Speaking of Writing Romani: Language attitudes, text editing, and variability

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.

• Publication date: 23 January 2026
• Page count: 432
• Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Co
• Format: Hardback
• ISBN-13: 9789027232137