What language is spoken in Moldova?
Moldovan language
The variety of Romanian spoken in Moldova is the Moldavian subdialect, which is also spoken in northeastern Romania. The two countries share the same literary standard.
Agrarian Party of Moldova
Following the 1994 election, the Agrarians reversed a number of Frontist reforms enacted a few years earlier. Parliament voted to drop "Deşteaptă-te, române!", used in Romania as well, as the national anthem. The Constitution of Moldova, adopted by Parliament in July 1994, describes that state language as the "Moldovan language" and makes no reference to its relationship with Romanian, as did the 1989 language laws. Language tests mandated for state employees by those laws were suspended, and the State Department of Languages, which had previously conducted "raids" on institutions to ensure employees knew the official language, virtually shut down. These measures ended language as a major political issue and made Moldova "de facto" bilingual. The party also supported autonomy for the Gagauz, which soon manifested itself in the creation of Gagauzia. Furthermore, it backed closer relations with Russia and the former Soviet republics, calling for participation in the CIS' economic structures but not its political or military ones (Moldova joined the CIS in 1994), and advocating permanent neutrality and the banning of foreign troops from the country (then as now stationed in Transnistria). The PDAM wished for a slow transition to capitalism, continuing market reforms but with generous subsidies and credits for agriculture.
History of independent Moldova
In the new political conditions created after 1985 by the glasnost policy introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev, in 1986, to support the perestroika (restructuring), a Democratic Movement of Moldova () was formed, which in 1989 became known as the pro-nationalist Popular Front of Moldova (PFM; ). Along with the other peripheral Soviet republics, from 1988 onwards, Moldova started to move towards independence. On 29 July 1989 a pro-reform Communist Mircea Snegur was appointed Chairman of the Presidium of Supreme Soviet of Moldavia (Speaker of the Parliament). On 27 August 1989, the PFM organized a mass demonstration in Chişinău, that became known as the Great National Gathering (), which pressured the authorities of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic to adopt on 31 August 1989 a language law that proclaimed the Moldovan language written in the Latin script to be the state language of the Moldavian SSR.Civil unrest began on 7 November 1989, in Chişinău, Moldavian SSR and continued on 10 November, when protesters burned down the headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, led by Vladimir Voronin. Festivals on 7 November 1989 commemorating the October Revolution and 10 November celebrating the Soviet police force offered excellent opportunities for opposition to challenge authorities in highly visible settings and disrupt events of premiere importance to the Soviet regime. Popular Front of Moldova activists, often going beyond the official sanction of the movement leadership, organized actions that embarrassed the republican leadership, ultimately resulted in riots in central Chişinău. This unrest sealed the fate of the increasingly weak First Secretary of the Communist Party of Moldova. At the end of a year that had seen Semion Grossu and his organization pummeled from both the national revivalist right and the "ultrarevolutionary" internationalist left, Moscow replaced the First Secretary with Petru Lucinschi in a snap Central Committee plenum on 16 November 1989.
Controversy over ethnic and linguistic identity in Moldova
Quoting Emmanuel de Martonne, historian Irina Livezeanu mentions that, around the time of the union, Bessarabian peasants "still called themselves Moldovans". She adds Ion Nistor's explanation from 1915 of a similar earlier phenomenon in the Austrian-ruled Bukovina, where peasants had called themselves Moldovans but "under the influence of the [Romanian] literary language, the term 'Moldovan' was then replaced by 'Romanian'", while "in Bessarabia this influence has not penetrated yet"
2010 Moldovan constitutional referendum
The proposal also changed the name of the state language from "Moldovan" to "Romanian." According to Ghimpu, the Romanian language must be the official language of Moldova.
Veaceslav Platon
Platon is a native speaker of Russian. However, in a 2016 interview he stated that for Moldova the only way to escape from the "disastruous situation in which it is" is the unification with România.
Controversy over ethnic and linguistic identity in Moldova
A controversy exists over the national identity and name of the native language of the main ethnic group in the Republic of Moldova. The issue more frequently disputed is whether Moldovans constitute a subgroup of Romanians or a separate ethnic group. While there is wide agreement about the existence of a common language, the controversy persists about the use of the term "Moldovan language" in certain political contexts.
Moldavian dialect
The Moldavian dialect is not synonymous with Moldovan language. The latter is another term for the Romanian language as used in the Republic of Moldova. The border between Romania and the Republic of Moldova does not correspond to any significant isoglosses to justify a dialectal division; phonetics and morphology (which normally define dialectal classifications) are nearly identical across the border, whereas lexical differences are minimal.
Moldovan leu
The leu (sign: L; ISO 4217 code: MDL) is the currency of Moldova. Like the Romanian leu, the Moldovan leu (plural: lei) is subdivided into 100 bani (singular: ban). The name of the currency originates from a Romanian word which means "lion".
Demographics of Moldova
In the interwar period, the vast majority of ethnic Moldovans belonged to the Romanian Orthodox Church (Bucharest Patriarchate), but today both Romanian and Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) have jurisdiction in Moldova, with the latter having more parishes. According to the local needs, liturgy is performed in Romanian, Russian, and Turkic (Gagauz). After the revival of religious activity in the last 20 years, a minority of the clergy and the faithful wanted to return to the Bucharest Patriarchate (Metropolis of Bessarabia). Because higher-level church authorities were unable to resolve the matter, Moldova now has two episcopates, one for each patriarchate. After the Soviet occupation in 1940, the Metropolis was downgraded to a Bishopric. In late 1992, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia issued a decree upgrading its eparchy of Chişinău and Moldova to a Metropolis.
Irredentism
Romania lays claims to Greater Romania, which include Bessarabia and Bucovina as Moldova, since they were parts of Romania between 1918 and 1940, and are still inhabited for the most by Romanians. Moldovans are ethnically Romanians, and the Moldovan language is the Soviet name for the Romanian language. There is some (but not universal) support by Moldovans for a peaceful and voluntary reunion with Romania, not least because (having joined the European Union), the economy has burgeoned and Romanian citizens have gained freedom of movement in Europe. Also Russian irredentism in Transnistria has caused alarm and resentment.
Language secessionism
The official standard language of Moldova is identical to Romanian. However, its official name in that country is "Moldovan" and at least Vasile Stati, a local linguist, has asserted that it is, in fact, a separate language in its own right. During the Soviet era, the USSR authorities officially recognized and promoted Moldovans and Moldovan as a distinct ethnicity and language. A Cyrillic alphabet was introduced in the Moldovan SSR to reinforce this claim. Since 1989 the official language switched to the Latin script and underwent the same language reforms as Romanian, but has retained its name, Moldovan.
Nowadays, the Cyrillic alphabet remains in official use only on the territories controlled by the breakaway authorities of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, where it is named "Moldovan", as opposed to the Latin script version used elsewhere, which the local authorities call "Romanian".
