The project RomIdent is !nancially supported by the HERA Joint Research Programme (www.heranet.info) which is co-funded by AHRC, AKA, DASTI, ETF, FNR, FWF, HAZU, IRCHSS, MHEST, NWO, RANNIS, RCN, VR and The European Community FP7 2007-2013, under the Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities programme.

Daniele Viktor Leggio(University of Manchester)2011

A presentation given at the ‘Cosmopolitan, Media and Global Crisis’ conference, 4th June 2011, Kingston University, London

Cosmopolitan Virtual Spaces: The Romani Case

http://romani.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/virtuallibrary

RomIdent Working PapersPaper No.5

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Daniele Viktor Leggio

Cosmopolitan virtual spaces: a Romani case

ABSTRACT: In this paper I ethnographically investigate how the cosmopolitanism from below

characteristic of the Mitrovica Roma (Gypsies) is continued on-line. Furthermore, a quantitative

analysis illustrates how a series of cosmopolitan practices underpin the choice of languages and

spelling used in these virtual spaces. This also highlights how the Romani language is being

standardized. I will suggest that cosmopolitan practices and outlooks propagated by new media

can lead to cosmopolitan identifications in audiences already inclined to them and, at the same

time, to the strengthening of local identities among marginalized audiences. Finally I will suggest

that linguistic pluralism is a valid alternative to current models of language standardization.

Recent ethnographic studies have focused on forms of cosmopolitanism from below variously

labelled as everyday, vernacular, rooted, subaltern, migrant or diasporic (see for example: P.

Werbner 1999, Diouf 2000, R. Werbner 2002, Riccio 2004, Kothari 2008). Such forms of

cosmopolitanism are characterized by “an adaptable disposition that requires a knowledge of

social rituals and rules, and a skilful knowledge about when and how to move in and out of

different contexts” (Kothari 2008: 513). These skilful and meaningful switching and mixing

between different cultural forms, which I refer to as cosmopolitan practices, are often adopted by

disadvantaged groups out of necessity and rarely involve a cosmopolitan ethical attitude. As a

result, they do not necessarily lead to the embracement of cosmopolitan identifications, or as

Pnina Werbner puts it “an open, experimental, inclusive, normative consciousness of the world,

which calls for ‘perpetual’ peace and the end of cultural intolerance and hostility” (2006: 11).

In traditional media, such forms of cosmopolitanism have been completely neglected or at best

have been the subject of what Chouliaraki (2008) calls ‘adventure news’ and their representation

failed to promote any form of cosmopolitan identification. New media, on the other side, offer a

completely new arena for the representation of instances of cosmopolitanism from below, but the

relation between the two has so far not received any scholarly attention.

This paper aims at filling this gap by ethnographically investigating how the cosmopolitanism

from below characteristic of the Mitrovica Roma (Gypsies) is continued on Radio Romani Mahala

(www.ibar.tr.cx), an on-line radio also hosting a real-time chat-room. Furthermore, the textual

nature of the exchanges allows for a quantitative analysis of the languages and spelling used on

the chat. This will illustrate how a series of cosmopolitan practices underpin such choices and

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provide an insight into the codification of the Romani language. I will suggest that cosmopolitan

practices and outlooks propagated by the media can lead to cosmopolitan identifications in

audiences already inclined to them and, at the same time, to the strengthening of local identities

among marginalized audiences. Finally I will suggest that linguistic pluralism is a valid alternative

to current models of language standardization.

THE MITROVICA ROMA

As their self-definition suggests, Mitrovica Roma originate from Mitrovica, Kosovo. The

terms used to describe them by Serbians and Albanians, Gurbeti and Gabeli respectively, however

define Roma groups who moved to the area from elsewhere. This is confirmed by linguistic

evidence suggesting that they moved into Kosovo from Southern Romania around the 16th I

century (Leggio 2011).

