Chakavian or Čakavian (, , , sh-Latn, čakavski proper name: or own name: ''čokovski, čakavski, čekavski'') is a South Slavic

regiolect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that ...

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

spoken primarily by

Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic ...

along the Adriatic coast, in the

historical region Historical regions (or historical areas) are geographical regions which at some point in time had a cultural, ethnic, linguistic or political basis, regardless of latterday borders. They are used as delimitations for studying and analysing soc ...

s of

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see names in other languages) is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea, str ...

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian and Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian, Italian and Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic betwe ...

, Croatian Littoral and parts of coastal and southern Central Croatia (now collectively referred to as

Adriatic Croatia Adriatic Croatia ( hr, Jadranska Hrvatska) or Littoral Croatia ( hr, Primorska Hrvatska) is one of the four NUTS-2 Regions of Croatia since 2021. The region forms the coastal part of the country. The five most populated cities in the region are S ...

). Chakavian, like

Kajkavian Kajkavian (Kajkavian noun: ''kajkavščina''; Shtokavian adjective: ''kajkavski'' , noun: ''kajkavica'' or ''kajkavština'' ) is a South Slavic regiolect or language spoken primarily by Croats in much of Central Croatia, Gorski Kotar and no ...

, is not spoken in

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...

-speaking regions beyond Croatia. Chakavian was the basis for early literary standards in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

. Today, it is spoken almost entirely within Croatia's borders, apart from the Burgenland Croatian in Austria and Hungary and a few villages in southern

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

History

Chakavian is one of the oldest written South Slavic varieties that had made a visible appearance in legal documents—as early as 1275 ( Istrian land survey) and 1288 (

Vinodol codex Law code of Vinodol or Vinodol statute ( hr, Vinodolski zakonik) is one of the oldest law texts written in the Chakavian dialect of Croatian and is among the oldest Slavic codes.Russkaya Pravda is the only older code in Slavdom. It was written in ...

), the predominantly vernacular Chakavian is recorded, mixed with elements of Church Slavic. Many of these and other early Chakavian texts up to 17th century are written in Glagolitic alphabet. Initially, the Chakavian dialect covered a much wider area than today, about two-thirds of medieval

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

: the major part of central and southern Croatia southwards of

Kupa The Kupa () or Kolpa ( or ; from la, Colapis in Roman times; hu, Kulpa) river, a right tributary of the Sava, forms a natural border between north-west Croatia and southeast Slovenia. It is long, with its border part having a length of and ...

and westwards of Una river, western and southwestern

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...

, all the islands northwest of Mljet while substratum of Chakavian apparently existed all the way to

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranea ...

.Ivo Banac; (1984) ''The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics'' p. 47; Cornell University Press, During and after the Ottoman invasion and subsequent warfare (15th–19th centuries), the Chakavian area became significantly reduced. On the Croatian mainland, it has recently been almost completely replaced by Shtokavian. It is therefore now spoken in a much smaller coastal area than indicated above. As expected, in over nine centuries Chakavian has undergone many phonetic, morphological, and syntactical changes chiefly in the turbulent mainlands, but less in isolated islands. Yet, contemporary dialectologists are particularly interested in it since it has retained the old accentuation system characterized by a Proto-Slavic new rising accent (''neoacute'') and the old position of stress, and also numerous Proto-Slavic and some

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...

archaisms in its vocabulary. Another feature of Chakavian is the influence of

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...

in its lexicon (especially from Italian, Dalmatian and

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...

