Editing Moldovan language (section)

{{Short description|Outdated name for the Romanian language in Moldova}}
{{distinguish|Maldivian language}}
{{Hatnote|Not to be confused with [[Moldavian dialect]], one of several dialects of the Romanian language.}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Moldovan
| altname          = Moldavian
| nativename       = {{ubl|{{lang|ro|limba moldovenească}}|{{lang|ro-Cyrl|лимба молдовеняскэ}}}}
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|ro|ˈlimba moldoveˈne̯askə|}}
| ethnicity        = [[Moldovans]]
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Italic languages|Italic]]
| fam3             = [[Latino-Faliscan languages|Latino-Faliscan]]
| fam4             = [[Latin]]
| fam5             = [[Romance languages|Romance]]
| fam6             = [[Eastern Romance languages|Eastern Romance]]
| fam7             = [[Romanian language|Romanian]]
| script           = {{ubl|[[Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet|Moldovan Cyrillic]] ([[Transnistria]])|[[Romanian alphabet|Latin alphabet]] ([[Ukraine]])}}
| nation           = ''{{flag|Transnistria}}''
| minority         = {{flag|Ukraine}}<ref name="24dec24" />
| isoexception     = none
| glotto           = mold1248
| ietf             = ro-MD
| iso1             = mo
| iso1comment      = (deprecated)
| iso2             = mol
| iso2comment      = (deprecated)
| iso3comment      = (deprecated)
| iso3             = mol
}}
{{Eastern Romance languages}}

'''Moldovan''' or '''Moldavian''' ([[Romanian alphabet|Latin alphabet]]: {{lang|ro|limba moldovenească}}, [[Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet]]: {{lang|ro-Cyrl|лимба молдовеняскэ}}) is one of the two local names for the [[Romanian language]] in [[Moldova]].{{sfn|Kogan Page|2004}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Directorate-General for Translation of the European Commission |title=A Field Guide to the Main Languages of Europe – Spot That Language and How to Tell Them Apart |date=2008 |url=http://extranet.isti.ulb.ac.be/telecharge2.php?user=0&nomfic=willmott%2Fbac2_linguistics%2Fsection%201%20-%20%20history%20of%20linguistics%20indo-eur%20langs%20%20units%201%20and%202%2Ffield_guide_main_languages_of_europe_en.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117032940/http://extranet.isti.ulb.ac.be/telecharge2.php?user=0&nomfic=willmott%2Fbac2_linguistics%2Fsection%201%20-%20%20history%20of%20linguistics%20indo-eur%20langs%20%20units%201%20and%202%2Ffield_guide_main_languages_of_europe_en.pdf |edition=3rd |access-date=7 April 2020 |archive-date=17 November 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> ''Moldovan'' was declared the official language of Moldova in Article 13 of the [[Constitution of Moldova|constitution]] adopted in 1994,<ref name="Constitution">{{Cite web|url=http://gov.md/content/ro/0000072.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226205217/http://gov.md/content/ro/0000072.pdf|url-status=dead|at=Article 13, line 1 |title=Constitution of the Republic of Moldova|archive-date=26 February 2008}}</ref> while the 1991 [[Declaration of Independence of Moldova]] used the name ''Romanian''. In 2003, the [[Moldovan parliament]] adopted a law defining ''Moldovan'' and ''Romanian'' as [[Linguonym|glottonyms]] for the same language.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=Politics of National Conception of Moldova|url=http://lex.justice.md/index.php?action=view&view=doc&lang=1&id=312846|access-date=10 March 2014|work=Law No. 546/12-19-2003|language=ro|archive-date=10 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310213233/http://lex.justice.md/index.php?action=view&view=doc&lang=1&id=312846|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2013, the [[Constitutional Court of Moldova]] interpreted that Article&nbsp;13 of the constitution is superseded by the Declaration of Independence,<ref name="const-court">{{cite news  | title = Hotărâre Nr. 36 din 05.12.2013 privind interpretarea articolului 13 alin. (1) din Constituție în corelație cu Preambulul Constituției și Declarația de Independență a Republicii Moldova (Sesizările nr. 8b/2013 și 41b/2013)  | publisher = Constitutional Court of Moldova  | quote = 124.&nbsp;... Prin urmare, Curtea consideră că prevederea conținută în Declarația de Independență referitoare la limba română ca limbă de stat a Republicii Moldova prevalează asupra prevederii referitoare la limba moldovenească conținute în articolul 13 al Constituției.  | trans-quote = 124.&nbsp;... Therefore, the Court considers that the provision contained in the Declaration of Independence regarding the Romanian language as the state language of the Republic of Moldova prevails over the  provision regarding the Moldovan language contained in Article 13 of the Constitution.  | language = ro  | url = http://constcourt.md/download.php?file=cHVibGljL2NjZG9jL2hvdGFyaXJpL3JvLWhfMzZfMjAxM19yby5wZGY%3D  | access-date = 20 December 2013  | archive-date = 5 March 2016  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160305051137/http://constcourt.md/download.php?file=cHVibGljL2NjZG9jL2hvdGFyaXJpL3JvLWhfMzZfMjAxM19yby5wZGY%3D  | url-status = live  }}</ref> thus giving official status to the name ''Romanian''.<ref name="foxnews">{{Cite news |date=2013-12-05 |title=Moldovan court rules official language is 'Romanian', replacing Soviet-flavored 'Moldovan' |work=[[Fox News]] |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/moldovan-court-rules-official-language-is-romanian-replacing-soviet-flavored-moldovan/ |access-date=2013-12-07 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131209102718/http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/12/05/moldovan-court-rules-official-language-is-romanian-replacing-soviet-flavored |archive-date=2013-12-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.rferl.org/content/moldova-romanian-official-language/25191455.html| title=Chisinau Recognizes Romanian As Official Language| newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty| date=5 December 2013| access-date=11 March 2014| archive-date=23 September 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923021555/http://www.rferl.org/content/moldova-romanian-official-language/25191455.html| url-status=live}}</ref> On 16 March 2023, the [[Parliament of Moldova|Moldovan Parliament]] approved a law on referring to the [[national language]] as ''Romanian'' in all legislative texts and the [[Constitution of Moldova (1994)|constitution]]. On 22 March, the [[president of Moldova]], [[Maia Sandu]], promulgated the law.<ref name="romanian-law-prom">{{cite news |title=Președinta Maia Sandu a promulgat Legea care confirmă că limba de stat a Republicii Moldova este cea română |url=https://presedinte.md/rom/comunicate-de-presa/presedinta-maia-sandu-a-promulgat-legea-care-confirma-ca-limba-de-stat-a-republicii-moldova-este-cea-romna |publisher=Presidency of the Republic of Moldova |language=ro |quote=Astăzi am promulgat Legea care confirmă un adevăr istoric și incontestabil: limba de stat a Republicii Moldova este cea română. |trans-quote=Today I have promulgated the law that confirms a historical and indisputable truth: the state language of the Republic of Moldova is Romanian.}}</ref>