The community was mainly concentrated in the Romani mahala (Romani district) and their

professions were a mixture of traditional Romani activities (musicians, craftsmen, peddlers) and of

working class jobs (cleaners, low level employees in the public sector, builders, skilled and

unskilled workers). Dominantly Muslim, they were the only Muslims in Kosovo (the other being

Albanians, Turks and Muslimani, Muslim Slavs) to openly participate in various non-Muslim

celebrations such as Christmas, Easter, St. George’s Day (Orthodox, celebrated by Serbs) and the

ascension of Virgin Mary (Catholic, celebrated by Croats and a minority of Albanians). Pettan

(2002) also noted how all other ethnic groups present in Kosovo deemed Roma musicians

essential to the celebration of these and other festivities as well as to the performance of various

rituals (weddings, baptisms, circumcisions, goodbye parties for young men going to the army). In

turn, Roma prided themselves of their ability to perform the ‘traditional’ music of each other

ethnicity better than the members of the given ethnic group. In addition to that, when performing

for Roma-only audiences or in non-ritual settings, Roma musicians were praised for their ability to

creatively mix the different music traditions of Kosovo together and with styles and genres

coming from elsewhere (Pettan 2002).

Since the late 1970’s they periodically migrated to Western Europe, mostly to Germany,

France and Italy for economical reasons. Following the Yugoslavian conflicts in the 1990’s they

settled in these countries. Some of them were accepted as refugees, while other maintained their

status as labour migrants. In France and Germany they were allowed to settle in regular houses. In

Italy, although fully sedentary, they were generally accommodated in camps for nomad, thus

marginalizing them and forcing them into nomadism. Since the official resolution of the conflict

in Kosovo in 2006, the German government targeted them (as well as other Kosovo Roma) for

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repatriation, a solution strongly opposed by Roma as they generally lost their houses in the

conflict and do not feel safe about returning in Kosovo. Finally, in France, although not directly

targeted by the recent repatriation policy, Mitrovica Roma are suffering from the increasing anti-

Roma attitude of the national authorities.

Speaking Romani, Albanian, Serbo/Croatian and in certain cases also Turkish before their

dispersal, Mitrovica Roma also added the languages of their current countries of residence to their

linguistic repertoire. Furthermore, their ability to mix and switch between cultures has not been

lost following the community dispersal. In Palermo, Italy, for example they embraced the devotion

for Saint Rosalia, the city patron saint, and go in pilgrimage to her sanctuary as part of various

celebrations of the Muslim calendar. The community men also integrated in their diet a wide array

of street food based on veal entrails, whose knowledge and consumption are central to the working

class Palermitano male identity.

Just as Roma musicians prided themselves for their ability to perform the ‘traditional’ music of

other ethnicities in their homeland, Mitrovica Roma now pride themselves in having mastered the

cultures of their current countries of residence. Some of them also points out to the fact that both

in Kosovo and in the diaspora their skills in managing other cultural forms was and is often easing

the relationships with their neighbours. However and particularly when dealing with the

authorities, their ability was and is still not eliminating discrimination completely. As a result, the

majority of the Mitrovica Roma have always and keep maintaining a distinct sense of their identity

as Roma.

Exactly as in the cases documented by, for example Diouf (2000) and Kothari (2008),

Mitrovica Roma embody an instance of cosmopolitanism from below. They are a disadvantaged,

marginalized group who lacks a cosmopolitan ethical attitude but still engages in cosmopolitan

practices out of necessity and hardly, if not at all, embraces any cosmopolitan identification.

RADIO ROMANI MAHALA

Such cosmopolitanism from below can also be found on Radio Romani Mahala

(www.ibar.tr.cx), a web-radio created in 2004 by Sultan, a musician from the community settled in

France and owner of a small recording studio.

Figure 1 depicts the website homepage. The URL and name refers to the community

hometown: the river Ibar separates Mitrovica in two and the Romani district (mahala) was located

along its banks. Another element linking the website to the lost homeland, and a first instance of

cosmopolitanism, is the welcome message written in Serbo/Croatian, Albanian, Qur’an Arabic and

Romani (thus the community languages prior to its dispersal). In Serbo/Croatian only is the phrase

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presenting the website: ‘original net café chat radio for all nations and generations’. In Romani

instead is the message wishing good listening to the audience.

