Editing Romanian language (section)

== Writing system ==
[[File:Psaltire Hurmuzaki1.JPG|thumb|[[Hurmuzaki Psalter]], dated between 1491 and 1504.<ref name="auto"/>]]

The first written record about a [[Romance language]] spoken in the Middle Ages in the Balkans is from 587. A Vlach muleteer accompanying the Byzantine army noticed that the load was falling from one of the animals and shouted to a companion ''Torna, torna, fratre!'' (meaning "Return, return, brother!"). [[Theophanes Confessor]] recorded it as part of a 6th-century military expedition by [[Comentiolus]] and [[Priscus]] against the Avars and Slovenes.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Vlachs |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature |publisher=Adam and Charles Black |location=Edinburgh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zt5TAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA269 |date=1898 |editor-last=Baynes |editor-first=Thomas Spencer |edition=9th |volume=24 |pages=269 |language=en}}</ref>

The oldest surviving written text in Romanian is a letter from late June 1521,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sarlin |first=Mika |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nKWpBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 |title=Romanian Grammar |publisher=Books on Demand |year=2014 |isbn=9789522868985 |edition=2nd |location=Helsinki |page=15 |language=en}}</ref> in which Neacșu of [[Câmpulung]] wrote to the mayor of [[Brașov]] about an imminent attack of the Turks. It was written using the [[Romanian Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic alphabet]], like most early Romanian writings. The earliest surviving writing in Latin script was a late 16th-century [[Transylvania]]n text which was written with the [[Hungarian alphabet]] conventions.

In the 18th century, [[Transylvania]]n scholars noted the Latin origin of Romanian and adapted the [[Latin alphabet]] to the Romanian language, using some orthographic rules from [[Italian alphabet|Italian]], recognized as Romanian's closest relative. The Cyrillic alphabet remained in (gradually decreasing) use until 1860, when Romanian writing was first officially regulated.

In the [[Moldavian SSR|Soviet Republic of Moldova]], the Russian-derived [[Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet]] was used until 1989, when the Romanian Latin alphabet was introduced; in the breakaway territory of Transnistria the Cyrillic alphabet remains in use.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dyer |first=Donald L. |date=1999 |title=Some Influences of Russian on the Romanian of Moldova during the Soviet Period |journal=The Slavic and East European Journal |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=85–98 |doi=10.2307/309907 |jstor=309907}}</ref>
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=== Romanian alphabet ===
{{Main|Romanian alphabet|Romanian braille}}
The Romanian alphabet is as follows:

:{|class="center wikitable" style="border-collapse:collapse"
|-
!colspan="31"| [[Capital letters]]
|-
| [[A]]
| [[Ă]]
| [[Â]]
| [[B]]
| [[C]]
| [[D]]
| [[E]]
| [[F]]
| [[G]]
| [[H]]
| [[I]]
| [[Î]]
| [[J]]
| [[K]]
| [[L]]
| [[M]]
| [[N]]
| [[O]]
| [[P]]
| [[Q]]
| [[R]]
| [[S]]
| [[Ș]]
| [[T]]
| [[Ț]]
| [[U]]
| [[V]]
| [[W]]
| [[X]]
| [[Y]]
| [[Z]]
|-
!colspan="31"| [[Lower case|Lower case letters]]
|-
| [[a]]
| [[ă]]
| [[â]]
| [[b]]
| [[c]]
| [[d]]
| [[e]]
| [[f]]
| [[g]]
| [[h]]
| [[i]]
| [[î]]
| [[j]]
| [[k]]
| [[l]]
| [[m]]
| [[n]]
| [[o]]
| [[p]]
| [[q]]
| [[r]]
| [[s]]
| [[ș]]
| [[t]]
| [[ț]]
| [[u]]
| [[v]]
| [[w]]
| [[x]]
| [[y]]
| [[z]]
|-
!colspan="31"| Phonemes
|-
| {{IPAslink|a}}
| {{IPAslink|ə}}
| {{IPAslink|ɨ}}
| {{IPAslink|b}}
| {{IPAslink|k}},<br />{{IPAslink|t͡ʃ}}
| {{IPAslink|d}}
| {{IPAslink|e}},<br />{{IPAslink|e̯}},<br />{{IPA|/je/}}
| {{IPAslink|f}}
| {{IPAslink|ɡ}},<br />{{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}}
| {{IPAslink|h}},<br />mute
| {{IPAslink|i}},<br />{{IPAslink|j}},<br />{{IPAslink|ʲ}}
| {{IPAslink|ɨ}}
| {{IPAslink|ʒ}}
| {{IPAslink|k}}
| {{IPAslink|l}}
| {{IPAslink|m}}
| {{IPAslink|n}}
| {{IPAslink|o}},<br />{{IPAslink|o̯}}
| {{IPAslink|p}}
| {{IPAslink|k}}
| {{IPAslink|r}}
| {{IPAslink|s}}
| {{IPAslink|ʃ}}
| {{IPAslink|t}}
| {{IPAslink|t͡s}}
| {{IPAslink|u}},<br />{{IPAslink|w}}
| {{IPAslink|v}}
| {{IPAslink|v}},<br />{{IPAslink|w}},<br />{{IPAslink|u}}
| {{IPA|/ks/,<br />/ɡz/}}
| {{IPAslink|j}},<br />{{IPAslink|i}}
| {{IPAslink|z}}
|}