Ilie Ilașcu
Born in Taxobeni, Făleşti district, Ilașcu graduated from the Faculty of Economic Studies of the Agricultural Institute in Chişinău. He is married to Nina and they have two daughters, Tatiana (b. February 28, 1980) and Olga (b. July 1, 1984). Ilie Ilașcu worked as chief economist at "Dnestr" Research Institute in Tiraspol. Ilașcu became known for his opposition to Moldovan Communist Party politics regarding the Moldovan language, for openly advocating the usage of Latin script and for recognition of a Moldovan-Romanian identity, as well as for giving Moldovan the status of official language.
Georgians in Moldova
Ethnic Georgians in Moldova number around 900 to 1000. They speak Georgian language and practise Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
Moldova
The 1991 Declaration of Independence names the official language Romanian. The Constitution of 1994 stated that the national language of the Republic of Moldova was Moldovan, and its writing is based on the Latin alphabet.
Languages of Moldova
At 9 September 1994, Academy of Sciences of Moldova confirms the reasoned scientific opinion of philologists from the Republic and abroad (approved by the decision of the Presidium of Academy of Science of Moldova of 9.09.94), according to which the correct name of the State language (official) of the Republic of Moldova is Romanian.
Demographics of Moldova
In 1979, Russian was claimed as a native language by a large proportion of Jews (66%) and Belarusians (62%), and by a significant proportion of Ukrainians (30%). Proportions of other ethnicities naming Russian as a native language ranged from 17% of Bulgarians to 3% of Moldovans (Russian was more spoken by urban Moldovans than by rural Moldovans). Russian was claimed as a second language by a sizeable proportion of all ethnicities: Moldovans (46%), Ukrainians (43%), Gagauz (68%), Jews (30%), Bulgarians (67%), Belarusians (34%), Germans (53%), Roma (36%), and Poles (24%).
Moldova
Moldova (, ), officially the Republic of Moldova (), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The capital city is Chișinău.
Moldovans
In 1940, during World War II, Romania agreed to an ultimatum and ceded the region to the Soviet Union, which organized it into the Moldavian SSR. The Soviets began a campaign to strengthen the Moldovan identity different from that of the rest of Romanian speakers, taking advantage of the incomplete integration of the Bessarabia into the interwar Romania (see also Moldovenism). The official Soviet policy also stated that Romanian and Moldovan were two different languages and, to emphasize this distinction, Moldovan had to be written in a new Cyrillic alphabet (the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet) based on the Russian Cyrillic, rather than the older Romanian Cyrillic that ceased to be used in the 19th century in the Romanian Old Kingdom and 1917 in Bessarabia.
Education in Moldova
78.4% of students study in Romanian, roughly corresponding to its respective linguistic group, while 19.5% study in Russian (including members of other linguistic groups like Gagauz or Bulgarian). Foreign languages became increasingly less popular in recent years: 1.8% studied in English or French during the 2010-2011 schoolyear, compared to 3.2% in 2006.
Media of Moldova
Moldova's state-owned national radio-TV broadcaster is Teleradio-Moldova (TRM), which includes the TV channels Moldova 1 and TV Moldova Internațional (until 2013) and the radio channels Radio Moldova and Radio Moldova Internaţional (with broadcasts in Romanian, English, French, Spanish and Russian).
Unification of Romania and Moldova
The official Soviet policy also stated that Romanian and Moldovan were two different languages and, to emphasize this distinction, Moldovan had to be written in a new Cyrillic alphabet (the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet) based on the reformed Russian Cyrillic, rather than the obsolete Romanian Cyrillic that ceased to be used in the 19th century in the Old Kingdom and 1917 in Bessarabia.
Moldovan language
In 2003, a Moldovan–Romanian dictionary ("Dicționar Moldovenesc–Românesc" (2003)) by Vasile Stati was published aiming to prove that there existed two distinct languages. Reacting to this, linguists of the Romanian Academy in Romania declared that all the Moldovan words are also Romanian words, although some of its contents are disputed as being Russian loanwords. In Moldova, the head of the Academy of Sciences' Institute of Linguistics, , described the dictionary as "an absurdity, serving political purposes". Stati, however, accused both of promoting "Romanian colonialism". At that point, a group of Romanian linguists adopted a resolution stating that promotion of the notion of a distinct Moldovan language is an anti-scientific campaign.
Moldovan language
The word "Moldavian" is also used to refer collectively to the north-eastern varieties of spoken Romanian, spread approximately within the territory of the former Principality of Moldavia (now split between Moldova, Romania and Ukraine). The Moldavian variety is considered one of the five major spoken varieties of Romanian. All five are written identically. There is no particular linguistic break at the Prut River, the border between Romania and Moldova.
Controversy over ethnic and linguistic identity in Moldova
In Romania, the inhabitants from the Republic of Moldova are colloquially called "Bessarabians" "(basarabeni)" (after the Bessarabia region), in order to be distinguished from the inhabitants of the Romanian Moldavia region who also generally refer to themselves (or are referred to by the inhabitants of the other Romanian regions) as "Moldavians" "(moldoveni)", but declare Romanian ethnicity.
Moldovans
On December 5, 2013, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova ruled that the Romanian language is the official language of this country, in agreement with the Declaration of Independence of 1991.
Moldovans
Moldovans or Moldavians (, ; Moldovan Cyrillic: Молдовень) are the largest ethnic group of the Republic of Moldova (75.1% of the population, as of 2014), and a significant minority in Ukraine and Russia. Under the variant Moldavians, the term may also be used to refer to all inhabitants of the territory of historical Principality of Moldavia, currently divided among Romania (47.5%), Moldova (30.5%) and Ukraine (22%), regardless of ethnic identity.
Igor Smirnov
As communist states began to collapse at the end of the 1980s, people in some areas of the Soviet Union began to demand sovereignty for separate national identities. As the citizens of the Moldavian SSR debated the merits of introducing Moldovan as the official language of the republic—at first with Russian as a second official language and later without—the republic was divided over the issue of nationalizing Moldova. One side believed that Moldova should be independent from the Moscow Kremlin and turned into a nation-state, possibly in a union with Romania where a virtually identical language is spoken. The other believed that Moldova should remain a part of the supranationalist USSR, possibly in a post-communist, but still united country.
Controversy over ethnic and linguistic identity in Moldova
However, the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet is still the official and the only accepted alphabet in the breakaway Russian-supported Transnistria for this language.
