Linguistic Dispute
The 1994 Constitution calls the official language Moldovan, while the 1991 Declaration of Independence refers to it as Romanian." The national school curriculum for 2012-13 lists the subjects "limba și literatura română" (Romanian language and literature) and "Istoria românilor și universală" (literally History of Romanians and universal (history)). Romanian language was the name of the subject taught in schools since Moldova declared independence. As of 2013, the government of Moldova lists "Romanian" as one of the language options to view their website.
There is essentially no disagreement that the standard form of the official language in Moldova is identical to standard Romanian. The spoken language of Moldova, in spite of small regional differences, is completely understandable to speakers from Romania and viceversa. The slight differences are in pronunciation and the choice of vocabulary. For example, cabbage, drill and water melon are respectively "curechi", "sfredel" and "harbuz" in Moldova and Moldavia (Romania), but their synonyms "varză", "burghiu" and "pepene" are preferred in Wallachia. However, Daco-Romanian speakers might know and understand both forms of each term.
Those who want to avoid the linguistic controversy sometimes use the clause "limba de stat" (state language).
Read more about this topic: Controversy Over Linguistic And Ethnic Identity In Moldova
Famous quotes containing the words linguistic and/or dispute:
“The most striking aspect of linguistic competence is what we may call the ‘creativity of language,’ that is, the speaker’s ability to produce new sentences, sentences that are immediately understood by other speakers although they bear no physical resemblance to sentences which are ‘familiar.’”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)
“The king said, -Divide the living boy in two; then give half to the one, and half to the other. But the woman whose son was alive said to the king -because compassion for her son burned within her - -Please, my lord, give her the living boy; certainly do not kill him! The other said, -It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it. Then the king responded: -Give the first woman the living boy; do not kill him. She is his mother.”
—Bible: Hebrew, 1 Kings. 3:25-37.
Solomon resolves a dispute between two women over a child. Solomon’s wisdom was proven by this story.