K, Q, W and Y, not part of the native alphabet; they were officially introduced in the Romanian alphabet in 1982 and are mostly used to write loanwords like ''kilogram'', ''quasar'', ''watt'', and ''yoga''.

The Romanian alphabet is based on the [[Latin script]] with five additional letters {{lang|ro|[[Ă]]}}, {{lang|ro|[[Â]]}}, {{lang|ro|[[Î]]}}, {{lang|ro|[[Ș]]}}, {{lang|ro|[[Ț]]}}. Formerly, there were as many as 12 additional letters, but some of them were abolished in subsequent reforms. Also, until the early 20th century, a breve marker was used, which survives only in ă.

Today the Romanian alphabet is largely [[Phonemic orthography|phonemic]]. However, the letters ''â'' and ''î'' both represent the same [[close central unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|/ɨ/}}. ''Â'' is used only inside words;  ''î'' is used at the beginning or the end of non-compound words and in the middle of compound words. Another exception from a completely phonetic writing system is the fact that [[vowel]]s and their respective [[semivowel]]s are not distinguished in writing. In dictionaries the distinction is marked by separating the entry word into [[syllable]]s for words containing a [[Hiatus (linguistics)|hiatus]].

Stressed vowels also are not marked in writing, except very rarely in cases where by misplacing the stress a word might change its meaning and if the meaning is not obvious from the context. For example, ''trei copíi'' means "three children" while ''trei cópii'' means "three copies".

=== Pronunciation ===
[[File:Romanian keyboard letters.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|A close shot of some keys with Romanian characters on the keyboard of a laptop]]

