Non-dominant varieties of Romanian in Serbia: between pluricentricity and division

Abstract

This paper addresses the pluricentricity of Romanian, focusing on the two non-dominant varieties spoken in Serbia, Vojvodina Romanian and Vlach Romanian. We will discuss the development and current situation of the two varieties and will examine the differences between them regarding their historical and sociolinguistic context, official status in Serbia, self-identification of the speakers and identification of the outgroup, attitudes towards and linguistic distance from Romania Romanian. We will also discuss the differences in what concerns norm creation and codification: while Vojvodina Romanian is characterized by a low degree of autonomy towards the dominant variety and a general exonormative attitude, Vlach Romanian has started to codify its own proper norms and is undergoing a process of endonormative standardization.