Romanian dialects/varieties are not as varied as in many other
Romance languagesThe Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
.
RomaniansThe Romanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian ; they are the majority inhabitants of România.In one prominent interpretation of the census results in Moldova, Moldovans are counted as Romanians, which would...
themselves refer to them as
accents or
graiuri (
speeches/
varieties) rather than dialects. The differences between the varieties of Daco-Romanian are small and mainly in vocabulary and in phonology, as the grammar is almost identical all over the area inhabited by
RomaniansThe Romanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian ; they are the majority inhabitants of România.In one prominent interpretation of the census results in Moldova, Moldovans are counted as Romanians, which would...
. This makes the
Romanian languageRomanian or Daco-Romanian is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova. It has official status in Romania, Republic of Moldova, and the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in Serbia...
mutually intelligible over the entire territory inhabited by
RomaniansThe Romanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian ; they are the majority inhabitants of România.In one prominent interpretation of the census results in Moldova, Moldovans are counted as Romanians, which would...
, including
MoldovaMoldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south....
.
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Romanian dialects/varieties are not as varied as in many other
Romance languagesThe Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
.
RomaniansThe Romanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian ; they are the majority inhabitants of România.In one prominent interpretation of the census results in Moldova, Moldovans are counted as Romanians, which would...
themselves refer to them as
accents or
graiuri (
speeches/
varieties) rather than dialects. The differences between the varieties of Daco-Romanian are small and mainly in vocabulary and in phonology, as the grammar is almost identical all over the area inhabited by
RomaniansThe Romanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian ; they are the majority inhabitants of România.In one prominent interpretation of the census results in Moldova, Moldovans are counted as Romanians, which would...
. This makes the
Romanian languageRomanian or Daco-Romanian is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova. It has official status in Romania, Republic of Moldova, and the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in Serbia...
mutually intelligible over the entire territory inhabited by
RomaniansThe Romanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian ; they are the majority inhabitants of România.In one prominent interpretation of the census results in Moldova, Moldovans are counted as Romanians, which would...
, including
MoldovaMoldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south....
.
Romanian is divided into several "graiuri" ('speeches'), delimited in approximately the following regions:
- the northern varieties - Moldavia, Banat and most of Transylvania:
- Banat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in Romania , the western part in Serbia , and a...
(bănăţeană) --- also spoken in northeastern parts of Central Serbia
- Maramureş
Maramureş may refer to the following:*Maramureş, a geographical, historical, and ethno-cultural region in present-day Romania and Ukraine, that occupies the Maramureş Depression and Maramureş Mountains, a mountain range in North East Carpathians...
(maramureşeană)
- Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
(moldoveneşte) -- also spoken in the northern part of DobrujaDobruja, or Dobrudja , is a historical region shared by Bulgaria and Romania, located between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, including the Danube Delta, Romanian coast and the northernmost part of the Bulgarian coast....
by settlers from MoldaviaMoldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
(including refugees from BessarabiaBessarabia is a historical term for the geographic entity in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west...
)
- Ardeal (Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term frequently encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
) (ardeleneşte)
- the southern varieties - in Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
, the southern Transylvania (Făgăraş and Braşov areas), and the southern part of DobrujaDobruja, or Dobrudja , is a historical region shared by Bulgaria and Romania, located between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, including the Danube Delta, Romanian coast and the northernmost part of the Bulgarian coast....
:
- Muntenia
Muntenia is a historical province of Romania, usually considered Wallachia-proper . It is situated between the Danube , the Carpathian Mountains and Moldavia , and the Olt River to the west...
(munteneşte) -- spoken in the central and eastern parts of Wallachia, including BucharestBucharest is the capital city, industrial and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River....
, and the southern part of DobrujaDobruja, or Dobrudja , is a historical region shared by Bulgaria and Romania, located between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, including the Danube Delta, Romanian coast and the northernmost part of the Bulgarian coast....
; this has become the basis of the standard language.
- Oltenia
Oltenia is a historical province and geographical region of Romania, in western Wallachia...
(olteneşte) -- western part of Wallachia, also spoken in northeastern parts of Central Serbia and northern Bulgaria