{{See also|Romanian alphabet#Î versus Â}}
* {{lang|ro|h}} is not silent like in other Romance languages such as Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan and French, but represents the phoneme {{IPA|/h/}}, except in the digraphs {{lang|ro|ch}} /k/ and {{lang|ro|gh}} /g/ (see below)
* {{lang|ro|j}} represents {{IPA|/ʒ/}}, as in French, Catalan or Portuguese (the sound spelled with ''s'' in the English words "vision, pleasure, treasure").
* There are two letters with a comma below, [[Ș]] and [[Ț]], which represent the sounds {{IPA|/ʃ/}} and {{IPA|/t͡s/}}. However, the allographs with a cedilla instead of a comma, ''[[Ş]]'' and ''[[Ţ]]'', became widespread when pre-[[Unicode]] and early Unicode [[character sets]] did not include the standard form.
* {{lang|ro|ă}} represents the [[schwa]], {{IPA|/ə/}}.
* {{lang|ro|î}} and {{lang|ro|â}} both represent the sound {{IPA|/ɨ/}}. In rapid speech (for example in the name of the country) the {{lang|ro|â}} sound may sound similar to a casual listener to the short [[schwa]] sound {{lang|ro|ă}} (in fact, [[Aromanian language|Aromanian]] does merge the two, writing them {{lang|rup|ã}}) but careful speakers will distinguish the sound. The nearest equivalent is the vowel in the last syllable of the word ''roses'' for some English dialects which distinguish it from ''Rosa's'' or the second syllable of the word "rhythm". It is also roughly equivalent to European Portuguese {{IPA|/ɨ/}}, the Polish {{lang|pl|y}} or the Russian {{lang|ru|ы|italic=no}}.
* The letter ''e'' generally represents the [[Mid front|mid front unrounded]] vowel {{IPA|[e]}}, somewhat like in the English word ''s'''e'''t''. However, the letter {{lang|ro|e}} is pronounced as {{IPA|[je]}} ([j] sounds like 'y' in 'you') when it is the first letter of any form of the verb {{lang|ro|a fi}} "to be", or of a personal pronoun, for instance {{lang|ro|este}} {{IPA|/jeste/}} "is" and {{lang|ro|el}} {{IPA|/jel/}} "he".<ref>{{in lang|ro}} Several Romanian dictionaries specify the pronunciation [je] for word-initial letter ''e'' in some personal pronouns: [http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv=el ''el'', ''ei'', etc.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226034155/http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv=el |date=26 December 2007 }} and in some forms of the verb ''a fi'' (''to be''): [http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv=fi ''este'', ''eram'', etc.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090727075024/http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv=fi |date=27 July 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{in lang|ro}} Mioara Avram, [https://www.webcitation.org/5kofUFPHx?url=http://www.geocities.com/georgepruteanu/carti/avram-ortog-pdf.zip ''Ortografie pentru toți''], Editura Litera, Chișinău, 1997, p. 29</ref> This addition of the semivowel {{IPA|/j/}} does not occur in more recent loans and their derivatives, such as {{lang|ro|eră}} "era", {{lang|ro|electric}} "electric" etc. Some words (such as {{lang|ro|iepure}} "hare", formerly spelled {{lang|ro|epure}}) are now written with the initial {{lang|ro|i}} to indicate the semivowel.
* {{lang|ro|x}} represents either the phoneme sequence {{IPA|/ks/}} as in {{lang|ro|expresie}} = expression, or {{IPA|/ɡz/}} as in {{lang|ro|exemplu}} = example, as in English.
* As in Italian, the letters {{lang|ro|c}} and {{lang|ro|g}} represent the affricates {{IPA|/tʃ/}} and {{IPA|/dʒ/}} before {{lang|ro|i}} and {{lang|ro|e}}, and {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}} elsewhere. When {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}} are followed by vowels {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/i/}} (or their corresponding [[semivowel]]s or the final {{IPA|/ʲ/}}) the digraphs {{lang|ro|ch}} and {{lang|ro|gh}} are used instead of {{lang|ro|c}} and {{lang|ro|g}}, as shown in the table below. Unlike Italian, however, Romanian uses {{lang|ro|ce-}} and {{lang|ro|ge-}} to write {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}} and {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}} before a central vowel instead of {{lang|it|ci-}} and {{lang|it|gi-}}.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Group
!Phoneme
!Pronunciation
!Examples
|-
|{{lang|ro|ce}}, {{lang|ro|ci}}
||{{IPA|/tʃ/}}
| ''ch'' in '''chest''', '''cheek'''
| {{lang|ro|cerc}} (circle), {{lang|ro|ceașcă}} (cup), {{lang|ro|cercel}} (earring), {{lang|ro|cină}} (dinner), {{lang|ro|ciocan}} (hammer)
|-
|{{lang|ro|che}}, {{lang|ro|chi}}
||{{IPA|/k/}}
| ''k'' in '''kettle''', '''kiss'''
| {{lang|ro|cheie}} (key), {{lang|ro|chelner}} (waiter), {{lang|ro|chioșc}} (kiosk), {{lang|ro|chitară}} (guitar), {{lang|ro|ureche}} (ear)
|-
|{{lang|ro|ge}}, {{lang|ro|gi}}
||{{IPA|/dʒ/}}
| ''j'' in '''jelly''', '''jigsaw'''
| {{lang|ro|ger}} (frost), {{lang|ro|gimnast}} (gymnast), {{lang|ro|gem}} (jam), {{lang|ro|girafă}} (giraffe), {{lang|ro|geantă}} (bag)
|-
|{{lang|ro|ghe}}, {{lang|ro|ghi}}
||{{IPA|/ɡ/}}
| ''g'' in '''get''', '''give'''
| {{lang|ro|ghețar}} (glacier), {{lang|ro|ghid}} (guide), {{lang|ro|ghindă}} (acorn), {{lang|ro|ghidon}} (handle bar), {{lang|ro|stingher}} (lonely)
|}

