Erromintxela language

Erromintxela () is the distinctive language of a group of Romani living in the Basque Country, who also go by the name Erromintxela. It is sometimes called ''Basque Caló'' or ''Errumantxela'' Matras, Y. ''A Linguistic Introduction'' Cambridge University Press (2002) in English; or in Spanish; and or in French. Although detailed accounts of the language date to the end of the 19th century, linguistic research began only in the 1990s.

The Erromintxela are the descendants of a 15th-century wave of Kalderash Roma, who entered the Basque Country via France.Brea, Unai ''Hiretzat goli kherautzen dinat, erromeetako gazi mindroa'' Argia, San Sebastián (03-2008) Both ethnically and linguistically, they are distinct from the Caló-speaking Romani people in Spain and the Cascarot Romani people of the Northern Basque Country. Erromintxela is a mixed language (referred to as Para-Romani in Romani linguistics), deriving most of its vocabulary from Kalderash Romani but using Basque grammar, similar to the way the Angloromani language of the Roma in England mixes Romani vocabulary and English grammar. The development of the mixed language was facilitated by the unusually-deep integration of the Erromintxela people into Basque society and the resultant bilingualism in Basque. The language is in decline; most of the perhaps 1000 remaining speakers live on the coast of Labourd and in the mountainous regions of Soule, Navarre, Gipuzkoa and Biscay.Agirrezabal, Lore ''Erromintxela, euskal ijitoen hizkera'' Argia, San Sebastián (09-2003)

Name

The origin of the name Erromintxela is unclear and may be of relatively recent origin; Basque speakers had previously grouped the Erromintxela under more general terms for Romani such as ''ijitoak'' "Egyptians", ''ungrianok'' "Hungarians", or ''buhameak'' "Bohemians". However, a number of authors believe it to be a Basque rendering of the French name ''romanichel'' or ''romané-michel,''Macritchie, D. (1886) ''Accounts Of The Gypsies Of India'' New Society Publications, New Delhi; 2007 Reprint a name attested primarily in the vicinity of the Pyrenees and in particular the Northern Basque Country. ''Romanichel'' is in turn a French rendering of the Romani phrase ''Romani čel'' "Romani person". Though now uncommon in France, it is found in the names of the British Ròmanichal and the Scandinavian Romanisæl, all descendants, like the Erromintxela, of a group of Roma who had migrated to France.

Early attestations of the name in Basque include ''Errama-itçéla, Erroumancel,'' later ''errumanzel'' and ''erremaitzela.''Auñamendi Entziklopedi
"Diccionario Auñamendi - Gitano"
Retrieved 29 July 2009. The initial ''e-'' is the Basque prosthetic vowel, which was added at a time that no Basque word was allowed to begin with an ''r-''. The final ''-a'' is the absolutive case suffix, which is used when citing a name. If that etymology is correct, it is a rare case of a native Romani name for themselves (an endonym) being borrowed by another language.

The people identify themselves as ''ijitoak,'' Basque for "gypsies", but more specifically as Erromintxela, in contrast to the Caló Romani, whom they refer to as the ''xango-gorriak,'' Basque for "red-legs".

State of the language

There are currently an estimated 500 speakers in the Southern Basque Country in Spain, approximately 2% of a population of 21,000 Romanis, and another estimated 500 in France. In Spain the remaining fluent speakers are elderly people mostly over the age of 80; some are equally fluent in Spanish, Basque, or Caló. Middle-aged Erromintxela are mostly passive bilinguals, and the youngest speak only Basque or Spanish. In the Northern Basque Country, however, the language is still being passed on to children. The percentage of speakers among Spanish Erromintxela are higher than 2%, as large numbers of Caló-speaking Romanis moved to the Basque Country in the intense period of industrialisation in the 20th century.''Plan Vasco para la promoción integral y participación social del pueblo gitano'' Basque Government (2005)

Literary production

To date, there has been little literary production in the language. The most notable works are a poem by Jon Mirande entitled "Kama-goli" in his 1997 anthology ''Orhoituz'' and the 1999 novel ''Agirre zaharraren kartzelaldi berriak'' by Koldo Izagirre Urreaga with the main character using the language.Cazenave, J. ''Koldo Izagirre Urreaga'' in the ''Auñamendi Entziklopedia'

Retrieved 19 February 2010.

History

The Erromintxela arrived in the Basque Country in the 15th century speaking Kalderash Romani. They integrated much more deeply into Basque society than other Romani groups. In the process, they acquired the Basque language and adopted aspects of Basque culture such as increased rights of women and important traditions such as bertsolaritza (extemporaneous poetic song) and pelota (the national Basque ballgame).Vizarraga, Óscar ''Erromintxela: notas para una investigación sociolingüística'' in I Tchatchipen, Vol 33, Instituto Romanó, Barcelona (2001) Muñoz and Lopez de Mungia suspect that the morphological and phonological similarities between Romani and Basque facilitated the adoption of Basque grammar by the bilingual Romanis.

It appears that many Romanis chose to stay in the Basque Country to escape persecution elsewhere in Europe. Nonetheless, even here they were not safe from persecution. For example, the Royal Council of Navarre in 1602 passed an edict to round up all "vagabonds" (meaning Romani), who were to be condemned to 6 years of galley duty. By the 18th century however attitudes had changed, and the emphasis shifted towards integration. In 1780–1781 the Courts of Navarre passed Law 23, which called for "the authorities to take care of them, find them locations for settlement and honest occupations and ways of living..."

Research

The oldest account of the language dates to 1855, when the French ethnographer Justin Cenac-Moncaut located the Erromintxela primarily in the Northern Basque Country. The oldest coherent Erromintxela text, a poem entitled ''Kama-goli,'' published by Basque writer Jon Mirande in a collection of Basque poetry, only dates to ca. 1960.Mirande, Jon ''Poemak 1950-1966'' Erein, San Sebastián (1984)

Alexandre Baudrimont's 40-page study ''Vocabulaire de la langue des Bohémiens habitant les pays basques français'' of 1862, the most extensive of the early accounts, covers both vocabulary and aspects of grammar. He worked with two female informants, a mother and her daughter from the Uhart-Mixe