Talk:List of towns in Romania by Romani population

Communes

Might we want to mention that there are communes (Clejani, for example) with a far higher percentage than any of these towns? Not to list them systematically, just remark, because the word "town" is vague (in English it can mean anything larger than a hamlet) and English-speaking readers may wonder. - Jmabel | Talk 05:58, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I was thinking along the same lines. In fact, when I first started the page, I was considering listing all communes as well, but then I realised there are too many of them. Ronline ✉ 08:13, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

AFAIK, there are a couple of communes where there are more than 50% Roma. One is Cojasca, Dâmboviţa County 65.81% [1] bogdan 22:06, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I have made a temporary list at User:Ronline/Roma co-official list. This includes all communes (and one town) where Roma make up over 20% of the population. The list isn't yet complete (I still have to go through half of Centru region and Bucharest-Ilfov). Another thing I am interested in - does the 20% minorities law base itself on ethnic groups or languages? If a locality has over 20% Roma ethnicity, does that mean Romani gets co-official status (bilingual signs, public administration access, etc), or do more than 20% of the population have to declare Romani mother tongue? There are localities where Roma make up over 20%, but Romani speakers make up less than 2-3%, and other localities where the number of Romani speakers exceeds that of ethnic Roma (presumably because some Roma declared Romani mother tongue but another - usually Romanian or Hungarian - ethnicity) Thanks, Ronline ✉ 11:05, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Here's the exact text of the law:

"În unităţile administrativ-teritoriale în care cetăţenii aparţinând minorităţilor naţionale au o pondere de peste 20% din numărul locuitorilor autorităţile administraţiei publice locale vor asigura folosirea, în raporturile cu aceştia, şi a limbii materne, în conformitate cu prevederile Constituţiei, ale prezentei legi şi ale convenţiilor internaţionale la care România este parte." law no. 215/2001 bogdan 13:35, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, I think that implies that ethnicity should be used as the considerent, not mother tongue. This is what I understood from newspaper articles as well. I think what it says is that where a certain minority group makes up over 20% of the population, that minority group can use its language when addressing public administration, education, on signs, etc, even if that language itself isn't spoken by over 20% of the population. In any case, unfortunately this law wasn't really designed for Romani, since for all other minorities, there is quite a close correlation between language and ethnicity (and in many localities, even where Romani is spoken by more than 20% of the population as a mother tongue, it is still not granted co-official status on signs). Ronline ✉ 12:20, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

This would fit in with what has happened in a lot of other countries, with deliberate revival of minority languages. In the U.S., for example, several Native American languages are being revived that were down to a handful of speakers; in one case I heard about recently on the radio, there were no native speakers left, but the members of the tribe are learning their ancestral language from a linguist who had worked closely with and extensively recorded one of the last native speakers some 20 years ago. - 04:12, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

What about heavily Roma districts of cities (e.g. Ferentari)? I'm not sure they belong in the list as such, but perhaps there should be some sort of mention? - Jmabel | Talk 02:03, 3 April 2007 (UTC)