View source for Old Romanian

{{Infobox language
|name = Old Romanian
|altname = 
|script=[[Glagolitic script|Glagolitic]], [[Romanian Cyrillic alphabet|Romanian Cyrillic]]
|nativename = ''{{lang|roa-RO|ⰓⰬⰏⰬⰊⰐ}}''
|familycolor = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Italic languages|Italic]]
| fam3             = [[Latino-Faliscan languages|Latino-Faliscan]]
| fam4             = [[Latin]]
| fam5             = [[Romance languages|Romance]]
| fam6             = [[Eastern Romance languages|Eastern]]
|ancestor = [[Proto-Indo-European]]
|ancestor2 = [[Proto-Italic language|Proto-Italic]]
|ancestor3 = [[Latino-Faliscan languages#Phonology|Proto-Latino-Faliscan]]
|ancestor3 = [[Old Latin]]
|ancestor4 = [[Vulgar Latin]]
|ancestor5 = [[Proto-Romance]]
|ancestor6 = [[Proto-Romanian language|Proto-Romanian]]
|iso3 = roa-RO
|era = {{circa|1154}} to {{circa|1780}}
| pronunciation = {{IPA-ro|rʊˈmɨn|}}
}}

'''Old Romanian''' it as named the literary stage of Romanian language up to the publishing of [[Elementa linguae daco-romanae sive valachicae]] and it attested with the oldest preserved Romanian texts such as [[Neacșu's letter]] and the so-called Rhotacizing Texts.<ref name="Iliescu">{{Citation |last=Iliescu |first=Maria |title=History of the Romanian Lexicon |date=2021-05-26 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.471 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics |access-date=2024-03-03 |publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.471 |isbn=978-0-19-938465-5 }}</ref>
During this period the first religious literary texts written in Romanian appear, followed by the first popular literary texts, and translations such as narratives ''Varlaam şi Ioasaf''  and ''Alexandria''. The period is characterized by the advent of the printed books and the almost exclusive use of the [[Romanian Cyrillic alphabet]].<ref name="Hill&Alboiu">{{Citation |last1= Hill |first1= Virginia |last2= Alboiu |first2= Gabriela |title= Verb Movement and Clause Structure in Old Romanian |publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn=0191056146 |chapter= Preface}}</ref>

==Phonology==

=== Vowels ===
Stressed {{IPA|[ə]}} from [[Common Romanian]] developed into the vowel {{IPA|[ɨ]}} in the pre-literary stage of the language. The Old Romanian vowel system which is preserved in the current stage of the language. <ref>{{Cite book|last=Sala |first=Marius |trans-title=From Latin to Romanian |title=De la Latină la Română] |publisher=Editura Pro Universitaria |year=2012 |isbn=978-606-647-435-1 |page=147 }}</ref> The asyllabic final sound [u]'s devoicing was not complete in Old Romanian.{{Sfn|Pană Dindelegan|2016}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|- align="center"
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}}
|{{IPA link|ɨ}}
|{{IPA link|u}}
|- align="center"
![[Near-close vowel|Near-close]]
| {{IPA link|ɪ}}
|
|{{IPA link|ʊ}}
|- align="center"
![[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}}
|
|{{IPA link|o}}
|- align="center"
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|
| {{IPA link|ə}}
|
|- align="center"
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPA link|ä}}
|
|}

=== Consonants ===

Old Romanian retained the consonants {{IPA|[ʎ]}} and {{IPA|[ɲ]}} from Common Romanian, but with a limited distribution, mainly in the Banat-Hunedoara-Oltenia part. It also had two consonants characterized as ''intense'', after which the front vowels {{IPA|[e]}}, {{IPA|[i]}} underwent velarization.{{Sfn|Pană Dindelegan|2016}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" |[[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="2" |[[Dental consonant|Dental]]/<br>[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br>alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
!<small>central</small>
!<small>[[sibilant]]</small>
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Stop consonant|Stop]]
!<small>[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
|{{IPA link|p}}
|{{IPA link|t}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|c}}
|{{IPA link|k}}
|
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|d}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|ɟ}}
|{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
!<small>[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
|
|
|{{IPA link|t͡s}}
|{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}}
|
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|
|
|{{IPA link|d͡z}}
|{{IPA link|d͡ʒ}}
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!<small>[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
|{{IPA link|f}}
|
|{{IPA link|s}}
|{{IPA link|ʃ}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|h}}
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|{{IPA link|v}}
|
|{{IPA link|z}}
|{{IPA link|ʒ}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}}
|{{IPA link|n}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|ɲ}}
|{{IPA link|nˠ}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Trill consonant|Trill]]
|
|{{IPA link|r}}
|
|
|
|{{IPA link|rˠ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
!<small>[[Lateral consonant|lateral]]</small>
|
|{{IPA link|l}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|ʎ}}
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Central consonant|central]]</small>
|
|
|
|
|{{IPA link|j}}
|{{IPA link|w}}
|
|} 
 
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
 
[[Category:History of the Romanian language| ]]
[[Category:Medieval languages]]