Caló language
Encyclopedia
Caló is a language spoken by the Spanish and Portuguese
Romani. It is a mixed language
(referred to as a Para-Romani
language in Romani linguistics) based on Romance grammar
, with an adstratum of Romani
lexical items through language shift
by the Romani community. It is often used as an argot
, a secret language for discreet communication amongst Iberian Romani. Portuguese Calão, Catalan Caló, and Spanish Caló are closely related varieties that share a common root.
Spanish Caló, or Spanish Romani, was originally known as Zincaló. Portuguese Calão, or Portuguese Romani, also goes by the term Lusitano-Romani.
or profanity
.
The root kāl- traces back to Sanskrit meaning "black" or "dark".
In modern Romani linguistics, all three are joinly referred to as Iberian Romani (Spanish: iberorromaní or romaní ibérico).
It has the following consonant inventory:
Notable phonological features of Iberian Caló are:
Compare with a Spanish version:
isms and colloquialism
s), often through Flamenco lyrics
and criminal jargon (germanía
).
Examples are ("man/woman", from gadjo/gadji
), ("boy", originally "son", a cognate of English chav
), ("money"), or ("to work"), ("excellent"), ("feet"), ("cold"), ("baby"), ("silly, stupid"), ("outstanding, genuine"), ("god/goddess"), ("demond"), ("to steal"), ("to like"), ("bed"), ("eyes"), ("head"), ("face"), ("nose"), ("mouth"), ("shame"), ("vain"), ("bad, nasty, dodgy"), ("cheeky, soldier"), ("fake"), ("luck"), ("pretence"), ("slender, graceful"), ("old"), ("to sleep"), ("house"), ("house, gambling den"), ("to eat"), ("hit"), ("to give, to die"), ("to die, to snuff it"), ("to get upset"), ("to pay"), ("lame"), ("crazy"), ("to leave", "to make oneself scarce"), ("to break"), ("to denounce sb, to squeal"), ("informer"), ("to pretend to be absent-minded"), pringar ("to get sb mixed up, to overdo"), ("to fuck, to bother"), ("little"), ("to flee"), ("drink, to drink"), ("to steal"), ("to shit"), ("no way, there isn't"), ("thief"), ("to get intimidated"), ("to nick"), ("to nick"), ("shut your mouth"), ("fear"), (pej.
"homosexual"), ("gypsy"), ("gypsy"), ("language of the Iberian Kale"), ("money"), ("non-romani person"), ("myself"), ("pleb") and ("heart").
Some words underwent a shift in meaning in the process: camelar (etymologically
related to Sanskrit
kāma
, "love, desire") in colloquial Spanish has the meaning of "to woo, to seduce, to deceive by adulation" (but also "to love", "to want"; although this sense has fallen into desuse), however in Caló it more closely matches the Spanish meanings of querer ("to want" and "to love"). In addition camelar and the noun camelo can also mean either "lie" or "con".
Caló also appears to have influenced Quinqui
, the language of another Iberian group of travellers who are not ethnically Romani.
isms and colloquialism
s.
Examples are halar (həˈɫa or xəˈɫa; "to eat"), xaval ("boy"), dinyar(-la) ("to die"), palmar(-la) ("to die"), cangueli ("fear"), paio ("non-Romani person"), calé ("money"), caló ("language of the Iberian Kale"), cangrí ("prison"), pispar ("to nick"), birlar ("to nick"), xorar ("to steal"), mangar ("to steal"), molar ("to like"), pringar ("to get sb mixed up, to overdo"), pirar(-se) ("to leave, to make oneself scarce") sobar ("to sleep"), privar ("drink, to drink"), xusma ("pleb"), laxe ("shame"), catipén ("stink"), xaxi ("outstanding, genuine"), xivar-se ("to denounce sb, to squeal"), xivato ("informer"), xinar(-se) ("to get upset"), fer el llonguis ("to pretend to be absent-minded") and potra ("luck").
, not even the linguistics community recognized the significance and problems of Caló and its world." Its world includes songs, poetry, and flamenco.
As Iberian Romani proper is extinct and as Caló is endangered, some people are trying to revitalise the language. The Spanish politician Juan de Dios Ramírez-Heredia promotes Romanò-Kalò, a variant of International Romani
, enriched by Caló words. His goal is to unify the Caló and Romani roots.
