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Speaking of Writing Romani
Language attitudes, text editing, and variability
Author
As a traditionally oral language spoken in areas with a literacy-based culture, Romani provides a unique case for the study of orality and literacy. In a mixed-methods approach, this work investigates attitudes of Romani speakers towards the modalities, their communicative functions and use, and editing behaviour in writing texts. Importantly, it allows a direct comparison of spoken and written language use of individuals. Thus, while Romani writing has been studied before, this book adds unique data and aspects of metalinguistic knowledge to the discussion. Moreover, broadening the empirical coverage of smaller languages within experimental research, it comprises the first study on implicit attitudes towards the Romani language. This makes it possible for insights from minority languages to bear on theories of orality and literacy. Beyond Romani linguistics, the book will appeal to researchers interested in minority language research, variability, language attitudes, and frameworks of spoken and written language.
[IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society, 56] 2026. xix, 432 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Published online on 23 January 2026
Published online on 23 January 2026
© John Benjamins
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements | pp. ix–xii
- List of abbreviations | pp. xiii–xvi
- List of symbols | pp. xvii–17
- Writing conventions | pp. xix–xx
- Chapter 1. Speaking of writing Romani | pp. 1–7
- Chapter 2. Points of departure and positioning of this work within academic discourses | pp. 8–38
- Chapter 3. Knowledge production, ethical reflections, and a pandemic | pp. 39–60
- Chapter 4. Language attitudes and language use among speakers of Romani | pp. 61–224
- Chapter 5. Study 4: Editing processes with regard to orate and literate structures in Romani | pp. 225–294
- Chapter 6. Future directions: Open questions and interdisciplinary prospects | pp. 295–299
- Chapter 7. Conclusions: Language attitudes and text editing in the context of an oral tradition, norms of writing, and variability | pp. 300–306
- Bibliography | pp. 307–336
- Appendices
- Appendix A. Supplementary material to study 1 | pp. 338–426
- Appendix B. Supplementary material to study 2: Pre-test Likert scale items | pp. 427–429
- Index | pp. 431–432