Editing Moldovan language (section)

=== Independent Moldova ===

The Declaration of Independence<ref>{{cite web|format=DOC|url=http://www.europa.md/upload/File/alte_documente/Declaratia%20de%20Independenta%20a%20Republicii%20Moldova%202(1).doc|title=Declaratia de Independenta a Republicii Moldova|trans-title=Moldovan Declaration of Independence|language=ro|publisher=europa.md|date=27 August 1991|url-status=unfit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305220335/http://www.europa.md/upload/File/alte_documente/Declaratia%20de%20Independenta%20a%20Republicii%20Moldova%202(1).doc|archive-date=5 March 2009}}</ref> of [[Moldova]] (27 August 1991) named the official language as "Romanian". The 1994 constitution, passed under a Communist government, declared "Moldovan" as the state language.

When in 1993 the [[Romanian Academy]] changed the official orthography of the Romanian language, the Institute of Linguistics at the [[Academy of Sciences of Moldova]] did not initially make these changes, which however have since been adopted.{{source needed|date=March 2021}}

In 1996, the Moldovan president [[Mircea Snegur]] attempted to change the official [[glottonym|name of the language]] back to ''Romanian''; the Moldovan Parliament, dominated by the Democratic Agrarian Party and various far left forces, dismissed the proposal as promoting "Romanian expansionism".

In 2003, a [[Moldovan–Romanian dictionary]] ({{lang|ro|Dicționar Moldovenesc–Românesc}} (2003)) by [[Vasile Stati]] was published aiming to prove that there existed two distinct languages. Reacting to this, linguists of the [[Romanian Academy]] in Romania declared that all the Moldovan words are also Romanian words, although some of its contents are disputed as being Russian [[loanword]]s. In Moldova, the head of the [[Academy of Sciences of Moldova|Academy of Sciences]]' Institute of Linguistics, Ion Bărbuță, described the dictionary as "an absurdity, serving political purposes". Stati, however, accused both of promoting "Romanian colonialism". At that point, a group of Romanian linguists adopted a resolution stating that promotion of the notion of a distinct Moldovan language is an anti-scientific campaign.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ziare.ro/articol.php?id=1193864896 |website=Ziare.ro |title=Linguists condemn "Moldovan language" |access-date=10 November 2007 |language=ro |archive-date=4 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804012158/http://www.ziare.ro/articol.php?id=1193864896 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2003, the [[Parliament of the Republic of Moldova]] adopted a law defining ''Moldovan'' and ''Romanian'' as designations for the same language ([[:wikt:glottonym|glottonyms]]).<ref name=":0" /> 

In the [[2004 Moldovan Census|2004 census]], 16.5% (558,508) of the 3,383,332 people living in Moldova declared Romanian as their native language, whereas 60% declared Moldovan. Most of the latter responses were from rural populations. While the majority of the population in the capital city of [[Chișinău]] gave their language as "Romanian", in the countryside more than six-sevenths of the Romanian/Moldovan speakers indicated "Moldovan" as their native language, reflecting historic conservatism.<ref name="Census 2004">{{cite web|url=http://www.statistica.md/pageview.php?l=en&idc=263&id=2208|title=2004 Population Census|work=National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova|access-date=14 July 2016|archive-date=13 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113163934/http://www.statistica.md/pageview.php?l=en&id=2208&idc=263|url-status=live}}</ref> Currently, 2,184,065 people or 80.2% of those covered by the 2014 census on the right bank of the Dniester or Moldova (proper, without the Transnistrian separatist region) identified Moldovan or Romanian as their native language, of which 1,544,726 (55.1%) declared Moldovan and 639.339 (22.8%) declared it Romanian.<ref>"Rezultatele Recensământului Populației și al Locuințelor 2014", at  https://statistica.gov.md/ro/recensamantul-populatiei-si-al-locuintelor-2014-122.html</ref> According to the 2014 census, 2,720,377 answered to the question on "language usually used for communication". 2,138,964 people or 78.63% of the inhabitants of Moldova (proper, without the Transnistrian separatist region) have Moldovan/Romanian as first language, of which 1,486,570 (53%) declared it Moldovan and 652,394 (23.3%) declared it Romanian.<ref>"Rezultatele Recensământului Populației și al Locuințelor 2014", at  https://statistica.gov.md/ro/recensamantul-populatiei-si-al-locuintelor-2014-122.html</ref>