Figure 1: Radio Romani Mahala welcome messages

The chat-room window (Figure 2) is located below the welcome messages shown above and is

active only when the radio is broadcasting, allowing users to communicate while listening to the

music. The connection with Mitrovica is further reinforced by the links to news sites, other on-line

radios and on-line TVs (visible on the left hand side of Figures 1 and 2) dedicated to or originating

from Mitrovica. Most of these sites are produced by Roma from the diaspora but a few, mainly the

news sites, are produced by non-Roma.

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Figure 2: Radio Romani Mahala chat-room window

Scrolling down the page (Figure 3) we encounter a further element suggestive of the Sultan’s

cosmopolitan outlook. An European Union flag, in fact, preceeds the multimedia content of the

homepage: a picture of Mitrovica during the conflict and a video by an NGO documenting the

situation of the mahala ten years after accompanied by the phrase ma bistren tumaro thand (don’t

forget your country, in Romani).

The songs broadcasted are generally in Romani and mostly performed by singers originating

from the Mitrovica community. They show the mixture of musical traditions I mentioned earlier,

further enhanced by the massive adoption of electronic keyboards. Pettan (2002) reports how the

adoption of these instruments characterized the whole Kosovo Roma music scene in the decade

prior to the ethnic conflict. Their usage, however, was mostly limited to Roma-only audiences,

while more traditional instruments were favoured for ethnically different audiences due to their

high expectations on what constituted gypsy music. Beside the songs in Romani, Serbian and

Turkish pop songs are also broadcasted and highly appreciated by the audience.

It clearly appears that, by combining the languages of the community prior to its dispersal, the

video, the picture, the choice of music and the name of the website, Sultan created a memorial of

the lost homeland. At the same time, this space is overtly characterized as cosmopolitan by the

insertion of the European Union flag, the mixing of different languages and the opening to ‘all

nations and generations’.

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Figure 3: Radio Romani Mahala multimedia content

Finally, the chat-room functionality allows the diasporic community of Mitrovica Roma to still

be unite, as it will be clear from the analysis of the chat-room conversations.

But before moving onto that, I will focus on the Romani spelling in the welcome messages

(Figure 1). What is important to remember is that Romani, the Indic language spoken by Roma, is

primarily an oral language. Nor Sultan nor any of the chat-room users have had any formal

education in Romani, but rather in one or more of the other languages known by the community.

Note, just below the site name, the word tumencar ‘with you’ where the letter c is used to

represent the sound /c/ (as English Betsy) exactly as it is in Serbo/Croatian spelling. At the same

time c represents the sound /čh/ (as English church holiday) in lace avilen ‘welcome’. Here two

sources can be identified: the Italian usage of c before e and i to represent /č/ and the common on-

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line Serbo/Croatian usage of plain letters when their accented counterparts are not available

(Hentschel 1998). In both cases however, the aspiration is not represented. Finally the sound /š/

(as English shoes) is spelled differently: with plain s (again as in on-line Serbo/Croatian) in sukar

alen ‘welcome’ and sukar asunipe ‘good listening’ while in bersh ‘year’ the English spelling is

used. Thus, even writing Romani can be regarded as a cosmopolitan practice, since forms from

other languages and cultures are meaningfully used to spell it.

CHAT-ROOM INTERACTIONS

The same cosmopolitan practises outlined in the description of Radio Romani Mahala

homepage can also be seen in the exchanges occurring in the chat-room.

The first example (Table 1) is a series of salutations by an anonymous user and the replies he

received (underlined text is in a language other than Romani).

Chat log Translation 1 Gast90744197: poz sarege ko radio romani mahala hello to everyone on radio romani mahala 2 *ROMANI MAHALA*: ZDR 97 hello 97

3 Gast90744197: zdr milioneri cay hello milioneri cay

4 **MiiLiiOoNeRii_CaY**: C I A O hello 5 **MiiLiiOoNeRii_CaY**: ZDR 97 hello 97

6 **MiiLiiOoNeRii_CaY**: TAJ CIAO and hello

Table 1

Upon joining the chat-room he addressed a generic salutation to everyone present. The actual

salutation, poz, is a shortening of Serbo/Croatian pozdravo, while the address to the audience is in

Romani. The first to reply was the DJ, using Serbo/Croatian zdr, a shortening for zdravo.

Gast90744197 then saluted **MiiLiiOoNeRii_CaY**, only using Serbo/Croatian.

