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(The Wedding of The Dead) Notes On The Maramures Dialect

This document provides notes on transcribing and representing the Maramureș dialect spoken in Romania. It acknowledges the challenge of capturing the dialect's phonetic details while maintaining readability. The summary settles on a compromise transcription that retains basic dialect features while simplifying representation. It then outlines several key points about pronunciation in the dialect, such as dropping final syllables, palatalization of consonants before vowels, and consistent phonetic correspondences between the dialect and standard Romanian.

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Strannik Ruski
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90 views2 pages

(The Wedding of The Dead) Notes On The Maramures Dialect

This document provides notes on transcribing and representing the Maramureș dialect spoken in Romania. It acknowledges the challenge of capturing the dialect's phonetic details while maintaining readability. The summary settles on a compromise transcription that retains basic dialect features while simplifying representation. It then outlines several key points about pronunciation in the dialect, such as dropping final syllables, palatalization of consonants before vowels, and consistent phonetic correspondences between the dialect and standard Romanian.

Uploaded by

Strannik Ruski
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Notes on the Maramure§ Dialect

An exact phonetic transcription of the spoken dialect would be


overladen with diacritic marks that, for typographical reasons,
have had to be omitted. Translation of the dialect into literary Ro-
manian, however, would result in a significant distortion of the
"texts," altering the rhymes, rhythms, nuances, and oral composi-
tional subtleties. For the sake of clarity for the general reader, as
well as representativeness of the oral tradition, I have chosen a
mode of transcription that may be considered an adequate com-
promise: it retains basic features of the spoken dialect while sim-
plifying the representational form. To this end, I wish to thank
Dr. Prof. Mihai Pop, Magdalena Vulpe, and Ioan£ and Mihai D&n-
cu§ for their generous assistance, as well as acknowledging Iuliana
Balea of Ieud and Professor Ronelle Alexander of Berkeley for their
contributions.
There is considerable variation from one village to another;
hence, the transcription adheres to the grai, or speech, of Ieud.
Pronunciation also differs within the village; this difference tends
to be accentuated between the generations. The following points
should be noted in reading the texts:
l. In Maramure§, there is a tendency to eliminate the final syllable
of verb forms, of vocative forms of proper names (e.g., §tefan =
§te), of the preposition fara (without), which becomes far. As is
general in spoken Romanian, the consonants / and n in final posi-
tion are frequently dropped: drumul = drumu; nimen = nime.

xi
xii Notes on the Maramure§ Dialect

2. All pronouns have been written with i preceding e because of


the colloquial pronunciation; this is not specific to Maramure§
but is a general phenomenon: el = iel.
3. In Maramure§, the phonetic distinction between the reflexive
particle se and the future particle sa has been lost. As a rule, se
is pronounced as sa. Similarly, the preposition pe is pronounced
as pa; depe = di pa; dece = diptce. Also, a§a is pronounced as
a§a or a§e, depending on the rhyme.
4. The consonants m, n, /, t are palatalized in position before i or
e: n'e as in bine; in the case of m + i = mn'i, for example,
mire = mnire. Also, t and d followed by e or i are pronounced
as soft sounds.
5. The final i of the plural forms of names and of second person
verb forms is not pronounced after s, z, §, J.
6. §» becomes §i except when followed by i, for example, jt m-am
dus, §i ieu.
7. The following correspondences are relatively constant:
Standard Romanian Dialect Examples
V z vin = zin
f s fin = sin
ch/e t chemat — temat
ghie d gheafa = deaja
j/o,u gi joc = gioc
p/i pti picior = pticior
b/i bdi bietu = bdietu
8. Regarding pronunciation of vowels:
All accented es are more open than the normal Romanian e,
as is the accented diphthong ea in final position, for example,
mea = me.
The diphthong oa is pronounced as an open o, for example,
doarme = dorme.

For further detail on the Maramure§ dialect, see Vulpe 1984.

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