Istro-Romanian alphabet

The Istro-Romanian language was first attested in 1698 in a document written by the Italian monk Ireneo della Croce. He gives 13 single nouns, 8 nouns with determiners and 2 sentences with their Italian translation. The monk used typical Italian letters, belonging to the Italian alphabet.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z7dTAAAAcAAJ|title=Historia antica, e moderna: Sacra, e profana, della citta di Trieste|first=Ireneo|last=della Croce|author-link=Ireneo della Croce|editor=Albrizzi|year=1698|location=Venice|language=it|pages=247–335}} Before this, toponyms and person names of probable Istro-Romanian origin had already been registered in previous documents.{{cite book|url=https://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-2JXMKEIW/5bb25aee-a602-4fb3-8c1a-cc5450919bf9/PDF|title=Gradivo za zgodovino Slovencev v srednjem veku|first=Franc|last=Kos|volume=4|publisher=Leonova družba|year=1915|location=Ljubljana|pages=6–764|language=sl}} The first book entirely in Istro-Romanian, Calindaru lu rumeri din Istrie (Calendar of the Romanians of Istria), would be published centuries later in 1905 by the Istro-Romanian writer and politician Andrei Glavina and the Romanian historian Constantin Diculescu.{{cite news|url=https://istrianet.org/istria/illustri/glavina/1999_0123arena.htm|title=L'opera di Glavina per conservare la radice di una lingua; minoranza neolatina: chi sono gli Istro-romeni|first=Antonio|last=Fares|newspaper=L'Arena di Pola|date=23 January 1999|language=it}}

The first attempt to standardize the language was made by the Romanian linguist and philologist Sextil Pușcariu in his work Studii Istroromâne (Istro-Romanian studies). He mixed elements of the Romanian orthography with others of the Croatian one, giving rise to a mixed alphabet.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sYz_SAAACAAJ|title=Studii istroromâne II. Introducere, gramatică, caracterizarea dialectului istroromân, de Sextil Pusc̨ariu|first=Sextil|last=Pușcariu|volume=2|publisher=Cultura natională|location=Bucharest|year=1926|page=370|language=ro}} In 1998, the Croatian linguist August Kovačec would publish an Istro-Romanian-Croatian dictionary in which he would update Pușcariu's hybrid version.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kNHIAAAACAAJ|title=Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik s gramatikom i tekstovima|first=August|last=Kovačec|publisher=Znanstvena udruga Mediteran|location=Pula|page=378|language=hr|isbn=9789539698612|year=1998}}

There is also a version based on standard Romanian, created in 1928 by the Romanian journalist and professor Alexandru Leca Morariu. He introduced this system in Lu frati noștri: libru lu rumeri din Istrie (To our brothers: book of the Romanians of Istria), the second book written in Istro-Romanian.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbWcPgAACAAJ|title=Lu frati noștri: libru lu rumeri din Istrie|first=Alexandru Leca|last=Morariu|author-link=Alexandru Leca Morariu|publisher=Făt-Frumos|year=1928|location=Suceava|page=128|version=(in Istro-Romanian)}} This system was accepted by several other Romanian researchers, such as Traian Cantemir.{{cite thesis|url=http://dspace.unive.it/bitstream/handle/10579/1166/zegrean.pdf?sequence=1|title=Balkan Romance: Aspects on the Syntax of Istro-Romanian|first=Iulia G.|last=Zegrean|publisher=Ca' Foscari University|location=Venice|type=PhD|year=2012|page=196|citeseerx=10.1.1.917.1609}}

In 2009, the Croatian linguist and professor Zvjezdana Vrzić created a new alphabet, this time entirely based on the Croatian orthography. According to her, this alphabet represents all the phonemes found in the Istro-Romanian language and is easy to learn for them since they are already literate in Croatian. Vrzić has already implemented this system on her website "Preservation of the Vlaški and Žejanski Language".

Therefore, it is generally agreed that there are three spelling systems for the language, all of them with slight changes depending on the author. None of them has been officially adopted, making the Istro-Romanian still pending standardization.

Based on Morariu's 1928 version. It also includes the digraphs gh and ch.

Based on Kovačec's 1998 version.

Based on Vrzić's 2009 version. It also includes the digraphs dz, lj and nj.

• Aromanian alphabet
• Megleno-Romanian alphabet
• Romanian alphabet

{{reflist|2}}

• [http://istro-romanian.com/linguistics/alphabet.htm Alphabet and basic grammar of the Istro-Romanian language] istro-romanian.com
• [http://vlaski-zejanski.com/en/jezicne-lekcije/learn-language-lessons-pronunciation-2 Pronunciation]. Preservation of the Vlaški and Žejanski Language.

{{Language orthographies}}

Category:Latin alphabets

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