Area of use

The use of Chakavian varies by the region where it was historically spoken. It is now mostly reduced in southwestern Croatia along the eastern Adriatic: Adriatic islands, and sporadically in the mainland coast, with rare inland enclaves up to central Croatia, and minor enclaves in Austria and Montenegro. All of those areas were in contact with

Italo-Dalmatian The Italo-Dalmatian languages, or Central Romance languages, are a group of Romance languages spoken in Italy, Corsica (France), and formerly in Dalmatia (Croatia). Italo-Dalmatian can be split into:Hammarström, Harald & Forkel, Robert & Haspe ...

and

Eastern Romance The Eastern Romance languages are a group of Romance languages. Today, the group consists of the Daco-Romance subgroup, which comprises the Romanian language (Daco-Romanian), Aromanian language and two other related minor languages, Megleno-R ...

languages, which heavily influenced it during its development. * The majority of Adriatic islands are Chakavian, except the easternmost ones ( Mljet and

Elafiti The Elaphiti Islands or the Elaphites ( hr, Elafitski otoci or ''Elafiti'') is a small archipelago consisting of several islands stretching northwest of Dubrovnik, in the Adriatic Sea.Hvar and

Brač Brač is an island in the Adriatic Sea within Croatia, with an area of , making it the largest island in Dalmatia, and the third largest in the Adriatic. It is separated from the mainland by the Brač Channel, which is wide. The island's tall ...

, as well as the area around the city of Korčula on the island of Korčula. * Its largest mainland area is the entire

peninsula, and Kvarner littoral and islands; minor coastal enclaves occur sporadically in the Dalmatian mainland around

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ser ...

, Biograd, Split, and in

Pelješac Pelješac (; Chakavian: ; it, Sabbioncello) is a peninsula in southern Dalmatia in Croatia. The peninsula is part of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County and is the second largest peninsula in Croatia. From the isthmus that begins at Ston, to the t ...

peninsula. * Within the Croatian inland, its major area is the Gacka valley, and minor enclaves occur in Pokupje valley and Žumberak hills, northwards around

Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. According to the 2011 census, its population was 55,705. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located on the Zagreb-Rijeka highway and railway line, south-west of Zagre ...

. * Chakavians outside Croatia: a minor enclave of

Bigova Bigova ( sr-Cyrl, Бигова) is a village in the municipality of Kotor Kotor (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian: ), is a coastal town in Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the ...

(Trašte) at Boka Kotorska in Montenegro, the mixed Čičarija dialect in Slovenia, refugees from the Turks in

Burgenland Burgenland (; hu, Őrvidék; hr, Gradišće; Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland;'' Slovene: ''Gradiščanska'') is the easternmost and least populous state of Austria. It consists of two statutory cities and seven rural districts, with a total of ...

(eastern Austria) and SW Slovakia, and recent emigrants in North America (chiefly in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, and

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

Phonology

The basic phonology of Chakavian, with representation in Gaj's Latin alphabet and IPA, is as follows:

Dialects

The Chakavian dialect is divided along several criteria. According to the reflex of the Common Slavic phoneme

yat Yat or jat (Ѣ ѣ; italics: ) is the thirty-second letter of the old Cyrillic alphabet and the Rusyn alphabet. There is also another version of yat, the iotified yat (majuscule: , minuscule: ), which is a Cyrillic character combining ...

*/ě/, there are four varieties: # ''Ekavian'' (northeastern Istria, Rijeka and Bakar, Cres island): */ě/ > /e/ # ''Ikavian–Ekavian'' (islands Lošinj, Krk, Rab, Pag, Dugi Otok, Ugljan, mainland Vinodol and Pokupje): */ě/ > /i/ or /e/, according to

Jakubinskij's law Jakubinskij's law, or Meyer–Jakubinskij's law, is a sound law that operated in the Croatian Chakavian dialect in the 12th–13th century, named after Lav Jakubinski who discovered it in 1925, and sometimes also after K. H. Meyer who expanded an ...