The [[List of states with limited recognition|breakaway region]] of [[Transnistria]] continues to recognize "Moldavian" as one of its official languages, alongside [[Russian language|Russian]] and [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]].<ref name="constitMFA">{{cite web|url=https://mid.gospmr.org/en/constitution|title=CONSTITUTION OF THE PRIDNESTROVIAN MOLDAVIAN REPUBLIC|date=October 2014 |publisher=[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Transnistria)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Transnistria]]|access-date=16 August 2024}}</ref> [[Ukraine]] also continued until recently to make a distinction between ''Moldovan'' and ''Romanian'', with one village declaring its language to be ''Romanian'' and another declaring it to be ''Moldovan'', though Ukrainian officials have announced an intention to remove the legal status of ''Moldovan''.<ref name="ukr">{{cite news|url=https://www.digi24.ro/stiri/externe/ministerul-de-externe-bogdan-aurescu-cere-ucrainei-sa-recunoasca-oficial-inexistenta-limbii-moldovenesti-1568981|title=Ministerul de Externe: Bogdan Aurescu cere Ucrainei să recunoască oficial inexistența 'limbii moldovenești'|newspaper=[[Digi24]]|date=19 June 2021|language=ro|access-date=13 September 2021|archive-date=7 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107142950/https://www.digi24.ro/stiri/externe/ministerul-de-externe-bogdan-aurescu-cere-ucrainei-sa-recunoasca-oficial-inexistenta-limbii-moldovenesti-1568981|url-status=live}}</ref> On 16 November 2023, the [[Ministry of Education (Ukraine)|Ministry of Education and Science]] of the Ukrainian government stated that it has initiated steps to abolish the Moldovan language and to replace it with Romanian.<ref>See ‘Official statement regarding the use in Ukraine of the term "Romanian language" instead of the term "Moldovan language"’, at https://mon.gov.ua/en/news/declaratie-oficiala-privind-utilizarea-in-ucraina-termenului-limba-romana-in-locul-termenului-limba-moldoveneasca </ref> On 13 January 2024, Ukrainian newspaper ''Dumska'' reported that the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science had announced all 16 schools in Odesa Oblast teaching "Moldovan" had dropped the term in favor of Romanian.<ref name="AutoK4-40" />

The language of the Moldovans had for centuries been interchangeably identified by both terms, but during the time of the [[Soviet Union]], ''Moldovan'', or as it was called at the time, ''Moldavian'', was the only term officially recognized. Its resolution declared Moldavian a [[Romance language]] distinct from Romanian.