=== Punctuation and capitalization ===
Uses of punctuation peculiar to Romanian are:
* Quotation marks use one of the [[Quotation mark, non-English usage#Polish|Polish quotation formats]], specifically „quote «inside» quote”, that is, „…” for a normal quotation, and «…» for a quotation inside a quotation.
* Proper quotations which span multiple paragraphs do not start each paragraph with quotation marks; quotation marks are placed only at the beginning and the end of the entire quotation, regardless of how many paragraphs it contains.
* Dialogues use [[Quotation mark, non-English usage#Quotation dash|quotation dashes]].
* The [[serial comma|Oxford comma]] before "and" is considered incorrect ("red, yellow and blue" is the proper format).
* Punctuation signs which follow a text in parentheses always follow the final bracket.
* In titles, only the first letter of the first word is capitalized, the rest of the title using sentence capitalization (with all its rules: proper names are capitalized as usual, etc.).
* Names of months and days are not capitalized ({{lang|ro|ianuarie}} "January", {{lang|ro|joi}} "Thursday").
* Adjectives derived from proper names are not capitalized ({{lang|ro|Germania}} "Germany", but {{lang|ro|german}} "German").

=== Academy spelling recommendations ===
In 1993, new spelling rules were proposed by the [[Romanian Academy]]. In 2000, the Moldovan Academy recommended adopting the same spelling rules,<ref>The new edition of "Dicționarul ortografic al limbii române (ortoepic, morfologic, cu norme de punctuație)" – introduced by the [[Academy of Sciences of Moldova]] and recommended for publishing following a conference on 15 November 2000 – applies the decision of the General Meeting of the [[Romanian Academy]] from 17 February 1993, regarding the reintroduction to "â" and "sunt" in the orthography of the Romanian language. ([[:ro:Imagine:Asm lbro3.jpg|Introduction, Institute of Linguistics of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova]])</ref> and in 2010 the Academy launched a schedule for the transition to the new rules that was intended to be completed by publications in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 June 2010 |title=Gheorghe Duca: Trebuie schimbată atitudinea de sorginte proletară față de savanți și în genere față de intelectuali |url=http://www.allmoldova.md/ro/int/interview/gheorghe-duca-060410.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722170555/http://www.allmoldova.md/ro/int/interview/gheorghe-duca-060410.html |archive-date=22 July 2011 |access-date=3 January 2011 |publisher=Allmoldova |language=ro |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

On 17 October 2016, the Moldovan minister of education signed Order No. 872, adopting the revised spelling rules as recommended by the Moldovan Academy of Sciences, and giving the following two school years as a transition period. Thus the spelling used by institutions under Moldova's ministry of education has been brought in line with the Romanian Academy's 1993 recommendation. This order, however, did not apply to other government institutions, and Law 3462 of 1989 (which provided for the means of transliterating Cyrillic to Latin) has not been amended to reflect the ministry of education's changes either; thus, most Moldovan government institutions, along with most Moldovans, prefer to use the spelling adopted in 1989 (when the use of Latin script became official).

=== Examples of Romanian text ===
: ''All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.''
::''([[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]])''

The sentence in contemporary Romanian. Words inherited directly from Latin are highlighted:
: '''Toate''' '''ființele''' umane '''se''' '''nasc''' libere '''și''' egale '''în''' demnitate '''și''' '''în''' '''drepturi'''. '''Ele''' '''sunt''' '''înzestrate''' '''cu''' rațiune '''și''' conștiință '''și''' trebuie '''să''' '''se''' comporte '''unele''' '''față''' '''de''' '''altele''' '''în''' spiritul fraternității.

The same sentence, with French and Italian [[loanwords]] highlighted instead:
: Toate ființele '''umane''' se nasc '''libere''' și '''egale''' în '''demnitate''' și în drepturi. Ele sunt înzestrate cu '''rațiune''' și '''conștiință''' și trebuie să se '''comporte''' unele față de altele în '''spiritul''' '''fraternității'''.

The sentence rewritten to exclude French and Italian loanwords. Slavic loanwords are highlighted:
: Toate ființele omenești se nasc '''slobode''' și '''deopotrivă''' în '''destoinicie''' și în drepturi. Ele sunt înzestrate cu înțelegere și cuget și '''trebuie''' să se poarte unele față de altele în '''duh''' de frățietate.

The sentence rewritten to exclude all loanwords. The meaning is unchanged:
: '''Toate ființele omenești se nasc nesupuse și asemenea în prețuire și în drepturi. Ele sunt înzestrate cu înțelegere și cuget și se cuvine să se poarte unele față de altele frățește.'''