**MiiLiiOoNeRii_CaY** replied in Italian (ciao, retaining the Italian spelling), then switched to

Serbo/Croatian and then again into Italian but using the Romani conjunction to link the two

salutations.

The second example (Table 2) is part of a conversation about work opportunities. From the

nick-names of two users referring to France (FR, Roanne) and the fact that they also use French

we can assume they are or at least have been living there.

ANNA-MISS-FR (line 1) using mostly Romani was complaining about poverty and lack of

opportunities and :::..Mohamed-Roanne:::.. (line 2) showed his support cursing about France. He

gave strength to his curse by closing his message with wallah, an emphatic particle derived from

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Qur’an Arabic. ANNA-MISS-FR expressed her agreement (line 3), switching from Romani to

French, thus accepting :::..Mohamed-Roanne:::.. choice of language.

The following messages are not directly relevant to the exchange but illustrate an interesting

feature of Radio Romani Mahala. Words like hopsa and jasa or variation of them are often used in

the chat exchanges. In off-line communication they are shouted during community celebrations

that involve some live music performance. They are exchanged among audience members and

between the audience and the music performers to encourage people to dance and to express

appreciation for the music played. On the chat-room they are used similarly to show appreciation

for the music selected by the DJ and to encourage users to participate in the conversations. Most

of the users that remain anonymous (like Gast90744197 in Table 1) often only post these shouts

addressed to the whole chat-room (i.e.: not followed by the nick-name of an intended recipient). If

they do so, they are not banned by the DJ, who also acts as the chat-room moderator and regularly

bans anonymous users that do not participate in any conversation. Thus, shouting recreates the

atmosphere of real-life community gatherings and allows users to be identified as community

members. As a result shouting is considered the minimum requirement for participation on the

chat-room and it is so frequent that it hardly disrupt on-going conversations.

It can be clearly seen here (lines 4 to 6) since ANNA-MISS-FR shouted, like user Gast90762413,

to cheer a song but the conversation between her and the other two went on as nothing happened.

In fact, edy.boy (line 7) replied to :::..Mohamed-Roanne:::.. He started the message with an

aggressive attention seeker in Romani (ma bre ‘don’t mate!’) and then switched to French to invite

the other not to curse about France since it is giving him a chance to live decently (because

France feeds you). However, with a final switch to a Turkish expression borrowed in Romani (caff

asedik ‘rotten coffee’) he added a vein of humour to his message.

Chat Log Translation

1 ANNA-MISS-FR: rien sar coripe kate naj so cerav nothing is like poverty here there's nothing for me to do

2 :::..Mohamed-Roanne:::..: JA DE LA FRANCE DE MERDE WALLAH

yes France is shit wallah

3 ANNA-MISS-FR: oui mohamed yes mohamed

4 Gast90762413: hopppaaaaaaaaa shout

5 Gast90762413: sa sa sa sa hoppppppppp shout

6 ANNA-MISS-FR: hopsaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

shout

7 edy.boy: MA BRE C PAS DELA MERDE LA FANCE PASKE ELLE VU DON A MANGE CAFF ASEDIK

don't mate France isn’t shit because it feeds you rancid coffee

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8 ANNA-MISS-FR: hahahahahahhaaha laugh

9 :::..Mohamed-Roanne:::..: HAHAHAH laugh

10 :::..Mohamed-Roanne:::..: LE RESTO the other half

11 :::..Mohamed-Roanne:::..: DU COEUR of the heart

12 edy.boy: C VRE NON Is it true no

13 edy.boy: AHAHA laugh

14 ANNA-MISS-FR: hahahahhahaah gja si edy laugh that’s it edy

15 edy.boy: EHEEH laugh

16 ANNA-MISS-FR: vec ceramince muhabeti we’re only having a cocky conversation

17 edy.boy: LE FRANCCE MANGE LE FORMAGE KAI TE AVOL LEN ZURALE KOKALA

the French eat the cheese so that they'll have strong bones

Table 2

The laughs by the other two (lines 8-9) confirmed the effectiveness of edy.boy’s move and

:::..Mohamed-Roanne:::.. felt obliged to excuse himself (lines 10-11). edy.boy (lines 12-13 and 15)

accepted :::..Mohamed-Roanne:::.. excuses with a laugh. At the same time ANNA-MISS-FR (lines

14 and 16) used Romani to relieve the tension by bracketing their conversation as ‘cocky’. Finally

(line 17) edy.boy closed the conversation with a joke about the classical stereotype of French

people as cheese eaters. Interestingly, he started the message in French but the actual punch was in

Romani.

