Welsh Romani (or Welsh Kalá) is a variety of the
Romani language which was spoken fluently in
Wales until at least 1950.
[Price, Glanville (2000) ''Languages in Britain and Ireland'', Blackwell Publishers, Oxford.] It was spoken by the
Kale
Kale (), or leaf cabbage, belongs to a group of cabbage (''Brassica oleracea'') cultivars grown for their edible leaves, although some are used as ornamentals. Kale plants have green or purple leaves, and the central leaves do not form a head ...
group of the
Romani people who arrived in
Britain during the 16th century. The first record of
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnicities
* Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia
** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule
* Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
moving permanently into Wales comes from the 18th century. Welsh-Romani is one of the many
Northern Romani dialects
Northern Romani is group of dialects of the Romani language spoken in various Northern European, Central European and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide ran ...
.
Welsh Kalá has transitioned into a para-Romani language (Like
Angloromani,
Scandoromani
Scandoromani is a North Germanic based Para-Romani. It is spoken by the Scandinavian Romanisæl Travellers, a Romani minority community, in Norway (c. 100–150 elderly speakers), and formerly in Sweden.
Subforms are referred to as:
* Travelle ...
,
Scottish Cant
Scottish Cant (often called Scots-Romani or Scotch-Romani) is a cant spoken in Scotland by Lowland Scottish Romani Travellers.Kirk, J. & Ó Baoill, D. ''Travellers and their Language'' (2002) Queen's University Belfast
Classification
It is un ...
and
Finnish Kalo
Finnish Kalo () is a language of the Romani language family (a subgroup of Indo-European) spoken by Finnish Kale. The language is related to but not mutually intelligible with Scandoromani or Angloromani.
Finnish Kalo has 6,000–10,000 speake ...
). Today Welsh Kalá is a mix of Romani, Welsh and English but uses English grammar.
The majority of the vocabulary is of Romani origin but there are a number of
loanwords from other languages.
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
loanwords include ''melanō'' ("yellow", from ''melyn''), ''grīga'' ("heather", from ''grug'') and ''kraŋka'' ("crab", from ''cranc''). There are also
English loanwords such as ''vlija'' ("village"), ''spīdra'' ("spider") and ''bråmla'' ("bramble").
Historically the variants of Welsh Kalá and
Angloromani (Spoken by the
Romanichal
Romanichal Travellers ( ; more commonly known as English Gypsies or English Travellers) are a Romani subgroup within the United Kingdom and other parts of the English-speaking world. There are an estimated 200,000 Romani in the United Kingdom; ...
of England) constituted the same variant of Romani, known as British Romani. Welsh Kalá is closely related to Angloromani (Spoken by Romanichal in England), Scandoromani (Spoken by Romanisæl in Norway and Sweden), Scottish Cant (Spoken by Scottish Lowland Romani in Lowland Scotland) and Finnish Kalo (Spoken by Finnish Kale in Finland). Welsh Kale, English Romanichal, Norwegian and Swedish Romanisæl, Finnish Kale and Scottish Lowland Romani are closely related groups and are descended from the wave of Romani immigrants who came to England in the 16th century.
[Bakker (1997) Review of McGowan, The Winchester Confessions. Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society. Fifth series, 7. (1): 49–50.]
References
External links
Welsh romani within Britain
Northern Romani dialects
Welsh language
Languages of Wales
Languages of the United Kingdom
Romani in Wales
{{Romani-stub