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
Romani. It is a mixed language
Mixed language
A mixed language is a language that arises through the fusion of two source languages, normally in situations of thorough bilingualism, so that it is not possible to classify the resulting language as belonging to either of the language families that were its source...
(referred to as a Para-Romani
Para-Romani
Para-Romani is a term used in Romani linguistics to refer non-Romani languages adopted by Romani communities but with considerable admixture from Romani. Some Para-Romani have no structural features at all, taking only the vocabulary from Romani. The technical term in linguistics for such a...
language in Romani linguistics) based on Romance grammar
Iberian Romance languages
The Iberian Romance languages or Ibero-Romance languages are the Romance languages that developed on the Iberian Peninsula, an area consisting primarily of Spain, Portugal, and Andorra....
, with an adstratum of Romani
Romani language
Romani or Romany, Gypsy or Gipsy is any of several languages of the Romani people. They are Indic, sometimes classified in the "Central" or "Northwestern" zone, and sometimes treated as a branch of their own....
lexical items through language shift
Language shift
Language shift, sometimes referred to as language transfer or language replacement or assimilation, is the progressive process whereby a speech community of a language shifts to speaking another language. The rate of assimilation is the percentage of individuals with a given mother tongue who speak...
by the Romani community. It is often used as an argot
Argot
An Argot is a secret language used by various groups—including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals—to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, hobby, job,...
, a secret language for discreet communication amongst Iberian Romani. Portuguese Calão, Catalan Caló, and Spanish Caló are closely related varieties that share a common root.
Spanish Caló, or Spanish Romani, was originally known as Zincaló. Portuguese Calão, or Portuguese Romani, also goes by the term Lusitano-Romani.
Meaning
The Spanish and Catalan term caló means "the language spoken by the Iberian Romani", while calé (kale) refers to the Romani people in Iberia. On the other hand, the Portuguese term calão (from Spanish caló) also means slangSlang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
or profanity
Portuguese profanity
Portuguese profanity is an assortment of words and phrases considered vulgar, blasphemous, inflammatory or offensive in the Portuguese language.-Overview:...
.
The root kāl- traces back to Sanskrit meaning "black" or "dark".
Nomeclature and dialect divisions
Three main groupings of dialects are distinguished in what is technically Iberian Caló but most commonly referred to simply as (Spanish) Caló or Spanish Romani:- Spanish Caló
- Catalan Caló
- Portuguese Calão
In modern Romani linguistics, all three are joinly referred to as Iberian Romani (Spanish: iberorromaní or romaní ibérico).
Phonology
Caló has six vowels:| Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... |
Central Central vowel A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel... |
Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the... |
i | u | |
| Mid Mid vowel A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel... |
e | ə | o |
| Open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue... |
a |
It has the following consonant inventory:
| Bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... |
Labiodental Labiodental consonant In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth.-Labiodental consonant in IPA:The labiodental consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... |
Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
Postalveolar Postalveolar consonant Postalveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard palate... |
Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider... |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p b | t d | k ɡ | ||||
| Affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :... |
t͡s d͡z | t͡ʃ d͡ʒ | |||||
| Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
f | s | ʃ | x | h | ||
| Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | n | |||||
| Approximant | l | j | |||||
| Tap Flap consonant In phonetics, a flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound, which is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator is thrown against another.-Contrast with stops and trills:... |
ɾ | ||||||
| Trill Trill consonant In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. Standard Spanish <rr> as in perro is an alveolar trill, while in Parisian French it is almost always uvular.... |
r |
Notable phonological features of Iberian Caló are:
- the loss of the distinction between aspirated /pʰ tʰ kʰ tʃʰ/, unaspirated /p t k tʃ/ and voiced /b d g dʒ/ in Iberian Caló.
- the merger of /b/ and /v/.
- affrication of /t d/ to /tʃ/ before the front vowelFront vowelA front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also...
s /i/ and /e/.
