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Kalo, Kàlo or the Finnish Romani language (Kalo Finnish Romani: kaalengo tšimb) is a variety of the Romani language spoken by the Kaale subgroup of the Romani people in Finland and Sweden. The language is related to but not mutually intelligible with Scandoromani or Angloromani.

Kalo has 6,000–10,000 speakers and many young people do not know the language. The majority of speakers are from older generations and about two-thirds of the Romani in Finland still speak the language. There have been some revival efforts. Dictionaries and grammar books have been produced and some universities offer Kalo as a course. It has some similarities to the Romani languages in Hungary, where stress is placed on the first syllable of the word. This may be related to the fact that both Finnish and Hungarian words have fixed word-initial stress, a feature that would have diffused to the Romani languages. Kalo has been taught in schools since the late 1980s, with some courses available as early as the 1970s.

Current situation

In 2012 only 30% of the 13,000 Romani in Finland spoke Kalo fluently, but about 50% could understand it. It is now uncommon for Kalo speakers to pass the language to children although there have been efforts made to revive it in recent years. There are language nests in Rovaniemi, and in Helsinki, Romani courses were established. In Finland, the municipalities can establish Romani courses if there is enough demand, though there have been problems due to a lack of resources.

Finnish Romani in Sweden have a right to Kalo and Finnish education.

Phonology

Finnish Kalo has 8 pairs of long and short vowels. Vowel length can be phonemic as in bur 'through' versus buur 'boor' or allophonic as in baaro/baro 'big'.

Finnish Kalo has 9 closing diphthongs and 3 opening diphthongs.

Finnish Kalo has the following consonant phonemes:

Alphabet

See also

• Miranda Vuolasranta

Notes

1. ^ Kalo at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. ”Vela pinsiba, at doola horttas dikkena tšiȟkeske, so me som” — Kaalengo kentengo tšiȟko aaȟȟiba ta horttibongo tšatšjiba
3. Granqvist (2001)
4. Tuukkanen (2012)
5. "Romanien oikeudet Göteborgissa". Archived from the original on 2023-02-05. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
6. ^ Granqvist (2002:64–65)
7. Granqvist (2011:2–4)
8. Granqvist (2011:6)
9. Granqvist (2011:5)
10. Granqvist (2002:67–72)
11. Granqvist (2011:2–5)

References

• Granqvist, Kimmo (2001). "Suomen romanikieli". Kielikello (in Finnish). Retrieved January 28, 2021.
• Granqvist, Kimmo (2002). "Finnish Romani Phonology and Dialect Geography" (PDF). SKY Journal of Linguistics. 15. Linguistic Association of Finland: 61–83.
• Granqvist, Kimmo (2011). Lyhyt Suomen romanikielen kielioppi [Consice grammar of Finnish Romani] (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten keskus. ISBN 978-952-5446-69-2. ISSN 1796-041X. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
• Tuukkanen, Pia (April 10, 2012). "Romanikieli on vaarassa kadota". Yle Uutiset (in Finnish). Retrieved January 28, 2022.

External links

• Finnish Kalo teaching materials by the ] [fi] (in Finnish)
• Finnish-Kalo Finnish Dictionary Online, Glosbe

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