Romania–Russia relations
A main source of tension now is the status of Moldova. The conflict over Moldova, or Bessarabia, is not new. It has been ongoing between Romania and Russia for over a century, due to Russia's strategic interests in the region conflicting with Romania's goal of a unified pan-Romanian state. Bessarabia, now known to most of the world as Moldova, was originally a region within Moldavia; Romania was forced to hand it over to Russia at the 1870s Congress of Berlin. It was briefly regained, then retaken by the Soviet Union after World War II. Romanians may view Moldova as being "stolen" by Russia. Romania regained the territory at the end of World War I, only to lose it again at the end of World War II. At the time of the fall of the Soviet Union, the Romanian language (under the controversial name of the "Moldovan language") with a Latin script was mandated as the official language of Moldova, causing conflict with non Romanian-speaking regions (namely, Gagauzia and Transnistria). However, Moldova opted against rejoining Romania at the time, claiming that it had a separate national identity (see: Moldova–Romania relations; movement for the unification of Romania and Moldova). Romanians may view Moldovans as being victims of forced Russification and brainwashing.
Moldovan language
The breakaway region of Transnistria continues to recognize "Moldovan" as one of its official languages, along with Russian and Ukrainian.
Languages of Moldova
Most linguists consider literary Romanian and Moldovan to be identical, with the glottonym "Moldovan" used in certain political contexts. In 2003, the Communist government of Moldova adopted a political resolution on "National Political Conception," stating that one of its priorities was preservation of the Moldovan language. This was a continuation of Soviet-inflected political emphasis.
Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
The law was passed in a stormy Supreme Soviet session on 31 August 1989. It declared that, "The state language of Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic is Moldovan. The state language is used in political, economic, social and cultural life and functions on the basis of the Latin alphabet." However, it went on to promise protection of Russian and other languages of Moldova's minority populations. The passage of the language laws was accompanied by massive rallies outside the legislature building in Chişinău with upwards of 500,000 people gathered in a "Grand National Assembly" in Chişinău's Victory Square outside of the Supreme Soviet building to show their support. Elsewhere in Chişinău and other cities, smaller rallies voiced opposition. The most effective, opposition, came in the form of a massive strike movement that originated in the Transnistrian city of Tiraspol. 
While the group "Intermovement"-""Unitate-Edinstvo"" ("Unity") was the first to organize significant opposition to the language legislation, more effective activity began in the workplace. STKs became the focus around which opposition activity turned in the early part of the conflict. In Transnistria, close-knit work collectives were ready-made institutional alternatives to the Communist Party cells—also omnipresent at the Soviet workplace. From 1989 to 1991, many Transnistrian party members handed in their party cards or simply stopped paying their dues; simultaneously, the OSTK began using the STKs in the same way the party had used its cells. By the end of August 1989, STKs had "de facto" control over their factories throughout much of Transnistria. Often they worked with, or were dominated by, factory management. Occasionally, they effectively ousted unsympathetic directors or staff.
Unification of Romania and Moldova
If Moldova decided to unite with Romania, Gagauzia, a "national-territorial autonomous unit" of Moldova with three official languages: Romanian, Gagauz, and Russian, would have the right of self-determination. This is further complicated by the fact that while the autonomy of Gagauzia is guaranteed by the Moldovan constitution and regulated by the 1994 Gagauz Autonomy Act, the laws of Romania do not permit ethnic-based territorial autonomy and any other official language than Romanian, even regionally, fearing Hungarian separatism (minority languages may be "recognised" in some areas, having limited use in official affairs). In such a situation, the Gagauz area would most likely secede from Moldova and an independent, sovereign, but Russian-friendly Gagauz state would be formed.
Languages of Moldova
Russian is provided with the status of a "language of inter-ethnic communication" as with many post-soviet countries, and since Soviet times remains widely used on many levels of the society and the state. According to the above-mentioned National Political Conception, Russian-Romanian bilingualism is characteristic for Moldova.
Romanians
The Moldovan language, in its official form, is practically identical to Romanian, although there are some differences in colloquial speech. In the de facto independent (but internationally unrecognised) region of Transnistria, the official script used to write Moldovan is Cyrillic.
Demographics of Moldova
According to the 2014 census, 2,720,377 answered to the question on "language usually used for communication". 2,138,964 people or 78.63% of the inhabitants of Moldova (proper) have Moldovan/Romanian as first language, of which 1,486,570 (53%) declared it Moldovan and 652,394 (23.3%) declared it Romanian. 394,133 people or 14.1% have Russian as language of daily use, 73.802 or 2.6% – Ukrainian, 74.167 or 2.6% – Gagauz, 26,577 or 0.9% – Bulgarian, and 12,734 or 0.5% – another language.
Controversy over ethnic and linguistic identity in Moldova
"In my soul I was (and am) more Romanian than most of my accusers."
Vladimir Voronin, President of Moldova (2001–2009), an adversary of the common Romanian-Moldovan ethnic identity, acknowledged at times the existence of a common language.
Languages of Moldova
263,523 people or 9.4% have Russian as native language and some 94,133 people or 14.1% identified Russian as language of daily use. It is the first language for 93.2% of ethnic Russians, and a primary language for 4.9% of Moldovans, 50.0% of Ukrainians, 27.4% of Gagauz, 35.4% of Bulgarians, and 54.1% of other ethnic minorities.
History of Moldova
Under the protection of Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni and Dimitrie Sulima a theological school and a seminary were opened in Chișinău, and public schools throughout the region: in the cities of Chișinău, Hotin, Cetatea Albă, Briceni, Bender, Bălți, Cahul, Soroca, Orhei, at the monasteries of Dobrușa and Hârjauca, and even in several villages (Rezeni, Mereni, Volcineț, Nisporeni, Hârtop). In 1835, the tsarist authorities declared a 7-year deadline to transfer the education from Romanian to Russian. Although the measure was implemented more gradually, since 1867, Romanian was purged entirely from the education. This had the effect of keeping the peasant population of Bessarabia backward, as witnessed by the fact that in 1912 Moldavians had a literacy rate of only 10.5%, lowest among all ethnic groups of the region (63% for Bessarabian Germans, 50% for Bessarabian Jews, 40% for Russians, 31% for Bessarabian Bulgarians), with a record low 1.7% literacy rate for Moldavian women. Of the 1709 primary schools in Bessarabia in 1912, none was in the language of the main ethnic group.
