian. However, all five are written identically, and Moldova and Romania share almost identical literary language.[15][16]

The standard alphabet used in Moldova is equivalent to the Romanian alphabet, which uses the Latin script. Until 1918, varieties of the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet were used. The Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet (derived from the Russian alphabet and standardised in the Soviet Union) was used in 1924–1932 and 1938–1989 and remains in use in Transnistria.[17]

  1. ^ Kogan Page 2004.
  2. ^ Directorate-General for Translation of the European Commission (2008). "A Field Guide to the Main Languages of Europe – Spot That Language and How to Tell Them Apart" (PDF) (3rd ed.). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Constitution of the Republic of Moldova" (PDF). Article 13, line 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 February 2008.
  4. ^ "Politics of National Conception of Moldova". Law No. 546/12-19-2003 (in Romanian). Archived from the original on 10 March 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
  5. ^ "Hotărâre Nr. 36 din 05.12.2013 privind interpretarea articolului 13 alin. (1) din Constituție în corelație cu Preambulul Constituției și Declarația de Independență a Republicii Moldova (Sesizările nr. 8b/2013 și 41b/2013)" (in Romanian). Constitutional Court of Moldova. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2013. 124. ... Prin urmare, Curtea consideră că prevederea conținută în Declarația de Independență referitoare la limba română ca limbă de stat a Republicii Moldova prevalează asupra prevederii referitoare la limba moldovenească conținute în articolul 13 al Constituției. [124. ... Therefore, the Court considers that the provision contained in the Declaration of Independence regarding the Romanian language as the state language of the Republic of Moldova prevails over the provision regarding the Moldovan language contained in Article 13 of the Constitution.]
  6. ^ "Moldovan court rules official language is 'Romanian', replacing Soviet-flavored 'Moldovan'". Fox News. Associated Press. 5 December 2013. Archived from the original on 9 December 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  7. ^ "Chisinau Recognizes Romanian As Official Language". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 5 December 2013. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  8. ^ "CONSTITUTION OF THE PRIDNESTROVIAN MOLDAVIAN REPUBLIC". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Transnistria. October 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  9. ^ "Ministerul de Externe: Bogdan Aurescu cere Ucrainei să recunoască oficial inexistența 'limbii moldovenești'". Digi24 (in Romanian). 19 June 2021. Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  10. ^ See ‘Official statement regarding the use in Ukraine of the term "Romanian language" instead of the term "Moldovan language"’, at https://mon.gov.ua/en/news/declaratie-oficiala-privind-utilizarea-in-ucraina-termenului-limba-romana-in-locul-termenului-limba-moldoveneasca
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference AutoK4-40 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ "Președinta Maia Sandu a promulgat Legea care confirmă că limba de stat a Republicii Moldova este cea română" (in Romanian). Presidency of the Republic of Moldova. Astăzi am promulgat Legea care confirmă un adevăr istoric și incontestabil: limba de stat a Republicii Moldova este cea română. [Today I have promulgated the law that confirms a historical and indisputable truth: the state language of the Republic of Moldova is Romanian.]
  13. ^ a b "Population by main nationalities, mother tongue and language usually spoken, 2004" (XLS). National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova. Archived from the original on 14 November 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  14. ^ "Ministerul Educatiei a Republicii Moldova : Acte Normative și Publicații : Acte normative și legislative : Domeniul învațămîntului preuniversitar". www.edu.md (in Romanian). 4 October 2004. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  15. ^ * Minahan, James (1989). Miniature Empires: A Historical Dictionary of the Newly Independent States. Greenwood. p. 276.
  16. ^ (in Russian) L. I. Lukht, B. P. Narumov. "Румынский язык" [Romanian language]. Языки мира [Languages of the world]. Романские языки [Romance languages]. М., Academia, Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2001.[clarification needed]
  17. ^ Denis Deletant, Slavonic Letters in Moldova, Wallachia & Transylvania from the Tenth to the Seventeenth Centuries, Ed. Enciclopedicӑ, Bucharest, 1991.