The Gurbet-Cerhan group is spoken exclusively in the Balkans. The Kalderash-Lovar group which has gone through fairly considerable changes in the area of phonology, is the most geographically widespread, reaching from the Urals to California and Buenos Aires. This dialect, or group of dialects, has also been given the name Vlax Romany . Local dialects of other languages containing Romani words , are spoken by groups of Roma who lost their own language in efforts toward assimilation. The Spanish gitanos , for example, were persecuted in the 17th and 18th centuries and punished for using Romany, so that the Calo dialects have Romany words but Spanish grammar.
Similar situations exist in Great Britain and some regions in Rumania.
These dialects are completely incomprehensible for Roma of the other dialect groups.