After 1812, the newly installed Russian authorities expelled the large Nogai Tatar population of Budjak (Little Tartary), and encouraged the settlement of Moldavians, Wallachians, Bulgarians, Ukrainians and others through various fiscal facilities and exemption from military service. The colonization was generated by the need to better exploit the resources of the land, and by the absence of serfdom in Bessarabia. German colonists from Switzerland (canton Lausanne), France, and Germany (Württemberg) settled in 27 localities (most newly settled) in Budjak, and by 1856 Bessarabian Germans were 42,216. Russian veterans of the 1828–1829 war with the Ottomans were settled in 10 localities in Budjak, and three other localities were settled by Cossacks from Dobrudja (which got there from the Dniepr region some 50 years earlier). Bessarabian Bulgarians and Gagauz arrived from modern eastern Bulgaria as early as the second half of the 18th century. In 1817, they numbered 482 families in 12 localities, in 1856 – 115,000 people in 43 localities. Ukrainians had arrived Bessarabia since before 1812, and already in the 1820s they made up one third of the population of the most northern Hotin county. In the following decades more Ukrainians settled throughout the northern part of Bessarabia from Galicia and Podolia. Jews from Galicia, Podolia and Poland also settled in Bessarabia in the 19th century, but mostly in the cities and fairs; in some of these they eventually became a plurality. In 1856, there were 78,751 Bessarabian Jews and according to the Imperial Russian census of 1897, the capital Kishinev had a Jewish population of 50,000, or 46%, out of a total of approximately 110,000. There was even an attempt by the Russian authorities to create 16 Jewish agricultural colonies, where 10,589 people would settle. However within less than 2 generations, most of them sold the land to the local Moldavians and moved to the cities and fairs. The various population movements saw an increase of the Slavic population to more than a fifth of the total population by 1920, while the proportion of the Moldovan population steadily decreased. In absence of any official records on ethnic distribution until the late 19th century, various figures for the ethnic proportions of the region have been advanced. Thus, in the 1920s Romanian historian Ion Nistor alleged that, at the beginning of the Russian administration, Moldavians represented 86% of the population. While according to official statistics speakers of Moldovan and Romanian accounted for 47.8% in 1897, some authors proposed figures as high as 70% for the beginning of the 20th century.
Unification of Romania and Moldova
In September 1989, with the liberalization in the Soviet Union, the parliament of Moldovan SSR declared Moldovan as the official language, and asserted the existence of a "Moldovan-Romanian linguistic identity".
Independence Day of Republic of Moldova
On 27 August 1991, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova voted to adopt the Moldovan Declaration of Independence from the Soviet Union.That same day, the Popular Front of Moldova (FPM) organized a mass demonstration in Chişinău, that later became known as the Great National Assembly, which pressured Soviet authorities to adopt a language law on August 31, 1989, which proclaimed the Moldovan language to be the state language of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.On December 21, 1991, Moldova, along with 10 other Soviet republics, signed the act that formed the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
Moldova
On 29 November 2013, at a summit in Vilnius, Moldova signed an association agreement with the European Union dedicated to the European Union's 'Eastern Partnership' with ex-Soviet countries. The ex-Romanian President Traian Băsescu stated that Romania will make all efforts for Moldova to join the EU as soon as possible. Likewise, Traian Băsescu declared that the unification of Moldova with Romania is the next national project for Romania, as more than 75% of the population speaks Romanian.
Romanian language
In the 2014 census, out of the 2,804,801 people living in Moldova, 24% (652,394) stated Romanian as their most common language, whereas 56% stated Moldovan. While in the urban centers speakers are split evenly between the two names (with the capital Chișinău showing a strong preference for the name "Romanian", i.e. 3:2), in the countryside hardly a quarter of Romanian/Moldovan speakers indicated Romanian as their native language. It should be noted that unofficial results of this census first showed a stronger preference for the name Romanian, however the initial reports were later dismissed by the Institute for Statistics, which led to speculations in the media regarding the forgery of the census results.
Moldovans in Ukraine
After 1812, Russian Empire annexed Bessarabia from Romania. Romanians under Russian rule enjoyed privileges well, the language of Moldavians was established as an official language in the governmental institutions of Bessarabia, used along with Russian, as more than 90% of the population was Romanian. The publishing works established by Archbishop Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni were able to produce books and lithurgical works in Moldavian between 1815 and 1820., until the period from 1829 to 1905, when Russification policies were implemented that all public use of Romanian was phased out, and substituted with Russian. Romanian continued to be used as the colloquial language of home and family, mostly spoken by Romanians, either first or second language. Many Romanians changed their family names to Russian. This was the era of the highest level of assimilation in the Russian Empire.
Moldovans
The diverging opinions are also reflected in the official state documents issued in successive legislatures. The Declaration of Independence of 1991 calls the official language "Romanian", and the first anthem adopted by the independent Republic of Moldova was "Deşteaptă-te, române" ("Awaken thee, Romanian!"), the same as the anthem of Romania.
History of independent Moldova
In March–April 2002, in Chişinău, several mass protests took place against the plans of the government to fulfil its electoral promise and introduce Russian as the second state language along with its compulsory study in schools. The government mainly renounced these plans, but Russian was eventually re-introduced as a compulsory subject in Moldovan schools, albeit only 1 to 2 hours per week.
An attempt at re-introduction of Russian into Moldovan schools caused protests in the center of Chisinău, led by the nationalist Christian-Democratic People's Party, and was aborted as the movement lost momentum. The Communist party has also attracted much criticism over the increasingly authoritarian rule in Chişinău.
Popular Front of Moldova
Grand National Assembly () was the first major achievement of the Popular Front. Mass demonstrations organized by its activists, including one (the "Grand National Assembly") attended by 300,000 participants on August 27, were of critical importance in convincing the Moldovan Supreme Soviet to adopt a new language law on August 31, 1989, to thunderous applause. The law stipulated Latin-script Moldovan (considered identical to Romanian by linguists) as the state language, although it was quite moderate, for instance defining Russian as a second "language of interethnic communication" alongside Moldovan, and the language of communication with the Soviet Union authorities. Later, when this autonomous territorial unit was created, Gagauz and Russian were recognized as official alongside Moldovan in Gagauzia.
Limba noastră
"Limba noastră" (, meaning "Our Language") has been the national anthem of the Republic of Moldova since 1994. For a short period before that, the official anthem of the country was Deșteaptă-te, române!, which was also (and remains today as) the national anthem of Romania. The lyrics were written by Alexei Mateevici (1888–1917) a month before his death. Mateevici contributed significantly to the national emancipation of Bessarabia. The music was composed by Alexandru Cristea (1890–1942).
Academy of Sciences of Moldova
Gheorghe Duca has been the head of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova since February 5, 2004."The annual general meeting of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova confirms the reasoned scientific opinion of philologists from the Republic and abroad (approved by the decision of the Presidium of Academy of Science of Moldova of 9.09.94), according to which the correct name of the State language (official) of the Republic of Moldova is Romanian. 
This declaration is to be given to advertising.