Looking now at the spelling used in the two examples it is interesting to note that both French

and Serbo/Croatian are spelled according to the conventions spontaneously emerging for these

languages in on-line communication, like for example the shortening of Serbo/Croatian zdravo

and pozdravo (Hentschel 1998) and the French usage of c for ce, paske for pasque, vu for vous

(Anis 2007). In the Romani spelling we have again the usage of c for the sound /čh/ in cay ‘girl’

(Table 1), but also for the similar sound /č/ (as English choice) in, for example, coripe ‘poverty’

and cerav ‘I do’ (Table 2). Similarly g is used to represent two sounds: /dž/ (as in English joy) in

sarege ‘to everyone’ (Table 1) drawing on both French and Italian orthography and /g/ (as English

gum) in gja ‘so’ drawing from Serbo/Croatian orthography. Also, note s is used again for /š/ in

jasa, but also for /s/ in si ‘is’ and hopsa (Table 2). Finally, the sound /j/ (as English boy) is spelled

with y in cay, thus using English spelling, and with j in taj ‘and’, using Serbo/Croatian spelling

instead (Table 1).

As it can be seen, the constant mixing and switching between different languages and their

orthographies does not prevent the users of Radio Romani Mahala from communicating. On the

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contrary, they draw on the whole range of cultural forms at their disposal in order to achieve that.

Furthermore, their competent usage of established on-line communication practices in languages

other than Romani is suggestive of their knowledge of the social rules of such context and of their

skill in moving around it. Thus, they display their cosmopolitan competence even in virtual

environments.

The question arises if in virtual environments this cosmopolitan competence leads them to

embrace cosmopolitan identifications, as opposed to what we have seen happening off-line.

The back and forth of edy.boy between the defence of France and the jokes about it, is already

telling of a somewhat biased identification with France and French people. This impression is

confirmed by looking, quantitatively, at the languages used on the chat-room and at their

discursive functions. Table 3 summarises the results of an investigation over a sample of 1070

messages from different chat-room sessions.

65% of the total messages are entirely in Romani, 9% contain Romani and at least another

language and only the remaining 26% are entirely in a language other than Romani.

Language used % of total Salutations Jokes Exchanges of news Requests

Romani only 65% 0% 48% 84% 39% Romani and other 9% 42% 45% 13% 38% Other only 26% 58% 7% 3% 23% Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Table 3: Relationship between language choice and discursive function

If we look at the function of the messages, those entirely in another language accounts for 58%

of the salutations and the remaining 42% contain a mixture of languages. Interestingly, Romani

only is never used for salutations. On the other hand, more complex interactions are carried out

dominantly in Romani. The exchange of news, in particular, stands out with an 84% of messages

entirely in Romani. Similarly, jokes are mostly done in Romani (48%). Furthermore, suggesting

that switching into Romani for comic effect is not a strategy employed by edy.boy alone, another

45% of messages containing jokes are in Romani and at least another language. Finally, the

languages used for requests show an even distribution. This is explained by the fact that many

requests are addressed to the DJ and contain the title of a song. Since Serbian and Turkish pop

songs are as popular as those in Romani, their titles often appear in the chat-room messages.

Both the general dominance of Romani and its preferred usage for more complex interactions

clearly flag the chat-room as a space for Roma. However other Roma, although able to understand

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these interactions (see below on the codification of Romani), cannot always fully participate in

them as they often do not share the same broader linguistic repertoire of the Mitrovica Roma.

If we couple that with the constant references to Mitrovica embedded in the website and the

recreation of the community gathering atmosphere through the shouting it is clear that Radio

Romani Mahala is a space where a diasporic community is reunited and its specific identity

performed, thus excluding outsiders.

