# My mom's dialect.



## StackOfPostItNotes

So, my mom speaks a strong dialect of Romanian.  She grew up in former Yogoslavia in a town called Jablanca, which had a large Romanian population.  I've only been learning for over four years now because she didn't teach me when I was little.  Here are some examples of the phonetic changes:

Te is said like ce --- Ce iubesc.
Ce is said like s,e  Nu s,tu s,e vreau

Words that begin with the letter e are changed to ie.  However, in my mom's dialect this occurs for 'e's that are in other places in the word.

Bine -> Binie
Vorbeste -> Vorbies,ce (sometimes the te is changed to ce in the middle of words, sometimes no)

The declension ul is simply u.  barbatul -> barbatu
The declension le is pronounced lii.  Vorbele -> Vorbelii

I was wondering if anyone has heard this before.  There's a lot more too, if anyone's interested.


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## LucianU

Hi, StackOfPostItNotes,

Yes, what you're saying is specific for some parts of Romania. I know it applies to Banat--a region near former Yugoslavia--and I think Jablanca is part of the Serbian Banat, so it makes sense to find similarities. 



> Ce is said like şe  Nu ştiu şe vreau


This pronunciation also applies to the Moldova region. 



> The declension ul is simply u.  bărbatul -> bărbatu


This happens in informal speaking across all regions. 

PS: Yup, Jablanca is in the Sourthen Banat.

How's the studying going?


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## StackOfPostItNotes

Some more stuff:

ştiu -> şciu
fetele -> fiecelii
şi -> şă
pentru -> prîntu
o să fac -> oi să fac (o -> oi for all future tense of "o")
a spus -> o spus (a -> o for all third person past)
tine -> cinie
ne -> nii (nii uitem)
dar -> numă
numai -> numă
din -> de la
mâine -> mânia

Mai as in mai mult is pronounced me.
mai mult -> me mult

The d is sometimes pronounced like an English j (as in the name Jim)

de -> je
crede - > creje/crieje
unde -> unje
verde -> vierje

Some completely different words too:

portofel -> bujălarii
eu dorm -> mă culc (I've been told this is an old and now uncommon form, though she uses dorm as well).
femeie -> muiere (sort of like mujer in Spanish)
roşie -> perădeis
catravete -> crestăviezi 

The forms of to be are almost completely different:
sunt/ -> mis
eşti -> îşti
e/este -> ii/îi/este
suntem -> nis
sunteţi -> vis
ei sunt  -> ei ii/îi/este

The prefix ori in oricînd, oricum is changed to makăcînd, makăcum
ori -> makă

How are you? is said cum vis/îşti instead of ce faci.  Ce faci is always "what are you doing/making?"

She does not know the imperfect, mai mult ca perfect and perfect simplu tenses.

I am sure there's more, I'll post it when I think of it.  The studying's going fine.  Though I don't study it much per se.  When I started learing, I found the grammar horribly complex and just started repeating what my mom said.


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## LucianU

It's clear that there are a lot of Slavic influences. Some words or morphemes are completely unknown to Romanian--e.g., perădeis, bujălarii, makă--and so is the pronunciation of certain words. 

Now, some observations:
"o spus" instead of "a spus" is also used in Romania. It's used in the Moldova region--my region--but I'm not sure about the others.

"mă culc" is not old and uncommon in Romanian. However, it has a different meaning from "dorm." "mă culc" means "I'm going to bed" or "I'm sleeping with a man/woman" [mă culc cu un bărbat/o femeie] while "dorm" is "I'm sleeping."

"muiere" is also used in Romania, but it has a derogatory meaning. (It comes from Latin; that's why you find it in Spanish and also in Italian--"moglie.")

Indeed, the grammar is complex and difficult to learn without a meaningful context. 

So, what are your learning sources now? It's clear that you're not settling only for what your mother is giving you.


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## StackOfPostItNotes

Occasional looks in verbix.com, a Romanian book I have, wordreference.com here, and a Romanian grammar guide online.  I haven't studied them though, just glanced through them.  That's why I am wiriting completely in English right now cause I don't really no how to write unless I look up the word.


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## StackOfPostItNotes

Here's some more.  Numbers:

trei -> trii
cinci -> șinși
șapte -> șapce
zece -> zeșe
doizeci -> doizeși
triizeși, patruzeși...

trebuie -> trebe

eu mănânca -> eu mânc
tu mănânci -> tu mânși
el mânșe/mâncă (subjunctive)
noi mânșem
voi mânșeți
ei mânșe

So has anyone heard this dialect before?


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## LucianU

Is there a specific reason you're asking or are you just curious?


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## StackOfPostItNotes

Just curious.  I like looking into how languages change.