Transnistria
On 31 August 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR adopted Moldovan as the only official language with Russian retained only for secondary purposes, returned Moldovan to the Latin alphabet, and declared a shared Moldovan-Romanian linguistic identity. As plans for major cultural changes in Moldova were made public, tensions rose further. Ethnic minorities felt threatened by the prospects of removing Russian as the official language, which served as the medium of interethnic communication, and by the possible future reunification of Moldova and Romania, as well as the ethnocentric rhetoric of the Popular Front. The Yedinstvo (Unity) Movement, established by the Slavic population of Moldova, pressed for equal status to be given to both Russian and Moldovan. Transnistria's ethnic and linguistic composition differed significantly from most of the rest of Moldova. The share of ethnic Russians and Ukrainians was especially high and an overall majority of the population, some of them ethnic Moldovans, spoke Russian as a mother tongue. Ethnic Moldovans accounted for less than 40% of Transnistria's population in 1989.
The nationalist Popular Front won the first free parliamentary elections in the Moldavian SSR in the spring of 1990, and its agenda started slowly to be implemented. On 2 September 1990, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed as a Soviet republic by an "ad hoc" assembly, the Second Congress of the Peoples' Representatives of Transnistria. Violence escalated when in October 1990 the Popular Front called for volunteers to form armed militias to stop an autonomy referendum in Gagauzia, which had an even higher share of ethnic minorities. In response, volunteer militias were formed in Transnistria. In April 1990, nationalist mobs attacked ethnic Russian members of parliament, while the Moldovan police refused to intervene or restore order.
Moldovan language
The Declaration of Independence of Moldova (27 August 1991) named the official language as "Romanian." The 1994 constitution, passed under a Communist government, declared "Moldovan" as the state language.
History of independent Moldova
On 19 December 2003, the Parliament passed a Law of Nationalities, which made a controversial distinction between a Moldovan majority and a Romanian minority (a historically, ethnically, and linguistically contentious distinction). In the 2004 population census, first since independence, of the 2,638,125 Moldovans and Romanians (78.3% of the country's population), 2,564,850 (97.2%) were registered as Moldovans and 73,276 (2.8%) as Romanians (94.9%, resp. 5.1% in urban areas, and 98.4%, resp. 1.6% in rural areas). 2,012,542 or 76.3% of them called native language Moldovan (58.9% in urban areas and 84.8% in rural ones), and 552,920 or 21.0% of them called it Romanian (34.3% in urban areas and 14.4% in rural ones).
Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
Newly empowered by the weakened CPSU, and increasingly pressured by the ascendant movement for national reawakening, the Moldavian Supreme Soviet (which became the Moldovan legislature in June 1990) announced the creation of a body—the Interdepartmental Commission for the Study of the History and Problems of the Development of Moldovan—to research the language question and make recommendations. Staffed as it was with Moldova's Romanized cultural elite, the commission recommended the republican government accept all three points of the national revivalists' demands. (That is (1) the identity of the Moldovan and Romanian language, (2) the artificiality of the use of the Cyrillic alphabet for the Moldovan language, and (3) need for Moldovan to be given the status of official language of the republic. See above.) Armed with these recommendations, the Supreme Soviet asked for the draft legislation to be presented in March for "public discussion" of the proposals "before the next session of the Supreme Soviet" in August. This move did nothing to diffuse the inevitable tension involved with the very project. Proponents mobilized to expand the legally protected role of the state language and push the Supreme Soviet to recognize the identity of Moldovan and Romanian while opponents mobilized to protect the legal status quo. A further draft leaked in August further escalated tensions because its opponents believed that it was even more pro-nationalist and radical than the first draft.
History of independent Moldova
A March 1994 referendum saw an overwhelming majority of voters favoring continued independence. 
Following the elections, the Parliament ratified the Commonwealth of Independent States accession treaty, modified the national anthem from "Deşteaptă-te, române" to "Limba noastră", adopted a new constitution that called the official language Moldova as opposed to Romanian (as it was called in 1991-93), and adopted other measures that distanced Moldova from Romani]. The new Moldovan Constitution also provided for autonomy for Transnistria and Gagauzia. On 23 December 1994, the Parliament of Moldova adopted a "Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia", and in 1995 it was constituted.
Zaim, Căușeni
As of the 2014 Moldovan Census, it had a population of 4,281, of whom 3,807 are Moldovans, 368 Romanians, 27 Russians, 12 Ukrainians, and 67 other/undeclared. The dominant language is Romanian.
Eastern Orthodoxy in Moldova
The 17th century saw the adoption of the national language in the church (when many religious texts were translated in Romanian, especially during the time of Metropolitan Dosoftei), which replaced Old Slavonic language. In 1677, the seat of the Metropolis of Moldavia was permanently moved to Iași.
Russification
After the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia in 1940, the Romanian population of Bessarabia was persecuted by Soviet authorities, especially in the years following the annexation, based mostly on social, educational, and political grounds; because of this, Russification laws were imposed again on the Romanian population. The Moldovan language introduced during the Interwar period by the Soviet authorities first in the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and after 1940 taught in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, was actually the Romanian language but written with a version of the Cyrillic script derived from the Russian alphabet. Proponents of Cyrillic orthography argue that the Romanian language was historically written with the Cyrillic script, albeit a different version of it (see Moldovan alphabet and Romanian Cyrillic alphabet for a discussion of this controversy).
Literature of Moldova
Throughout the existence of the Moldovan ASSR and the Moldovan SSR, there was a fierce battle between the so-called "Moldovenists" and the "Romanianists", a schism caused by their attitude towards the linguistic identity of Moldovan - was it a separate language with its own tradition, or was it a derivative of the Romanian literary norm? The battle was fought in the Union of Moldovan Soviet Writers, resulting in several splits and reformations. In the late 1940s, further political manoeuvring was caused by the absorption of Bessarabian writers into the Union, where they were in conflict with the "Transnistrians". As a result of the post-Stalin thaw, the Bessarabians were able to impose a Romanian version of the Moldovan language, with the sole exception being the script of the latter, which continued to be Cyrillic.
Controversy over ethnic and linguistic identity in Moldova
Mircea Snegur, the first Moldovan President (1992–1996), a somewhat versatile supporter of the common Romanian-Moldovan ethnic and linguistic identity
2014 Moldovan Census
The 2014 census for the first time collected the information about the language they usually speak. 2,720.3 thousand reported these data as follows:
Unification of Romania and Moldova
Following the declaration of independence on 27 August 1991, the Romanian flag defaced with the Moldovan coat of arms and the Romanian anthem ""Deșteaptă-te, române!"" became the symbols of the new independent Moldova. Following the growing tension between the pro-union governing Moldovan Popular Front and president Snegur, in particular over unification, the president moved closer to the Moldovanist group of Agrarians, and appointed their candidate Andrei Sangheli as prime minister. As a result, and especially after the victory of Agrarians in the 1994 elections, Moldova began distancing itself from Romania. The state flag was slightly modified, and the anthem changed to ""Limba noastră"". The Moldovan referendum of 1994 for an independent Moldova was seen by many public figures to be aimed at implicitly excluding a union with Romania. Furthermore, the constitution adopted in 1994 by the new Parliament dominated by Moldovanist Agrarians and Socialists called the official language "Moldovan", as opposed to the earlier Declaration of independence that called it "Romanian". The attempt by Moldovan president Mircea Snegur in 1996 to change the name of the official language to "Romanian" was dismissed by the Moldovan Parliament as "promoting Romanian expansionism".
