Megleno-Romanian language

Romance language of the Balkans

| fam9 = Eastern Romanian? | ancestor = Old Latin
| ancestor2 = Vulgar Latin
| ancestor3 = Proto Romance
| ancestor4 = Common Romanian
| iso3 = ruq
| glotto = megl1237
| glottorefname = Megleno Romanian
| lingua = 51 AAD bb
| boxsize = 27em

Megleno Romanian (known as vlăhește by its speakers, and Megleno Romanian or Meglenitic and sometimes Moglenitic or Meglinitic by linguists) is an Eastern Romance language, similar to Aromanian. It is spoken by the Megleno Romanians in a few villages in the Moglena region that spans the border between the Greek region of Macedonia and North Macedonia. It is also spoken by emigrants from these villages and their descendants in Romania, in Turkey by a small Muslim group, and in Serbia. It is considered an endangered language.

Megleno Romanian is a member of the family of Romance languages. More specifically, it is an Eastern Romance language, a language formed after the retreat of the Roman Empire from the Balkans. Due to the fact that it is spoken by very few people and because of its similarities with the Aromanian, modern Romanian and Istro Romanian languages, some linguists consider it to be an intermediary between Romanian and Aromanian, often being considered either a dialect of Romanian, a dialect of Aromanian, or an independent language. It is closer to standard Romanian than the Aromanian language, suggesting that it split from Common Romanian later than Aromanian. Megleno Romanian has been strongly influenced by the neighbouring South Slavic varieties.

The term Megleno Romanian has been used by linguists (mainly Romanians), who noticed the similarity to the Romanian language. The Megleno Romanians identify themselves as vlaș ("Vlach") or by local endonyms such as liumnicean ("from Liumnița") or umineț ("from Uma").

Megleno Romanian is spoken in several villages in the Pella and Kilkis regional units of Macedonia, Greece, as well as in a handful of villages across the border in North Macedonia. In the village of Huma, the language was spoken by most inhabitants before they and other Megleno Romanians from the region moved in the cities of Gevgelija and Skopje where some have preserved their native language. After World War I, some Megleno Romanians moved to Romania, in Southern Dobruja, but were moved to the village of Cerna in Tulcea County (Northern Dobruja) after the population exchange between Bulgaria and Romania. In Cerna, about 1,200 people continue to speak Megleno Romanian. In 1940, about 30 families moved from Cerna to the Banat region of Romania in the villages of Variaș, Biled and Jimbolia. Some speakers who identified as Muslim, from the village of Nânti (Nótia), were moved to Turkey from Greece as part of the population exchange between them of the 1920s. Some also live in Serbia, specially in the village of Gudurica.

Megleno Romanian is not a standardised language and there are phonological differences across idioms.