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Prije godinu dana, 4. ožujka 2021., neočekivano je preminuo Marcel Courthiade. Bio je talentirani lingvist koji se posvetio istraživanju dijalekata romskog jezika, romske kulture i bio aktivist za dostupnost obrazovanja Romima. Ali ostavio je svijetu u nasljeđe više od 20 publikacija o romskom jeziku i povijesti. Također, Marcel Courthiade bio je vizionar, arhitekt procesa standardizacije romani ćiba. Osmislio je načela unifikacije romskog jezika, koja je usvojila Međunarodna romska unija na 4. kongresu u Varšavi 1990. godine. Tijekom Kongresa romski aktivisti s Marcelom postavili su neke od temelja transkripcije romani ćiba. To je pomoglo u stvaranju baze za standardizaciju jezika, iz kojeg će, kako je on vjerovao, Romi imati koristi.

U isto vrijeme, nije svima bila draga ideja standardizacije. Njega su kritizirali brojni romski aktivisti. Nisu se slagali s idejom ujedinjenja kroz standardizaciju, jer bi to uništilo različitost. Osim toga, pojedini romski aktivisti govorili su o strahu od gubitka dijelova identiteta vezanih uz specifičan način govora. Jer Romi govore drugačije, ovisno o podrijetlu.

Courthiade je zagovarao ideju da bi standardizirani jezik mogao biti jedan od glavnih elemenata za ujedinjenje Roma i stalno je tvrdio:

“Moramo reći da je normalno da jezik bude formaliziran kada ga formaliziraju njegove institucije, a ne tuđe.”

Studije Marcela Courthiadea o romskom jeziku učinile su ga jednim od najistaknutijih stručnjaka za romski jezik ovoga vremena. Njegov rad pokazuje znanstvenu stručnost, pronicljivost, ali i skromnost i pristupačnost. Većinu svog života posvetio je borbi protiv diskriminacije i predrasuda o Romima.

Marcelova ostavština bit će dio romskog kulturnog dijaloga u budućnosti. Proučavao je korijene, sličnosti i razlike širokog spektra dijalekata s namjerom da pronađe način za stvaranje najuobičajenije verzije jezika. Htio je da se njegova djela iskoriste za dobrobit emancipacije Roma diljem svijeta.

U 2019. posljednja veća publikacija koju je Marcel objavio bila je knjiga posvećena povijesti Roma od njihovog izgnanstva iz Indije do danas. A 2009. godine koordinirao je izradu prvog europskog rječnika romskog jezika, prikladnog naziva „Od naših staraca, našim kćerima i našim sinovima“. Taj europski rječnik je u osnovi višejezični vodič koji pomaže prevesti osnovni vokabular s romskog jezika na mađarski, engleski, francuski, španjolski, njemački, ukrajinski, rumunjski, hrvatski, slovački, grčki. Marcel je radio na unificiranju romskog jezika i promicanju njegove uporabe. Rječnik bi trebao otvoriti vrata u svijet romskog jezika mnogim neromskim govornicima.

U jednom od posljednjih intervjua ispričao je kako je strast prema lingvističkim studijama i romskoj kulturi ušla u njegov život:

„Mislim da je to došlo kada sam prvi put došao u kontakt s Romima iz drugih zemalja. Kada sam vidio da dijelimo zajedničke interese. Onda sam bio vrlo mlad. Tada sam počeo surađivati ​​s njima. To je bilo vrijeme koje samo još kao tinejdžer provodio u bivšoj Jugoslaviji. I imao sam neke lingvističke sposobnosti, jer mi je škola dala te alate, a oni su očekivali da imaju zajednički jezik za… Znate, u Jugoslaviji je u to vrijeme bilo vrlo moderno dizati sve jezike manjina na jednu dobru razinu književnosti, školstva također i tako dalje. Dakle, oni su nešto očekivali, ja sam se uspio odvojiti od toga. Počeli smo raditi. Pronašao sam veliko zadovoljstvo uspoređujući sve te mehanizme ne samo u romskom, već i u raznim drugim jezicima.”

Kasnije je pokušao povezati svoj život s medicinom i čak studirao na Sveučilištu Clermont-Ferrand. No napustio je studij medicine na petoj godini. Marcel je shvatio da se želi posvetiti proučavanju jezika. A lingvistika je bila njegova životna strast. Počeo je učiti slavenske jezike, osobito srpskohrvatski i poljski. Courthiade je studirao istočnoeuropske jezike na INALCO-u (Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales) u Parizu, gdje je stekao diplomu iz poljskog, makedonskog i albanskog jezika. U sljedećih nekoliko godina uspio je naučiti i sanskrt, hebrejski, grčki, latinski, engleski, njemački, španjolski, talijanski, rumunjski, ruski i mađarski. No posebno je odlučio staviti romani ćib u središte svog interesa. Marcel je svoj život posvetio obrani i promicanju uporabe romskog jezika. Vjerovao je u potrebu za njegovom promjenom. Promjene koje je Marcel nudio bile su na putu standardizacije. Marcel je mnogo puta rekao kako voli romski jezik i istražuje njegove dijalekte s pravom znanstvenom strašću.