Telecommunications in Moldova
Kishinëvskiye novosti, Kodry, and Russkoye Slovo are Russian-language periodicals. Other minority-language periodicals include Prosvita and Homin in Ukrainian, Ana sözu and Cîrlangaci in Gagauz, Rodno slovo in Bulgarian, and Undzer kol/Nash golos in Yiddish and Russian. In all, 240 newspapers (ninety-seven in Romanian) and sixty-eight magazines (thirty-five in Romanian) were being published in the republic in 1990. Basa Press, an independent news service, was established in November 1992.
Moldavian dialect
The Moldavian dialect is spoken in the northeastern part of Romania, the Republic of Moldova, and small areas of Ukraine. It is the only Romance variety spoken east of the Eastern Carpathians. In detail, its distribution area covers the following administrative or historical regions:Transitional varieties of the Moldavian dialect are found in areas of contact with the other dialects. As such, Moldavian features often occur outside the historical Moldavia: in northern Dobruja, in northeastern Muntenia, and in north-east Transylvania.
Moldovan passport
The data page is printed in Romanian, English and French languages.
Moldovan language
In schools in Moldova, the term "Romanian language" has been used since independence. In 2007, Moldovan president Vladimir Voronin asked for the term to be changed to "Moldovan language", but due to public pressure against that choice, the term was not changed.
Demographics of Moldova
In the Soviet census of 1989, 62% of the total population claimed Moldovan as their native language. Only 4% of the entire population claimed Moldovan as a second language.
Controversy over ethnic and linguistic identity in Moldova
A poll conducted in Moldova by IMAS-Inc Chișinău in October 2009 presented a somewhat detailed picture of the perception of identity inside the country. The participants were asked to rate the relationship between the identity of Moldovans and that of Romanians on a scale between 1 (entirely the same) to 5 (completely different). The poll shows that 26% of the entire sample, which includes all ethnic groups, claim the two identities are the same or very similar, whereas 47% claim they are different or entirely different. The results vary significantly among different categories of subjects. For instance, 33% of the young respondents (ages 18–29) chose the same or very similar, and 44% different or very different. Among the senior respondents (aged over 60), the corresponding figures were 18.5% and 53%. One of the largest deviation from the country average was among the residents of capital Chișinău, for whom the figures were 42% and 44%. The poll also shows that, compared to the national average (25%), people are more likely to perceive the two identities as the same or very similar if they are young (33%), are native speakers of Romanian (30%), have higher education (36%) or reside in urban areas (30%), especially in the capital city (42%).
Moldovan language
In the 2004 census, 16.5% (558,508) of the 3,383,332 people living in Moldova declared Romanian as their native language, whereas 60% declared Moldovan. Most of the latter responses were from rural populations. While the majority of the population in the capital city of Chișinău gave their language as "Romanian", in the countryside more than six-sevenths of the Romanian/Moldovan speakers indicated "Moldovan" as their native language, reflecting historic conservatism.
Moldovan language
The language was generally written in a Romanian Cyrillic alphabet (based on the Old Church Slavonic alphabet) before the 19th century. Both Old Cyrillic and Latin were used until World War I, at which point the Old Cyrillic alphabet fell out of use. In the interwar period, Soviet authorities in the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic alternately used Latin or Cyrillic for writing the language, mirroring the political goals of the moment. Between 1940 and 1989, i.e., during Soviet rule, the new Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet replaced Latin as the official alphabet in Moldova (then Moldavian SSR). In 1989, the Latin script was once again adopted in Moldova by Law 3462 of 31 August 1989, which provided rules for transliterating Cyrillic to Latin, along with the orthographic rules used in Romania at the time. Transnistria, however, still uses the Cyrillic alphabet.
Poles in Moldova
As a consequence of the Russian and Soviet policies towards Polish culture, only a small percentage of Poles in Moldova today speak Polish.
History of Moldova
Starting 1993, Moldova began to distance itself from Romania. The 1994 Constitution of Moldova used the term "Moldovan language" instead of "Romanian" and changed the national anthem to "Limba noastră".
Moldovans
Mirroring different political configurations of the later Moldovan Parliament, the Constitution of Moldova (1994) calls the official language "Moldovan", while the "Concept of the National Policy of the Republic of Moldova" (2003) adopted by the Communist-dominated Parliament distinguishes explicitly Moldovans and Romanians as ethnic groups, and so does the census of 2004.
Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
These concerns found expressing in the activism of the Moldovan Movement in Support of Restructuring—a movement of the intelligentsia oriented mostly towards generalized economic and political liberalization—and the Alexei Mateevici Literary-Musical Club, which pulled together prominent cultural and political figures, activists and citizens to celebrate and discuss Moldovan language, literature and history. Cultural revival was just one of the issues championed by such informals in early 1988. However, during the course of that year events around the Soviet Union, and particularly the bloody clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Nagornyi Karabakh and the pogrom against Armenians in Sumgait, brought issues of ethnicity increasingly to the fore in the union press. In Moldova, social movements increasingly began to focus on three issues involving language: the identity of the Moldovan and Romanian language, the artificiality of the use of the Cyrillic alphabet for the Moldovan language, and need for Moldovan to be given the status of official language of the republic. By June 1988, the Moldovan republican government began taking its cue from social movement leaders and discussing these issues, touching off the events that culminated in the creation of the Pridnestrovian state.
Moldova
In 2003, the Communist government adopted a political document which states that one of the priorities of the national politics of the Republic of Moldova is preservation of the Moldovan language. In December 2013, a decision of the Constitutional Court of Moldova ruled that the Declaration of Independence takes precedence over the Constitution, and the state language is "Romanian".
History of Moldova
Transnistria is the region east of the Dniester River, which includes a large proportion of predominantly Russophone ethnic Russians and Ukrainians (51%, as of 1989, with ethnic Moldovans forming a 40% minority). The headquarters of the Soviet 14th Guards Army was located in the regional capital Tiraspol. There, on September 2, 1990, local authorities proclaimed an independent Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. The motives behind this move were fear of the rise of nationalism in Moldova and the country's expected reunification with Romania upon secession from the USSR. In the winter of 1991–1992 clashes occurred between Transnistrian forces and the Moldovan police. Between March 2 and July 26, 1992, the conflict escalated into a military engagement. Following an intervention of the 14th Army into the conflict on the side of the separatists, the war was stopped and the Moscow Agreement on the principles of peace settlement of armed conflict in Trans-Dniester districts of the republic of Moldova was signed on 21 July 1992.