Sample
Spanish Romani:- Y sasta se hubiese catanado sueti baribustri, baribustri, y abillasen solictos á ó de los fores, os penó por parabola: Manu chaló abri á chibar desqueri simiente: y al chibarle, yeque aricata peró sunparal al drun, y sinaba hollada, y la jamáron as patrias e Charos. Y aver peró opré bar: y pur se ardiñó, se secó presas na terelaba humedad. Y aver peró andré jarres, y as jarres, sos ardiñáron sat siró, la mulabáron. Y aver peró andré pu lachi: y ardiñó, y diñó mibao á ciento por yeque. Penado ocono, se chibó á penar á goles: Coin terela canes de junelar, junele.
- Parable of the SowerParable of the SowerThe Parable of the Sower is one of the parables of Jesus found in three out of the four Canonical gospels and in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas In this story, a sower dropped seed on the path, on rocky ground, and among thorns, and the seed was lost; but when seed fell on good earth, it...
, LukeGospel of LukeThe Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...
, 8, 4-8, as published by George BorrowGeorge BorrowGeorge Henry Borrow was an English author who wrote novels and travelogues based on his own experiences around Europe. Over the course of his wanderings, he developed a close affinity with the Romani people of Europe. They figure prominently in his work...
in 1838
Compare with a Spanish version:
- Cuando una gran multitud se reunió y personas de cada ciudad fueron donde Jesús, Él les habló con una parábola. «Un campesino salió a sembrar su semilla. Al sembrar algunas cayeron en la carretera; fueron pisoteadas y se las comieron los pájaros del cielo. Otras semillas cayeron encima de la roca, tan pronto como crecieron se secaron porque no tenían humedad. Otras cayeron entre los espinos, y los espinos crecieron con éstas y las sofocaron. Otras cayeron en tierra buena; crecieron y dieron fruto, cien veces más.» Después de decir estas cosas gritó, «¡Aquel que tiene oídos para escuchar, que escuche!»
Spanish
Many Caló terms have been borrowed in Spanish (especially as slangSlang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
isms and colloquialism
Colloquialism
A colloquialism is a word or phrase that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation rather than in formal speech, academic writing, or paralinguistics. Dictionaries often display colloquial words and phrases with the abbreviation colloq. as an identifier...
s), often through Flamenco lyrics
Flamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
and criminal jargon (germanía
Germanía
Germanía is the Spanish term for the argot used by criminals or in jails in Spain during 15th and 16th centuries. Its purpose is to keep outsiders out of the conversation...
).
Examples are ("man/woman", from gadjo/gadji
Gadji
Gadjo is a term of Romani philosophy that means a person who has no Romanipen. Usually, that's a person who is not an ethnic Romani, but also it can be an ethnic Romani who does not live within the Romani culture....
), ("boy", originally "son", a cognate of English chav
Chav
A chav is a term that is used in the United Kingdom to describe a stereotype of teenagers and young adults from an underclass background.-Etymology:...
), ("money"), or ("to work"), ("excellent"), ("feet"), ("cold"), ("baby"), ("silly, stupid"), ("outstanding, genuine"), ("god/goddess"), ("demond"), ("to steal"), ("to like"), ("bed"), ("eyes"), ("head"), ("face"), ("nose"), ("mouth"), ("shame"), ("vain"), ("bad, nasty, dodgy"), ("cheeky, soldier"), ("fake"), ("luck"), ("pretence"), ("slender, graceful"), ("old"), ("to sleep"), ("house"), ("house, gambling den"), ("to eat"), ("hit"), ("to give, to die"), ("to die, to snuff it"), ("to get upset"), ("to pay"), ("lame"), ("crazy"), ("to leave", "to make oneself scarce"), ("to break"), ("to denounce sb, to squeal"), ("informer"), ("to pretend to be absent-minded"), pringar ("to get sb mixed up, to overdo"), ("to fuck, to bother"), ("little"), ("to flee"), ("drink, to drink"), ("to steal"), ("to shit"), ("no way, there isn't"), ("thief"), ("to get intimidated"), ("to nick"), ("to nick"), ("shut your mouth"), ("fear"), (pej.
Pejorative
Pejoratives , including name slurs, are words or grammatical forms that connote negativity and express contempt or distaste. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social groups but not in others, e.g., hacker is a term used for computer criminals as well as quick and clever computer experts...
