On August 31, 2014, Moldova celebrated the Romanian Language Day the 25th time. On the occasion of this event, the speeches and mass media articles and features centered on the positive and negative aspects related to the status and state of our language. This time again, the tone was pessimistic. Experts in the field and persons who do not have philological education, but wanted their opinions to become known, referred to the controversy over the name of the language (1), the area of functioning of the official language (2), the fact that the language of the majority population didn’t become language of communication in society (3), the low interest of the monolinguals in studying the Romanian language (4) and the command of the Romanian language by native speakers of Romanian (5).
1. As regards the name of the language, in all these years the problem was pushed towards the political sphere. That’s why a solution acceptable to the whole Moldovan society, which is divided owing to the given controversy, seems impossible for now.
a) But there are optimistic aspects both for those who plead for the scientific name (Romanian) and for those who want it to be “Moldovan”.
Primo. The Declaration of Independence contains the scientific name (Romanian). Furthermore, the scientific name no longer represents a taboo after the Constitutional Court of Moldova, on December 5, 2013, passed a decision stipulating that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution form a total and, if divergences between the texts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution appear, the text of the Declaration of Independence prevails. The decision is definitive and cannot be challenged.
Secundo. The Constitution contains the name “Moldovan” and this fact does justice to those who do not want the official language to be called Romanian.
The recent history furnishes information that deserves to be taken into account. The Communists, who came to power in 2001, having a constitutional majority during the first mandate, didn’t dare to replace the Romanian Language and Literature subject in education institutions. Let’s imagine what would have happened if the scientific name of our language, or Moldovan and (Romanian) in brackets as they proposed then, was included in the Constitution in 1994. Weren’t the Communists able to amend Article 13 of the Constitution at a time when they had a constitutional majority?
Our opinion is that in the conditions existing in Moldova, the Constitution should not contain the name of the language as the fundamental law is not a scientific treaty.
Moreover, in this period politicians, opinion leaders and ordinary people interpreted differently Article 13.
Those who are for the scientific name of our language said that according to the Constitution, the language spoken by the majority of the population should function in Moldova, not Russian, as in the Soviet period.
b) Those who are for the other name of the language consider that Article 13 of the Constitution allows banning the use of the scientific name: Moldovan, not Romanian.
Isn’t this an absurdity which we should get rid of in the 21st century?
2) As to the functionality of the official language, we must admit that progress has been made in these 25 years, even if there is place for better. The competent state institutions should yet work out a broad program that would effectively contribute to the extension of the area of functioning of the official language in society, if they are interested in this.
3) The language of the majority population will become language of communication in society when the speakers of this language work hard in this direction, do not unjustifiably switch to another language, and stop complaining that the speakers of other languages do not want to communicate in their language.
4) As a specialist in the field, I cannot accept the opinion that the speakers of other languages do not have interest in studying the Romanian language, though I accept the fact that there are persons who want to remain monolinguals. But they represent a tiny minority. During my activity, I knew persons who made considerable progress in learning the Romanian language. Many of ours cannot obtain such results.
5) We, the Romanian speakers, indeed speak inaccurately sometimes. We must admit that some of the made mistakes are due to the fact that we do not know the standard language or express no interest in learning the correct form. The controversial aspects existing in the Romanian language also cause certain inconvenience.
Alexei Axan, philologist, teacher at the Romanian Language House
IPN note: Based on the aspects enumerated here, IPN has launched a language cultivation column whose beneficiaries will be students and grownups who want to know an exemplary language.