Marcel Courthiade preminuo je 4. ožujka 2021. u Tirani (Albanija), u 67. godini života. Njegova istraživanja i predavanja postat će temelj za buduće generacije romskih lingvista. Vjerovao je da je svojim radom na standardizaciji jezika stvorio temelje da romska zajednica ima funkcionalan obrazovni sustav za romsku mladež u sljedećih 20 godina. U jednom od svojih intervjua iz 2019., Marcel je objasnio kako je to moguće u tako kratkom vremenu:

“Primijetili ste, vjerojatno, kako se stav pušača promijenio u roku od 20 godina? Ne pušimo. Pristup nikotinu nije kao prije 20 godina. Dakle, postojala je prava politička volja. Ako uspijemo uvjeriti vlasti da provedu takve slične kampanje o Romima u roku od 20 godina – mislim da smo mogli riješiti pola problema [jezik i obrazovni sustav]. Možda i više. Ne može se to učiniti preko noći. Sigurno je. Ali za 10-15-20 godina možemo puno postići.

Ono što ja radim u jeziku može donijeti bolji život novoj generaciji. Više dostojanstva, više priznanja, više znanja i sposobnosti za život u teškom društvu.”

A year ago, on March 4, 2021, Marcel Courthiade unexpectedly passed away. He was a talented linguist who dedicated himself to exploring Roma language dialects, Roma culture, and being an activist for Roma access to the education. But he has left to the world a legacy of more than 20 publications about Romani language and history. Also, Marcel Courthiade was a visionary, an architect of the standardization process of Romani Chib. He came up with the principles of Romani language unification, which were adopted by the International Romani Union at the 4th Congress in Warsaw in 1990. During the Congress, Roma activists with Marcel set up some of the bases of transcription of the Romani Chib. It helped to create a base for standardization of the language, from which, as he believed, Roma would benefit.

At the same time, not everyone was fond of the idea of standardization. Courthiade been criticized by a number of Roma activists. They were disagreeing with the idea of unification through standartisation, because it would destroy diversity. In addition, some Roma activists were talking about a fear of losing parts of identity related to specific ways they speak. Because Roma speak differently, depence on their origin.

Courthiade was advocating the idea that standardized language might be one of the main elements for the unification of Roma and used to repeatedly claim:

“We must say that it is normal for a language to be formalized when it is formalized by its own institutions, not by others.”

Studies of Marcel Courthiade in the Romani language have made him one of the most prominent experts on the Roma language at this time. His work has been demonstrating scientific expertise, perviousness, but also humbleness and accessibility. He dedicated most of his life to fight discrimination and prejudices about Romas.

Marcel’s legacy would be part of Roma cultural dialogue in the future.  He was studying the roots, similarities, and differences of a wide range of dialects with the intention to find the way for creating the most common version of the language. He wanted his works to be used for the benefit of the emancipation of Roma around the world.

In 2019, the last major publication Marcel made was a book dedicated to the history of Roma people from their exile from India to nowadays. And in 2009 he coordinated the drafting of the first European dictionary of the Romani language, aptly titled "From our elders, to our daughters and to our sons." That European dictionary is basically a multi-language guide which is helping to translate basic vocabulary from Roma language into Hungarian, English, French, Spanish, German, Ukrainian, Romanian, Croatian, Slovak, Greek. Marcel was working on unification of Roma language and promotion of its use. The Dictionary supposed to open the door into it for many non-Roma speakers.

In one of his last interviews he was told how the passion to linguistic studies and Roma culture entered his life:

“I think it came when I came for the first time in contact with Roms from other countries. When I saw we’re sharing common things. And then I was quite young. Then I began to cooperate with them. It was a time I was spending several years as a teenager still in former Yugoslavia. And I had some linguistic abilities, because school had given me these tools, and they were expecting to have a common language for… You know, in Yugoslavia at that time it was very fashionable to raise all the languages of minorities to a good level of literature, of schooling also, and so on. So they were expecting something, I was able to break away with it. We begin to work. I found very deep satisfaction in comparing all these mechanisms that not only in Romani, but also in the various other languages.”

Later, he tried to connect his life with medicine and even studied at Clermont-Ferrand University. But abandoned his medical studies at the fifth year. Marcel realized he want to devote himself to the study of languages. And linguistic was his lifelong passion. He started to learn Slavic languages, particularly Serbo-Croatian and Polish. Courthiade studied Eastern European languages at INALCO (The Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales) in Paris, where he earned a diploma in Polish, Macedonian, and Albanian. In the next a few years, he managed to learn also Sanskrit, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Russian and Hungarian. But he especially chose to place Romani Chib at the center of his interest. Marcel dedicated his life to defense and promote the use of Romani language. He believed in needs for its change. The changes Marcel was offering were in the way of standartisation. Marcel many times said how he loved Romani language and researched its dialects with true scientific passion.

Marcel Courthiade passed away on March 4, 2021, in Tirana, Albania, at the age of 67. But his researches and teaching classes will become a base for future generations of Roma linguists. He believed, his work in language standardization created a base for Roma community to have functional educational system for Roma youth in the next 20 years. At one of his interviews from 2019, Marcel explained how it might be possible in such short time:

“You have noticed, probably, how the attitude of smokers have changed within 20 years? We don’t smoke. The approach to nicotine is not like it was 20 years ago. So, there was a real political will. If we can convince stakeholders to carry out such similar campaigns about Roms within 20 years – I think we could have solve the half of the problem [language and education system]. Maybe more. It cannot be done overnight. It is sure. But in 10-15-20 years we can achieve a lot.

What I am doing in language can bring better life for the new generation. More dignity, more recognition, more knowledge, and abilities to live in a difficult society.”