Язык Кало: Романи Иберии

the Caló language spoken by Romani people in Iberia
Mixed Iberian Romani language

Caló (kaˈlo; ; ; kɐˈlɔ) is a language spoken by the Spanish and Portuguese Romani ethnic groups. It is a mixed language (referred to as a Para Romani language in Romani linguistics) based on Romance grammar, with an adstratum of Romani lexical items, through language shift by the Romani community. It is said to be used as an argot, or a secret language, for discreet communication amongst Iberian Romani. Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, and Spanish caló are closely related varieties that share a common root. Spanish caló, or Spanish Romani, was originally known as zincaló. Portuguese caló, or Portuguese Romani, also goes by the term lusitano romani; it used to be referred to as calão, but this word has since acquired the general sense of jargon or slang, often with a negative undertone (cf. baixo calão, 'obscene language', lit. low level calão). The language is also spoken in Brazil, France, Venezuela, Portugal and Colombia. Some Caló expressions have been borrowed into modern Spanish jerga (slang), such as camelar (to seduce), currar (to do, especially in the context of grafting, to have sex, or steal) and dar lache (to cringe in shame embarrassment).

Calé is the endonym of the Romani people in Iberia, and caló means 'the language spoken by the calé'. However, the calé are commonly known in Portuguese and Spanish speaking countries by the exonyms ciganos and gitanos. In caló and other varieties of Romani, kalo means 'black' or 'absorbing all light', hence closely resembling words for 'black' and/or 'dark' in Indo Aryan languages (e. g. Sanskrit काल kāla 'black', 'of a dark colour'). Hence caló and calé may have originated as ancient exonyms.

Many Caló terms have been borrowed in Spanish (especially as slangisms and colloquialisms), often through flamenco lyrics and criminal jargon (germanía). Examples are gachó/gachí ("man/woman", from gadjo/gadji), chaval ("boy", originally "son", also present in English as chav), parné ("money"), currelar or currar ("to work"), fetén ("excellent"), pinreles ("feet"), biruji ("cold"), churumbel ("baby"), gilí ("silly, stupid"), chachi ("outstanding, genuine"), (un)debel or debla ("god/goddess"), mengue ("demon"), chorar ("to steal"), also present in English slang as to chaw, molar ("to be appealing to someone"), piltra ("bed"), acais ("eyes"), chola ("head"), jeró ("face"), napia ("nose"), muí ("mouth"), lache ("shame"), pitingo ("vain"), chungo ("bad, nasty, dodgy"), guripa ("cheeky, soldier"), ful ("fake"), paripé ("pretence"), juncal ("slender, graceful"), pure or pureta ("old"), sobar ("to sleep"), quer or queli ("house"), garito ("house, gambling den"), jalar ("to eat"), cate ("hit"), jiñar ("to defecate, to fear"), diñar ("to give, to die"), palmar ("to die"), chinarse ("to get upset"), langui ("lame"), chalado or pirado ("crazy"), pirarse ("to leave", "to make oneself scarce"), changar ("to break"), chivarse ("to denounce sb, to squeal"), chivato ("informer"), hacerse el longuis ("to pretend to be absent minded"), pringar ("to get sb mixed up, to overdo"), chingar ("to have sexual relations, to bother"), chinorri ("little"), najar ("to flee"), privar ("drink, to drink"), mangar ("to steal"), nanay ("no way, there isn't"), chorizo ("thief"), achantar ("to intimidate"), pispar ("to nick"), birlar ("to nick"), achanta la muí ("shut your mouth"), canguelo or cangueli ("fear"), cañí ("Romani person"), calé ("Romani person"), caló ("language of the Iberian Kale"), calas ("money"), curda ("drunkenness"), menda ("myself"), and galochi ("heart"). Some words underwent a shift in meaning in the process: camelar (etymologically related to Sanskrit kāma, "love, desire") in colloquial Spanish has the meaning of "to woo, to seduce, to deceive by adulation" (but also "to love", "to want"; although this sense has fallen into disuse), but in Caló it more closely matches the Spanish meanings of querer ("to want" and "to love"). In addition camelar and the noun camelo can also mean either "lie" or "con". Caló also appears to have influenced Madrid slang cheli and quinqui, the language of another Iberian group of travellers who are not ethnically Romani. Gacería, a cant spoken by makers of agricultural equipment in a village of Segovia, also derives some words from Caló.

To a lesser extent than in Spanish, Caló terms have also been adapted into Catalan as slangisms and colloquialisms, most of which were taken adopted from Spanish slang. Examples are halar ( or ; "to eat"), xaval ("boy"), dinyar( la) ("to die"), palmar( la) ("to die"), cangueli ("fear"), paio ("non Romani person"), calés ("money"), caló ("language of the Iberian Kale"), cangrí ("prison"), pispar ("to nick"), birlar ("to nick"), xorar ("to steal"), mangar ("to steal"), molar ("to like"), pringar ("to get sb mixed up, to overdo"), pirar( se) ("to leave, to make oneself scarce"), sobar ("to sleep"), privar ("drink, to drink"), ("pleb"), laxe ("shame"), catipén ("stink"), xaxi ("outstanding, genuine"), xivar se ("to denounce sb, to squeal"), xivato ("informer"), xinar( se) ("to get upset"), fer el llonguis (lit. "Do a long one" fig. "to pretend to be thick/slow") and potra ("luck").

There are a small number of words of Caló (Calão) origin and many of those are indirect loans, borrowed via Spanish. The examples generally understood by most or all speakers of Portuguese include gajo (ˈɡaʒu, "man, dude", primarily in Portugal), chavalo ("lad, young boy"), chunga ("bad, nasty, dodgy"), chibar se ("to denounce sb, to squeal"), chibo ("informer"), baque (ˈbaki, ˈbakɨ, generally "impact", but in this sense "sudden happiness"), pileque (piˈlɛki, piˈlɛk(ɨ), "drunkenness"), chulé ("bad smell of feet), pirar se ("to leave"), pirado and chalado ("crazy").

There is a growing awareness and appreciation for Caló: " until the recent work by Luisa Rojo, in the Autonomous University of Madrid, not even the linguistics community recognized the significance and problems of Caló and its world." Its world includes songs, poetry and flamenco. As Iberian Romani proper is extinct and as Caló is endangered, some people are trying to revitalise the language. The Spanish politician Juan de Dios Ramírez Heredia promotes Romanò Kalò, a variant of International Romani, enriched by Caló words. His goal is to reunify the Caló and Romani roots.