Abstract
The article deals with the question of language maintenance and language shift among the Roma in the Czech Republic. It focuses mainly on the differences in these two processes among the two most distinctive groups of Romani speakers in the Czech Republic: Vlax Romani speakers and Northern-Central Romani speakers.
While Vlax Romani seems to be transmitted to the following generations, language shift occurs within the latter group of speakers. This process has been observed in the group for decades, however this article presents the first attempt to base existing assumptions on extensive data, collected during our research in 2007-2010.
The first part of the article presents the information on the current competence in Romani among the youngest generation of potential speakers together with a discussion of the methodology our estimate is based upon. The second part focuses mainly on language use and intergenerational transmission of the language as well as on certain attitudes related to the topics of language maintenance and language shift.