List of official languages
Moldovan
Dialect continuum
The eastern Romance continuum is dominated by Romanian in many respects. Romanian is spoken throughout Romania and its dialects meet the Moldovan registers spoken across the border in Moldova. Romanians believe the Moldovan language to be a dialect (grai) of Romanian, but some separatist political forces in the Republic of Moldova claim that Moldovan is a separate language. Outside Romania, across the other south-east European countries, various Romanian language groups are to be found: pockets of various Romanian and Aromanian subgroups survive throughout Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Albania and Croatia (in Istria).
Languages of Moldova
Since the Declaration of Independence in 1991, schools refer to this language as "Romanian" when teaching it or referring to it.
Controversy over ethnic and linguistic identity in Moldova
«Limba moldovenească este de fapt mama limbii române. S-o numești română înseamnă să înșeli istoria și să-ți nedreptățești propria mamă.»
"Moldovan is in fact the mother of the Romanian language. To call it Romanian is to betray history and to commit injustice to your own mother."
Bessarabia
With the weakening of the Soviet Union, in February 1988, the first non-sanctioned demonstrations were held in Chișinău. At first pro-Perestroika, they soon turned anti-government and demanded official status for the Romanian (Moldavian) language instead of the Russian language. On August 31, 1989, following a 600,000-strong demonstration in Chișinău four days earlier, Romanian (Moldavian) became the official language of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. However, this was not implemented for many years. In 1990, the first free elections were held for Parliament, with the opposition Popular Front winning them. A government led by Mircea Druc, one of the leaders of the Popular Front, was formed. The Moldavian SSR became SSR Moldova, and later the Republic of Moldova. The Republic of Moldova became independent on August 31, 1991; it took over unchanged the boundaries of the Moldavian SSR.
History of independent Moldova
In the summer of 2004, Transnistrian authorities forcibly closed four Moldovan schools in Tiraspol, Bender, and Rîbniţa that used the Romanian language in the Latin alphabet. This caused an increase in tensions between the Moldova and the breakaway province, which resulted in Moldova and Transnistria imposing economic sanctions on each other. The conflict was resolved later that year with Transnistrian authorities granting the establishments the status of privately funded schools.
Gagauzia
The Gagauzian national movement intensified when Moldavian (Romanian) was accepted as the official language of the Republic of Moldova in August 1989, replacing Russian, the official language of the USSR. A part of the multiethnic population of southern Moldova was concerned about the change in official languages. They had a lack of confidence in the central government in Chișinău. The Gagauz were also worried about the implications for them if Moldova reunited with Romania, as seemed likely at the time. In August 1990, Comrat declared itself an autonomous republic, but the Moldovan government annulled the declaration as unconstitutional. At that time, Stepan Topal emerged as the leader of the Gagauz national movement.
Romanian language
Romanian is an official or administrative language in various communities and organisations, such as the Latin Union and the European Union. Romanian is also one of the five languages in which religious services are performed in the autonomous monastic state of Mount Athos, spoken in the monk communities of Prodromos and Lacu. In the unrecognised state of Transnistria, Moldovan is one of the official languages. However, unlike all other dialects of Romanian, this variety of Moldovan is written in Cyrillic Script.
Romanian is taught in some areas that have Romanian minority communities, such as Vojvodina in Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Hungary. The Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) has since 1992 organised summer courses in Romanian for language teachers. There are also non-Romanians who study Romanian as a foreign language, for example the Nicolae Bălcescu High-school in Gyula, Hungary.
Moldovan language
Standard "Moldovan" is widely considered to be identical to the standard Romanian. Writing about "essential differences", Vasile Stati, supporter of Moldovenism, is obliged to concentrate almost exclusively on lexical rather than grammatical differences. Whatever language distinctions may once have existed, these have been decreasing rather than increasing. King wrote in 2000 that "in the main, Moldovan in its standard form was more Romanian by the 1980s than at any point in its history".
Romanian language
Romanian (archaically Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: "limba română" , "the Romanian language", or "românește", lit. "in Romanian") is an Eastern Romance language spoken by approximately 24–26 million people as a native language, primarily in Romania and Moldova, and by another 4 million people as a second language. It is an official and national language of Romania and Moldova. In addition, it is also one of the official languages of the European Union.
Controversy over ethnic and linguistic identity in Moldova
The chronicles of medieval Moldavia attested the names used by the inhabitants of Moldavia to refer to themselves as well as the common language and origin of Moldavians, Wallachians and Transylvanians. The first important chronicler of Moldavia, Grigore Ureche (1590–1647), states that the Romanians of the Hungarian Kingdom and Moldavians have the same origin, since both "come from Rome". The same author refers to the language of his work as "our Moldavian language". Later, chronicler Miron Costin (1633–1691) wrote in his "On the Moldavian nation" that the "oldest and more righteous" name of the people inhabiting Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania is "Rumân" (Romanian), "that is Roman", and that this name was kept from Emperor Trajan's colonizations till to that day, albeit more commonly among the Wallachians and Transylvanians. He also mentioned that, while the people of Moldavia identify as "Moldavian", they call their language "Romanian". His son, chronicler Nicolae Costin (1660–1712), expressed similar opinions.The Wallachian chronicler (1655–1716) explains that by Romanians he means Romanians from Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia, as they all speak essentially the same language and have a common origin. Nevertheless he also states that, unlike the Wallachians and Transylvanians, which identify as "Romanians", the population of Moldavia identifies as "Moldavian". Dimitrie Cantemir (1673–1723), Prince of Moldavia and member of the Royal Academy of Berlin, wrote a history book called "Hronicul vechimei a Romano-Moldo-Vlahilor" (Chronicle of the Ancientness of the Romanian-Moldavian-Vlachs). In the introductory part, he calls it "a chronicle of the entire Romanian land" ("Hronicon a toată Țara Românească") that "later was divided into Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania" ("care apoi s-au împărțit în Moldova, Muntenească și Ardealul") and mentions that the book was first written in Latin and then translated into Romanian ("pre limba românească"). While attesting that the people of Moldavia call themselves "Moldavians", he also states that "Romanian" is to be used when referring commonly to Transylvanians, Moldavians and Wallachians("carii cu toții cu un nume de obște români să chiamă").
Moldova
At the 2014 census (which did not include data from the Transnistrian region), 54.6% of the population named Moldovan whereas 24.0% named Romanian as their first language in daily use. Although only 4.1% are ethnic Russians, Russian is still used as the main language by 14.5% of the total population. Around 50% of ethnic Ukrainians, 33% of Gagauz, 33% of Bulgarians, and 5.7% of Moldovans declared Russian as their daily use language.