However, in the intention of Sultan, the founder of Radio Romani Mahala, the site is an

inclusive space open to “all nations and generations”. What is worth remembering is that Sultan is

relatively wealthy and safely established in France. The majority of the Mitrovica Roma on the

other hand, still faces marginalization and discrimination. Either through their confinement in

camps for nomads in Italy, or through the threat of forced repatriation in France and Germany,

they are constantly reminded of their “otherness”. As a result, they are often forced into precarious

conditions. Thus, just as they do not embrace any cosmopolitan identification off-line, the same

keeps happening in virtual spaces. On the other hand, as we have seen, engaging in cosmopolitan

practices allows them to remain in contact even if dispersed. This, in turn, helps them preserving

their threatened identity.

NURTURING COSMOPOLITANISM THROUGH NEW MEDIA?

What the case of Radio Romani Mahala suggests is not that cosmopolitan identifications can

not be propagated by new media, but rather that the receptivity of audiences plays a crucial part in

their propagation.

As Chouliaraki (2008) showed, audiences in socio-economic and cultural advantageous

position can, and often do embrace cosmopolitan identifications when witnessing the suffering of

the ‘distant Others’ in what she defines ‘emergency news’ on TV. It is important to remember

that, apart from presenting cases of suffering, traditional media, with their top-down down

approach, have so far tended to focus on the most elitist and commercial aspects of

cosmopolitanism or treated cases of cosmopolitanism from below with a certain vein of exoticism.

On the other hand, new media, with their bottom-up approach, are open to all different kinds of

cosmopolitanism including those from below. A further difference between traditional and new

media is, of course, interactivity. While traditional media can only propagate messages but do not

let audiences engaging in cosmopolitan practices, new media allow for both. Thus, the potential

shared by both type of media is further enhanced in new media thanks to both their openness and

interactivity.

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New media then appear better positioned to nurture cosmopolitanism in advantaged audiences,

particularly if they have the chance to engage in cosmopolitan practices. More than simply seeing

the suffering of the ‘others’, directly engaging with them can lead to a blurring of the self-other

distinction and show its constructedness. This, I argue, will in turn ease the way to the

embracement of cosmopolitan identifications.

For audiences in disadvantageous position, as the Mitrovica Roma case shows, is harder to

embrace cosmopolitan identifications, even if they already engage in cosmopolitan practices. New

media, however, offer them new spaces where they can continue to engage in cosmopolitan

practices. In such spaces, they can simply perform their local identity and maintain it even when

facing marginalization. It will be worth investigating if groups in similar conditions of

marginalization are taking advantage of the visibility offered by new media and if the resulting

interactions with better positioned subjects lead either party to the embracement of cosmopolitan

identifications.

THE CODIFICATION OF ROMANI

The case of Radio Romani Mahala also highlighted how cosmopolitan practices can underpin

the codification of a previously unwritten language.

As mentioned early, Romani, the Indic language spoken by Roma is so far a mostly oral

language. In spite of the number of publications appeared in this language since the early 1990s,

Roma generally regards attempts at standardising their language as an unwanted interference

originating from outside the speech community (Matras 1999). Nevertheless, beside academic

texts documenting the language, we can trace Romani texts written by non-Roma since the early

20th century. The first example of this kind is a partial translation of the Gospels published in

Germany. Shortly after, during the 1930s, Romani was used on state promoted periodicals

published in Russia. In the following years few texts, mainly missionary translations, appeared in

Europe and North America. It is, however, only from the 1970’s, with the emergence of an activist

and intellectual Romani scene, that Roma themselves started writing in Romani. Following the fall

of the iron curtain, and particularly in those Central and Eastern European countries characterised

by a large Roma population, writing in Romani has become an increasingly popular enterprise.

Until the late 1990’s, however, writing in Romani was still limited to a few educated Roma and it

has been only thanks to the diffusion of the Internet that ordinary Roma now write their language

(Matras 2004).

Over the past forty years many spelling systems have emerged. Until the diffusion of the

Internet, the development of Romani spellings was a decentralized yet planned effort carried out at

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the local level by activists and intellectuals based on the same country, either with the support of

the state, like in Macedonia (Friedman 1995, 1996, 1997, 2005) and Austria (Matras 1999, 2002),

or without it, like in Slovakia and the Czech Republic (Hübschmannová 1995, Hübschmannová &

Neustupný 1996). With the diffusion of the Internet, the process of Romani codification has

become even more decentralized and totally spontaneous.