"homosexual"), ("gypsy"), ("gypsy"), ("language of the Iberian Kale"), ("money"), ("non-romani person"), ("myself"), ("pleb") and ("heart").
Some words underwent a shift in meaning in the process: camelar (etymologically
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
related to Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
kāma
Kama
Kāma is often translated from Sanskrit as sexual desire, sexual pleasure, sensual gratification, sexual fulfillment, or eros54654564+more broadly mean desire, wish, passion, longing, pleasure of the senses, the aesthetic enjoyment of life, affection, or love, without sexual connotations.-Kama in...
, "love, desire") in colloquial Spanish has the meaning of "to woo, to seduce, to deceive by adulation" (but also "to love", "to want"; although this sense has fallen into desuse), however in Caló it more closely matches the Spanish meanings of querer ("to want" and "to love"). In addition camelar and the noun camelo can also mean either "lie" or "con".
Caló also appears to have influenced Quinqui
Quinqui
Quinqui jargon is associated with quinquilleros , a reduced and possibly vanishing semi-nomadic group who live mainly in the northern half of Spain. They prefer to be called mercheros....
, the language of another Iberian group of travellers who are not ethnically Romani.
Catalan
To a lesser extent than Spanish, Caló terms have also been adapted in Catalan as slangSlang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
isms and colloquialism
Colloquialism
A colloquialism is a word or phrase that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation rather than in formal speech, academic writing, or paralinguistics. Dictionaries often display colloquial words and phrases with the abbreviation colloq. as an identifier...
s.
Examples are halar (həˈɫa or xəˈɫa; "to eat"), xaval ("boy"), dinyar(-la) ("to die"), palmar(-la) ("to die"), cangueli ("fear"), paio ("non-Romani person"), calé ("money"), caló ("language of the Iberian Kale"), cangrí ("prison"), pispar ("to nick"), birlar ("to nick"), xorar ("to steal"), mangar ("to steal"), molar ("to like"), pringar ("to get sb mixed up, to overdo"), pirar(-se) ("to leave, to make oneself scarce") sobar ("to sleep"), privar ("drink, to drink"), xusma ("pleb"), laxe ("shame"), catipén ("stink"), xaxi ("outstanding, genuine"), xivar-se ("to denounce sb, to squeal"), xivato ("informer"), xinar(-se) ("to get upset"), fer el llonguis ("to pretend to be absent-minded") and potra ("luck").
Language maintenance
There is a growing awareness and appreciation for Caló: "...until the recent work by Luisa Rojo, in the Autonomous University of MadridAutonomous University of Madrid
The Autonomous University of Madrid is one of the top university of Spain and commonly known by its Spanish initials UAM or as "la Autónoma"...
, not even the linguistics community recognized the significance and problems of Caló and its world." Its world includes songs, poetry, and flamenco.
As Iberian Romani proper is extinct and as Caló is endangered, some people are trying to revitalise the language. The Spanish politician Juan de Dios Ramírez-Heredia promotes Romanò-Kalò, a variant of International Romani
Romani language standardization
There are independent groups currently working toward standardizing the Romani language, including groups in Romania, Serbia, the USA, and Sweden.-Where it is being pursued:A standardized form of Romani is used in Serbia...
, enriched by Caló words. His goal is to unify the Caló and Romani roots.
See also
- AngloromaniAngloromani languageAngloromani or Anglo-Romani is a language combining aspects of English and Romani, which is a language spoken by the Romani people; a ethnic group who trace their origins to the Indian subcontinent. Angloromani is spoken in the UK, Australia, the US and South Africa.The language combines a mix of...
- ErromintxelaErromintxelaErromintxela is the distinctive language of a group of Roma living in the Basque Country, who also go by the name Erromintxela. It is sometimes called Basque Caló or Errumantxela in English; caló vasco, romaní vasco, or errominchela in Spanish; and euskado-rromani or euskado-romani in French...
(Basque Romani) - GermaníaGermaníaGermanía is the Spanish term for the argot used by criminals or in jails in Spain during 15th and 16th centuries. Its purpose is to keep outsiders out of the conversation...
, a Spanish criminal jargon
External links
- The Romany language in Spain
- List of Spanish words from Caló in the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española.