Languages of Moldova
However, in Chisinau, the proportion of people who declared Romanian as opposed to Moldovan is larger - 43,3% vs 33%.
Gagauzia
In 1994, the Parliament of Moldova awarded to "the people of Gagauzia" (through the adoption of the new Constitution of Moldova) the right of "external self-determination". On 23 December 1994, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova accepted the "Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia" (Gagauz: "Gagauz Yeri"), resolving the dispute peacefully. This date is now a Gagauz holiday. Gagauzia is now a "national-territorial autonomous unit" with three official languages: Romanian, Gagauz, and Russian.
Moldovenism
The 2014 census results reported that out of the 2,998,235 people living in Moldova (without Transnistria), 75.1% declared themselves Moldovans and 7.0% Romanians. The information about the language they usually speak indicate that 54.6% consider the language to be Moldovan and 24.0% consider it to be Romanian.
History of independent Moldova
Since his election, President Voronin has proceeded with Lucinschi's plans to privatize several important state-owned industries, and even has on occasion broken with his own party over important issues. He also repeatedly announced plans to introduce measures to promote land consolidation in the countryside, a move outside observers have dubbed "recollectivization." However, under President Voronin, relations with Romania have, at times, worsened. Tensions arose when the President tried to introduce Russian as a second national language as well as insist that the Moldovan state language be called Moldovan. The Romanian language in Moldova has come to be called "Moldovan", prompting a long controversy whether the language is identical or closely resembles Romanian. In 2007 the Moldovan government did not allow Romania to open two consulates in major cities of Moldova, Bălţi and Cahul, that were intended to simplify the acquisition of Romanian visas for the Moldovan population..
Moldovans
This article refers to the Moldovan/Romanian language-speaking population native to the Republic of Moldova, the historical Bessarabia and diaspora originating from these regions, self-identified as Moldovans (in Moldova, another 7% of the Moldovan/Romanian language-speaking native population self-identified as Romanians).
Languages of Moldova
The 1989 State language law of the former Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic that declared Moldovan, written in the Latin script, was the sole state language, intending it to serve as a primary means of communication among all citizens of the republic. The law speaks of a common Moldovan-Romanian linguistic identity.
Controversy over ethnic and linguistic identity in Moldova
The 1994 Constitution calls the official language Moldovan, while the 1991 Moldovan 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. Also, in December 2013, a decision of the Constitutional Court of Moldova ruled that the Declaration of Independence takes precedence over the Constitution and the state language should be called "Romanian".
Politics of Moldova
Transnistria (Pridnestyrovie) is a strip of land running along Moldova's eastern border with Ukraine, named after the Nistru (Dniestr) river. The Transnistrian region is majority Slavic (Ukrainian and Russian) and russophone, in contrast with the rest of the country, and it was heavily industrialized during USSR rule. The Moldovan Declaration of Independence claims continuity of Moldovan sovereignty over the territory of Transnistria as it is "a component part of the historical and ethnic territory of our people". However, the Moldovan Declaration of Independence is itself used as an argument against Moldovan sovereignty over Transnistria as it denounces the Ribbentrop-Molotov agreement of 23 August 1939 between the government of the Soviet Union and the government of Nazi Germany "null and void" being the only formal union between the two territories.
History of independent Moldova
In the region east of the Dniester river, Transnistria, which includes a large proportion of Russophone ethnic Russians and Ukrainians (as of 1989, 51%, as opposed to only 40% ethnic Moldovans), and where the headquarters and many units of the Soviet Guards 14th Army were stationed, an independent "Transdnestrian Moldovan Republic" (TMR) was proclaimed on 16 August 1990, with its capital in Tiraspol. The motives behind this move were fear of the rise of nationalism in Moldova and the country's expected reunification with Romania upon secession from the USSR.
Moldovan language
In 2002, the Moldovan Minister of Justice Ion Morei said that Romanian and Moldovan were the same language and that the Constitution of Moldova should be amended to reflect this—not by substituting "Romanian" for the word "Moldovan", but by adding that "Romanian and Moldovan are the same language". The education minister said: "I have stated more than once that the notion of a Moldovan language and a Romanian language reflects the same linguistic phenomenon in essence." The President of Moldova Vladimir Voronin acknowledged that the two languages are identical, but said that Moldovans should have the right to call their language "Moldovan".
Romanian language
Prior to 2010, there existed a minor spelling difference between standard forms of Romanian language used in Romania and the variant (also called Moldovan) used in the Republic of Moldova—the Academy of Sciences of Moldova did not switch to the new spelling rules introduced by the Romanian Academy in 1993. In 2000, the Moldovan Academy recommended adopting the spelling rules used in Romania, and in 2010 the Academy launched a schedule for the transition to the new rules that was completed in 2011 (regarding publications).
Moldovan language
The matter of whether or not "Moldovan" is a separate language continues to be contested politically within and beyond the Republic of Moldova. The 1989 Language Law of the Moldavian SSR, which is still in effect in Moldova, according to the Constitution, asserts a "linguistic Moldo-Romanian identity". Article 13 of the Moldovan Constitution names it "the national language of the country" (the original uses the phrase "", which literally means "the language of the state").
Transnistria (geographical region)
On 31 August 1989, the Supreme Council of the Moldavian SSR adopted Moldovan as the only official language with Russian retained only for secondary purposes, returned Moldovan to the Latin alphabet, and declared a shared Moldovan-Romanian linguistic identity. As plans for major cultural changes in Moldova were made public, tensions rose further. Ethnic minorities felt threatened by the prospects of removing Russian as the official language, which served as the medium of interethnic communication, and by the possible future reunification of Moldova and Romania, as well as the ethnocentric rhetoric of the Popular Front. The Yedinstvo (Unity) Movement, established by the Slavic population of Moldova, pressed for equal status to be given to both Russian and Moldovan. Transnistria's ethnic and linguistic composition differed significantly from most of the rest of Moldova. The share of ethnic Russians and Ukrainians was especially high and an overall majority of the population, some of them ethnic Moldovans, spoke Russian as a mother tongue. Ethnic Moldovans accounted for less than 40% of Transnistria's population in 1989.
The nationalist Popular Front won the first free parliamentary elections in the Moldavian SSR in the spring of 1990, and its agenda started slowly to be implemented. On 2 September 1990, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed as a Soviet republic by an "ad hoc" assembly, the Second Congress of the Peoples' Representatives of Transnistria. Violence escalated when in October 1990 the Popular Front called for volunteers to form armed militias to stop an autonomy referendum in Gagauzia, which had an even higher share of ethnic minorities. In response, volunteer militias were formed in Transnistria. In April 1990, nationalist mobs attacked ethnic Russian members of parliament, while the Moldovan police refused to intervene or restore order.