As a result of such a decentralized process, all the resulting spellings are slightly different, yet

they share a number of characteristics that are clearly visible in the spelling used on Radio Romani

Mahala. Namely, they reflect the variety spoken by the writers, they favour the Latin alphabet and

are based on the orthography of one or more national languages Roma have learnt in schools. The

orthographies of such languages are adapted to the sounds of Romani drawing inspiration from the

academic spelling used to document the language and on English orthography, especially in on-

line communication as I have shown in the case of Radio Romani Mahala. In this way writers,

while at the same time retaining the specificities of their spoken variety, manage to reach even

those Roma who speaks a different dialect. As the interactions on Radio Romani Mahala have

shown, and as also noted by Hübschmannová & Neustupný (1996) and Matras (1999), such

variation does not affect comprehension but rather allows a dispersed group to communicate using

its own language.

The example of Romani highlights how language codification that occurs on the Internet and

that is based on cosmopolitan practices or, using Matras’ (2004) terms, linguistic pluralism, allows

for so-far oral languages to be written and effectively used to communicate. Furthermore, as

opposed to traditional models of language standardization (Skutnabb-Kangas & Philipson 1996,

Fishman et al. 2006), through linguistic pluralism speakers take control of the codification of their

own language. This leads to the acceptance of the variation characteristic of speech also in writing,

thus eliminating the need of selecting a single variety on which the standardized language is based

and later imposed as the ‘correct’ way of writing and speaking.

It is worth remembering that the selection of a variety, which often happen to be that of the

socio-economical dominant group and the imposition of the standardized language are some of the

main tools in the creation and maintenance of national identities (Milroy 2001, Spolsky 2004). By

avoiding that, linguistic pluralism can break the link between languages and national identities.

CONCLUSION

The case of Radio Romani Mahala showed how a form of cosmopolitanism from below is

continued in virtual spaces. As off-line forms of cosmopolitanism from below involve

cosmopolitan practices but not necessarily cosmopolitan identifications or ethical dispositions, the

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same is happening on-line. I have attributed this continuity between off- and on-line to the on-

going marginalization of the Mitrovica Roma. Their cosmopolitanism from below, as those

documented in the literature, is embraced out of the necessity to live in and manoeuvre within a

condition of constant uncertainty. Thanks to the possibilities offered by the Internet, it also allows

Mitrovica Roma to communicate with each other even if now dispersed across Europe.

Furthermore, engaging in cosmopolitan practices, both off- and on-line, allows Mitrovica Roma to

maintain their identity even if threatened.

I have also suggested that new media have a greater potential to nurture cosmopolitanism than

traditional media. The Internet, besides propagating messages, also offers, thanks to its openness,

visibility to forms of cosmopolitanism often excluded from traditional media. Furthermore,

interactivity allows Internet users the chance to directly engage with each other. Actually engaging

with ‘the Other’ beside witnessing its suffering, I have argued, can more easily lead to the

embracement of cosmopolitan identification. This is true for Western, advantaged audiences. The

case of the Mitrovica Roma, however, suggests this might not be the case for disadvantaged

audiences, even if they already engage in cosmopolitan practices. Yet, if such audiences are to

take advantage of all the chances offered by the Internet there is the possibility they as well can,

by coming in contact with those in a better condition than theirs, embrace cosmopolitan

identification. These suggestions, of course, require that we investigate the relationship between

new media and cosmopolitanism in all of its forms more closely.

Finally the investigation of the chat-room interactions showed that the Internet offers a new

arena for the codification of previously unwritten languages. The case of Romani codification

showed how linguistic pluralism can lead to the successful codification of a language without

sacrificing its variability nor imposing a standard on a whole speech community. These

characteristics of traditional models of language standardization have been central in all nation-

building processes, leading to the empowerment of the single group that happened to be in the

position to impose its spoken variety as the standard. By avoiding these pitfalls, linguistic

pluralism thus offers the basis for a cosmopolitan model of linguistic human rights

implementation that will allow speech communities to freely use their languages outside the frame

of national recognition.

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