While a majority of Moldovans with higher education,<ref name="IPP">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ipp.md/public/files/Barometru/BOP_11.2012_prima_parte.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214193454/http://www.ipp.md/public/files/Barometru/BOP_11.2012_prima_parte.pdf|url-status=dead|title=CBS AXA/IPP nov. 2012|archive-date=14 December 2013}}</ref> as well as a majority of inhabitants of the capital city of [[Chișinău]],<ref name="NationalityLanguage2004">{{cite web|format=XLS|url=http://www.statistica.md/public/files/Recensamint/Recensamintul_populatiei/vol_1/8_Nation_Limba_vorbita__materna_ro.xls|title=Population by main nationalities, mother tongue and language usually spoken, 2004|work=National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova|access-date=14 July 2016|archive-date=14 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131114010949/http://www.statistica.md/public/files/Recensamint/Recensamintul_populatiei/vol_1/8_Nation_Limba_vorbita__materna_ro.xls|url-status=live}}</ref> call their language ''Romanian'', most rural residents indicated ''Moldovan'' as their native language in the [[2004 Moldovan census|2004 census]].<ref name="NationalityLanguage2004" /> In schools in Moldova, the term "Romanian language" has been used since independence.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2004-10-04|title=Ministerul Educatiei a Republicii Moldova : Acte Normative și Publicații : Acte normative și legislative : Domeniul învațămîntului preuniversitar|url=http://www.edu.md/?lng=ro&MenuItem=6&SubMenu0=1&SubMenu1=2&article=inv_preuniversitar/reg_ex_absolvire_gimnaziu|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928105636/http://www.edu.md/?lng=ro&MenuItem=6&SubMenu0=1&SubMenu1=2&article=inv_preuniversitar/reg_ex_absolvire_gimnaziu|archive-date=2007-09-28|access-date=2021-08-24|website=www.edu.md|language=ro}}</ref>

The [[Romanian dialects|variety of Romanian]] spoken in Moldova is the [[Moldavian subdialect]], which is spread approximately within the territory of the former [[Principality of Moldavia]] (now split between [[Romania]], Moldova and [[Ukraine]]). Moldavian is considered one of the five major spoken varieties of Romanian. However, all five are written identically, and Moldova and Romania share the same [[literary language]].<ref>* {{cite book |first=James |last=Minahan |title=Miniature Empires: A Historical Dictionary of the Newly Independent States |publisher=Greenwood |year=1989 |page=276}}
* {{cite web|publisher=Library of Congress|location=Washington, DC|title=Moldova, Country Study|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/mdtoc.html#md0027|access-date=3 June 2008|archive-date=5 August 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120805060125/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/mdtoc.html%23md0027|url-status=live}}
* ''Encyclopædia Britannia'' (online ed.), quoted in {{cite web|title=Descriptive Cataloging: Romanian Language Codes – Moldavian or Romanian?|work=Slavic Cataloging Manual|publisher=Indiana University|url=http://www.indiana.edu/~libslav/slavcatman/langcode.html|access-date=3 June 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303173827/http://www.indiana.edu/~libslav/slavcatman/langcode.html|archive-date=2016-03-03}}
* {{cite web|title=A country-by-country update on constitutional politics in Eastern Europe and the ex-USSR|url=http://www.law.nyu.edu/eecr/vol11num1_2/constitutionwatch/moldova.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071113224009/http://www.law.nyu.edu/eecr/vol11num1_2/constitutionwatch/moldova.html|archive-date=13 November 2007|access-date=3 June 2008|work=NYU LAW|volume=11|issue=1–2}}
* {{cite web|title=The Sovietization of Moldova|url=http://www.jmu.edu/orgs/romanian/moldova1.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327035249/http://www.jmu.edu/orgs/romanian/moldova1.htm|archive-date=27 March 2008|access-date=3 June 2008}}
* {{cite web |website=Ethnologue |title=Moldova |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/country/MD/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409200226/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=Moldova |archive-date=9 April 2008 |access-date=3 June 2008 }}
* {{cite web|title=Disillusionment with Democracy: Notes from the Field in Moldova|url=http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/kokkalis/GSW5/anderson.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060913025352/http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/kokkalis/GSW5/anderson.pdf|archive-date=13 September 2006|access-date=3 June 2008}}
* {{cite web |title=Languages across Europe: Moldovan |publisher=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/european_languages/languages/moldovan.shtml |access-date=23 December 2019 |archive-date=7 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107131903/https://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/european_languages/languages/moldovan.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{in lang|ru}}&nbsp;L. I. Lukht, B. P. Narumov. "{{lang|ru|Румынский язык}}" [Romanian language]. {{lang|ru|Языки мира}} [''Languages of the world'']. {{lang|ru|Романские языки}} [Romance languages]. М., Academia, [[Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences]], 2001.{{clarify inline|reason=Adapted from foreign citation style, unclear what the nature of the source is – journal article maybe? If so what is the article title and what is the journal?|{{subst:DATE}}|date=March 2023}}</ref>

The standard alphabet used in Moldova is equivalent to the [[Romanian alphabet]], which uses the [[Latin script]]. Until 1918, varieties of the [[Romanian Cyrillic alphabet]] were used. The [[Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet]] (derived from the [[Russian alphabet]] and standardised in the Soviet Union) was used in 1924–1932 and 1938–1989 and remains in use in Transnistria.<ref>Denis Deletant, ''Slavonic Letters in Moldova, Wallachia & Transylvania from the Tenth to the Seventeenth Centuries'', Ed. Enciclopedicӑ, Bucharest, 1991.</ref>