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## Claudiopolis

StackOfPostItNotes said:


> Here's some more.  Numbers:
> 
> trei -> trii
> cinci -> șinși
> șapte -> șapce
> zece -> zeșe
> doizeci -> doizeși
> triizeși, patruzeși...
> 
> trebuie -> trebe
> 
> eu mănânca -> eu mânc
> tu mănânci -> tu mânși
> el mânșe/mâncă (subjunctive)
> noi mânșem
> voi mânșeți
> ei mânșe
> 
> So has anyone heard this dialect before?



I'm from Transylvania some 500km from Voievodina & Timoc and I can tell you that my grandparents use the following of the words you posted:

trei -> trii
cinci -> șinși
șapte -> șapce
zece -> zeșe

trebuie -> trebe

eu mănânca -> eu mânc


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## farscape

Hi StackOfPostItNotes,

To sum up and give the thread some semblance of a unified topic, your mother is speaking a dialect which is also spoken by (older) folk in the region of Banat (Romania) and has two notable characteristics: phonetics - pronunciation of certain words containing the consonants d and t, and Serbian elements of vocabulary.

There are a number of "deviations" from the modern Romanian language rules and vocabulary in your notes, which are not indigenous to this dialect and can be found in other linguistic areas of Romania (Transilvania, Moldova, etc.) or are part of the old language, all of which are to be expected (linguistic enclave).

Best,


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## StackOfPostItNotes

It is my understanding that in the last 100 years Romanian has gone through a lot of changes, right?


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## StackOfPostItNotes

Mai multe vorbe (Me mulce vorbii):

foarte -> tadii
obisit -> tebărât

Sînt foarte obisit -> Mis tadii tebărât


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## farscape

Câteva note/interpretări - înainte de Anul Nou  :

Mai multe vorbe (Me mulce vorbii):
 (_vorbe_  sau _cuvinte_)

 foarte -> tadii
_tadii_ -> _tari_ (Moldova) = _tare_, sinonim cu _foarte_, în anumite contexte (tare bine = foarte bine)

 obisit -> tebărât
(obosit)

Mă gândesc că _tebărât_ ar putea fi _tăbăr__â__t_ (DEX ediţia 1998, a tăbărî (Înv.) A-şi aşeza tăbără, a poposi) care ar putea avea înţeles de obosit. Aici discuţia ar trebui continuată în forumul de Eitmologie şi Istoria limbilor.

În concluzie - daca acceptăm ipoteza că _tebărât_ = _tăbăr__â__t_:
 Sînt foarte obisit -> Mis tadii tebărât
(_Sunt foarte obosit -> Mi-s tari tăbărât_)

Later,


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## OldAvatar

Can you, please, give us some details of the town Jablanca?
I think that you're talking about Jablanica village, which exists in both Serbia and Romania (spelled Iablanița).


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## StackOfPostItNotes

farscape said:


> Câteva note/interpretări - înainte de Anul Nou  :
> 
> Mai multe vorbe (Me mulce vorbii):
> (_vorbe_  sau _cuvinte_)
> 
> foarte -> tadii
> _tadii_ -> _tari_ (Moldova) = _tare_, sinonim cu _foarte_, în anumite contexte (tare bine = foarte bine)
> 
> obisit -> tebărât
> (obosit)
> 
> Mă gândesc că _tebărât_ ar putea fi _tăbăr__â__t_ (DEX ediţia 1998, a tăbărî (Înv.) A-şi aşeza tăbără, a poposi) care ar putea avea înţeles de obosit. Aici discuţia ar trebui continuată în forumul de Eitmologie şi Istoria limbilor.
> 
> În concluzie - daca acceptăm ipoteza că _tebărât_ = _tăbăr__â__t_:
> Sînt foarte obisit -> Mis tadii tebărât
> (_Sunt foarte obosit -> Mi-s tari tăbărât_)
> 
> Later,



N-am știut dacă a fost tadii o tarii, fîinca cum mamă mea spune, mă arete în mij loc (mijloc?).

De ce Mi-s?  Am spus înaiente că sunt -> mis.


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## farscape

Nefiind filolog de meserie, s-ar putea să greşesc uneori... 

_
tadii_ -> tari (cu accent pe "r"), în contextul dat, este clar _tare_ care pote fi uneori substituit prin foarte: tare bine = foarte bine.

Regionalisme şi archaisme:

_mi-s_ este o contracţie, de la _îmi sunt_ şi este folosit şi azi în diverse zone rurale:

Nu _mi-s_ boii acasă (cu înţeles de "Nu mă simt bine")
_Mi-s_ obosit (sunt obosit)

În mod asemănator avem pentru persoana întâia plural _ni-i_ de la "ne este"

"De urat am mai ura / Dar ni-i c-o însera"

sau persoana a doua singular, _ţi-i_: 

Unde _ţi-i_ batista? -> Unde ţi-e (îţi e) batista?
_Ţi-i_ frig? -> Ţi-e (Îţi este) frig?

Best,


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