In the Republic of Moldova, “more than half of the self-proclaimed Moldovans (53.5%) said that they saw no difference” between the Romanian and Moldovan languages according to a survey conducted by Pal Kolsto and Hans Olav Melberg in 1998.<ref>Pal Kolsto with Hans Olav Melberg, “Integration, Alienation, and Conflict in Estonia and Moldova,” in Pal Kolsto (ed.), National Integration and Violent Conflict in Post-Soviet Societies (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.), p. 34. The article discusses the data of the survey. The data also includes Transnistria, the mostly Russian-speaking area of eastern Moldova. See Kolsto, p. 35.</ref> Opinion polling from the Chernivtsi oblast indicated that a significant majority of the self-identified Moldovans thought that there was no difference between the Moldovan language and the Romanian language in that part of Ukraine.<ref>Ion Popescu and Constantin Ungureanu, ''Romanii dn Ucraina - intre trecut si viitor'', vol. 1 (''Romanii din Regiunea Cernauti''), Cernauti, 2005.</ref> According to Alla Skvortsova, an ethnic Russian researcher from the Republic of Moldova, "Our survey found that while 94.4 percent of the Romanians living in Moldova consider Moldovan and Romanian to be the same language, only half of the Moldovans (53.2 percent) share this view".<ref>Alla Skvortsova, "The Cultural and Social Makeup of Moldova: A Bipolar or Dispersed Society?", in Pal Kolsto (ed.), ''National Integration and Violent Conflict in Post-Soviet Societies'' (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.), p. 168.</ref>

In schools in Moldova, the term ''Romanian language'' has been used since independence.<ref name=":1" />

In December 2007, [[President of Moldova|Moldovan president]] [[Vladimir Voronin]] asked for the term to be changed to ''Moldovan language'', but due to public pressure against that choice, the term was not changed.<ref>{{cite web|date=18 December 2007|title=Professors from the University of Balti protest against replacing 'Romanian language' with 'Moldovan language'|url=http://www.moldova.org/professors-from-the-university-of-balti-protest-against-replacing-romanian-language-with-moldovan-language-81780-eng/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20151016045349/http://www.moldova.org/professors-from-the-university-of-balti-protest-against-replacing-romanian-language-with-moldovan-language-81780-eng/|archive-date=16 October 2015|access-date=16 October 2015|work=DECA-Press|publisher=moldova.org}}</ref>

In December 2013, the [[Constitutional Court of Moldova]] ruled that the Declaration of Independence takes precedence over the Constitution and that the state language should be called Romanian.<ref name="const-court" /><ref name="foxnews"/>

By March 2017, the presidential website under [[Igor Dodon]] had changed the Romanian language option to ''Moldovan'',<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2017-03-02|title=Președinția Republicii Moldova|url=http://www.presedinte.md/rom/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302033610/http://www.presedinte.md/rom/|archive-date=2017-03-02|access-date=2020-12-24|website=presedinte.md}}</ref> which was described to be "in accordance with the constitution" by said president. The change was reverted on 24&nbsp;December 2020, the day Maia Sandu assumed office.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2020-12-24|title=Președinția Republicii Moldova|url=http://www.presedinte.md/rom|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224154543/http://www.presedinte.md/rom|archive-date=2020-12-24|access-date=2020-12-24|website=presedinte.md}}</ref>

In June 2021, during a meeting between the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Romania)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania]] [[Bogdan Aurescu]] and the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine]] [[Dmytro Kuleba]], the former asked Ukraine to recognize the nonexistence of the Moldovan language to improve the situation of the [[Romanians in Ukraine]]. Kuleba responded to this saying that they were trying to do the paperwork for this as soon as possible.<ref name="ukr" /> On 30 November 2022, during another meeting between Aurescu and Kuleba, Aurescu reiterated this request.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.stiripesurse.ro/romania-solicitare-ferma-pentru-ucraina-kievul-sa-nu-recunoasca-limba-moldoveneasca_2680810.html|title=FOTO România, solicitare fermă pentru Ucraina: Kievul să nu recunoască 'limba moldovenească'|newspaper=Știri pe surse|date=30 November 2022|language=ro|access-date=3 December 2022|archive-date=3 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221203092010/https://www.stiripesurse.ro/romania-solicitare-ferma-pentru-ucraina-kievul-sa-nu-recunoasca-limba-moldoveneasca_2680810.html|url-status=live}}</ref> This happened again during a phone call between the two ministers on 12 April 2023, after Moldova had legally changed its official language to Romanian.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.publika.md/bogdan-aurescu-vrea-ca-ucraina-sa-renunte-la-sintagma-limba-moldoveneasca-cum-au-reactionat-autoritatile-ucrainene_3136016.html|title=Bogdan Aurescu vrea ca Ucraina să renunțe la sintagma "limba moldovenească". Cum au reacționat autoritățile ucrainene|publisher=[[Publika TV]]|date=13 April 2023|language=ro}}</ref>