Caló (; ; ; ; ; ) is a mixed language spoken by the gitanos of Spain and the ciganos of Portugal. In Romani linguistics, it is considered a Para-Romani language based on Romance grammar, with an adstratum of Romani lexical items, through language shift by the Romani community. Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, and Spanish are closely related varieties that share a common root.Adiego, I. Un vocabulario español-gitano del Marqués de Sentmenat (1697–1762) Ediciones Universitat de Barcelona (2002)

Spanish caló, or Spanish Romani, was originally known as . Portuguese , or Portuguese Romani, also goes by the term ; it used to be referred to as , but this word has since acquired the general sense of jargon or slang, often with a negative undertone (cf. , 'obscene language', lit. low-level ).

The language is also spoken in Brazil, France, Venezuela, Portugal and Colombia.Caló language and alphabet - Omniglot

Some Caló expressions have been borrowed into modern Spanish jerga (slang), such as camelar (to seduce), currar (to work) and dar lache (to cringe in shame or embarrassment).Spanish slang dictionary The conversation (in Spanish):Camelar, currar y dar lache: las palabras del caló en el español

Etymology is the endonym of the Romani people in Iberia, and means 'the language spoken by the '. However, the are commonly known in Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking countries by the exonyms and .

In and other varieties of Romani, means 'black' or 'absorbing all light',Glosbe 2013, Dictionary/Romany-English Dictionary/kalo (23 September 2016). hence closely resembling words for 'black' and/or 'dark' in Indo-Aryan languages (e.g. Sanskrit 'black', 'of a dark colour'). Hence and may have originated as ancient exonyms.

Linguistic features

Phonology Caló has six vowels: Front Central Back Close Mid Open

It has the following consonant inventory: LabialAlveolarPostalveolarPalatalVelarGlottalNasal Plosive ⠀ ⠀ ⠀Affricate ⠀ ⠀Fricative Approximant Tap Trill

Notable phonological features of Iberian Caló are: the loss of the distinction between aspirated , unaspirated and voiced . the merger of and – betacism. affrication of to before the front vowels and cf. Brazilian Portuguese , > , .

Samples Spanish Romani:

Parable of the Sower, Luke, 8, 4–8, as published by George Borrow in 1838Biblia en acción, JORGE BORROW: Un inglés al encuentro de lo Español. Compare with a Spanish version: Traducción de dominio público abierta a mejoras derived from the World English Bible.

The Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer has often been used as a parallel text:

Spanish Caló:

Luke, 11, 2-4, Embéo e Majaró Lucas, translated by George Borrow, 1837.

Lovara Balkans Romani:

Luke, 11, 2-4, Romani (Gypsy) New Testament: E Lashi Viasta . Ruth Modrow, 1984.

Spanish:

Luke, 11, 2-4, Spanish Bible : Reina-Valera 1569, revised 1960.

Loans

Spanish Many Caló terms have been borrowed in Spanish (especially as slangisms and colloquialisms), often through flamenco lyrics and criminal jargon ().

Examples are ("man/woman", from gadjo/gadji), ("boy", originally "son", also present in English as chav, vol. II, p. 39. Joan Corominas, Francke Verlag, Bern, 1954. .), ("money"), or ("to work"), ("excellent"), ("feet"), ("cold"), ("boy"), ("silly, stupid"), ("outstanding, genuine"), or ("god/goddess"), ("demon"), or in Spain ("to steal", also present in English slang as to chaw), ("to be appealing to someone"), ("bed"), ("eyes"), ("head"), ("face"), ("nose"), ("mouth"), ("shame"), ("vain"), ("bad, nasty, dodgy"), ("cheeky, soldier"), ("fake"), ("pretence, white lie"), ("slender, graceful"), or ("old"), ("to sleep"), or ("house"), ("house, gambling den"), ("to eat with great apetite"), ("hit"), ("to defecate, to fear"), ("to give, to die"), ("to die"), ("to get upset"), ("lame"), or ("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 have sexual relations, to bother"), ("little"), ("to flee"), ("drink, to drink"), ("to steal"), ("no way, there isn't"), ("thief"), ("to intimidate"), ("to nick"), ("to nick"), ("shut your mouth"), or ("fear"), ("Romani person"), ("Romani person"), ("language of the Iberian Kale"), ("money"), ("drunkenness"), ("myself"), and ("heart"), payo ("non-Romani person, fool, easy to cheat").Aportacions gitanes al castellà .

Some words underwent a shift in meaning in the process: (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 disuse),camelar in the Diccionario de la Real Academia, but in Caló it more closely matches the Spanish meanings of ("to want" and "to love"). In addition and the noun can also mean either "lie" or "con".

Caló also appears to have influenced Madrid slang and quinqui, the language of another Iberian group of travellers who are not ethnically Romani. , a cant spoken by makers of agricultural equipment in a village of Segovia, also derives some words from Caló.

Catalan To a lesser extent than in Spanish, Caló terms have also been adapted into Catalan as slangisms and colloquialisms, most of which were taken adopted from Spanish slang.

Examples are ( or ; "to eat"), ("boy"), ("to die"), ("to die"), ("fear"), ("non-Romani person"), ("money"), ("language of the Iberian Kale"), ("prison"), ("to nick"), ("to nick"), ("to steal"), ("to steal"), ("to like"), ("to get sb mixed up, to overdo"), ("to leave, to make oneself scarce"), ("to sleep"), ("drink, to drink"), ("pleb"), ("shame"), ("stink"), ("outstanding, genuine"), ("to denounce sb, to squeal"), ("informer"), ("to get upset"), (lit. "Do a long one" fig. "to pretend to be thick/slow") and ("luck").Aportacions gitanes al català El català dels gitanos . Caçadors de Paraules (TV3, edu3.cat).

Portuguese There are a small number of words of Caló (Calão) origin and many of those are indirect loans, borrowed via Spanish.

The examples generally understood by most or all speakers of Portuguese include (, "man, dude", primarily in Portugal), ("lad, young boy"), chunga ("bad, nasty, dodgy"), chibar-se ("to denounce sb, to squeal"), chibo ("informer"), (, , generally "impact", but in this sense "sudden happiness"), (, , "drunkenness"), ("bad smell of feet"), ("to leave"), and ("crazy").Suplemento do léxico cigano. Mundo Cigano.

Language maintenance

There is a growing awareness and appreciation for Caló: "...until the recent work by Luisa Rojo, in the Autonomous University of Madrid, not even the linguistics community recognized the significance and problems of Caló and its world."The Responsibility of Linguist and the Basque Case 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."Unión Romaní imparte el primer curso de romanò-kalò" , Union Romani, 29 December 2006 His goal is to reunify the Caló and Romani roots.

Literature In 1838, the first edition of Embéo E Majaró LucasEmbéo e Majaró Lucas by George Borrow at Project Gutenberg. translated by George Borrow was published and began to be distributed in Madrid. This was Borrow's translation of the Gospel of Luke into Caló.Embéo E Majaró Lucas - further details are given in the page on the website of the George Borrow Society. A revision of this was printed in 1872.

See also Angloromani Erromintxela Germanía Gitanos The Zincali: An Account of the Gypsies of Spain

References

External links

The Romany language in Spain Romanò-Kalò (As promoted by Juan de Dios Ramírez Heredia) List of Spanish words from Caló in the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española.