# ''Ikavian'' (southwestern Istria, islands Brač, Hvar, Vis, Korčula, Pelješac, Dalmatian coast at Zadar and Split, inland Gacka): */ě/ > /i/ # ''Ijekavian'' (Lastovo island, Janjina on Pelješac): */ě/ > /je/ or /ije/ Obsolete literature commonly refers to Ikavian–Ekavian dialects as "mixed", which is a misleading term because the yat reflexes were governed by Jakubinskij's law. According to their tonal (accentual) features, Chakavian dialects are divided into the following groups: # dialects with the "classical" Chakavian three-tone system # dialects with two tonic accents # dialects with four tonic accents similar to that of Shtokavian dialects # dialects with four-tonic Shtokavian system # dialects mixing traits of the first and the second group Using a combination of accentual and phonological criteria, Croatian dialectologist Dalibor Brozović divided Chakavian into six (sub)dialects: There is no unanimous opinion on the set of traits a dialect has to possess to be classified as Chakavian (rather than its admixture with Shtokavian or

); the following traits were mostly proposed: * interrogatory pronoun is ''"ča"'' or ''"zač"'' (on some islands also ''"ca"'' or ''"zace''"); * old accentuation and 3 accents (mostly in ultima or penultima); * phonological features that yield /a/ for Old Slavic phonemes in characteristic positions: "language" is ''jazik'' (or zajik) in Chakavian and ''jezik'' in Shtokavian; * /j/ as in Slovene and Kajkavian where Shtokavian has /dʑ/ ⟨đ⟩: Chakavian, Slovene, Kajkavian ''meja'', Shtokavian ''međa'' ("border"); * historic /m/ shifted to /n/ at the end of words, unlike in Shtokavian: standard Croatian ''volim'' ("I love"), ''sam'' ("I am"), ''selom'' ("village" - Instrumental case), Chakavian ''volin'', ''san'', ''selon''. * in conditional occur specific prefixes: ''bin-, biš-, bimo-, bite-'', ''bis'' * contracted or lacking aorist tense; * some subdialects on island of Pag have kept the archaic form of imperfect

Non-palatal tsakavism

Besides the usual Chakavian (with typical pronoun "ča"), in some Adriatic islands and in eastern Istria another special variant is also spoken which lacks most palatals, with other parallel deviations called ''"tsakavism"'' (cakavizam): * palatal "č" is replaced by the sibilant "ts" (c): pronouns ca and ''zac'' (or ''ce'' and ''zace''). * palatals ''š'' (sh) and ''ž'' (zh) are replaced by sibilants ''s'' and ''z'' (or transitive sj and zj). * ''đ'' (dj), ''lj'' and ''nj'' are replaced by the simple ''d, l'' and ''n'' (without

iotation In Slavic languages, iotation (, ) is a form of palatalization that occurs when a consonant comes into contact with a palatal approximant from the succeeding phoneme. The is represented by iota (ι) in the Cyrillic alphabet and the Greek al ...

). * Frequent ''diphthongs'' instead of simple vowels: o > ''uo,'' a > ''oa,'' e > ', etc. * ''Yat'' (jat): longer ''y'' (= ue) exists in addition to the usual short ''i'' (or e). * Appurtenance is often noted by possessive ''dative'' (rarely adjective nor genitive) * Vocative is mostly lacking and replaced by a nominative in appellating construction. * Auxiliary particles are always before the main verb: ''se-'' (self), ''bi-'' (if), ''će-'' (be). The largest area of tsakavism is in eastern Istria at Labin, Rabac and a dozen nearby villages; minor mainland enclaves are the towns Bakar and Trogir. Atavism is also frequent in Adriatic islands: part of Lošinj and nearby islets, Ist, Baška in Krk, Pag town, the western parts of Brač (

Milna Milna is a village and municipality on the western side of the island of Brač, Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia. The village has a population of 833. It is situated in a deep bay oriented towards the island of Mrduja and Split Channel, on t ...

), Hvar town, and the entire island of Vis with adjacent islets. The first two features are similar to mazurzenie in Polish, where it is present in many dialects, and tsokanye, occurring in the Old Novgorod dialect.

Chakavian literary language

Since Chakavian was the first South Slavic dialect to emerge from the Church Slavic matrix, both literacy and literature in this dialect abound with numerous texts - from legal and liturgical to literary: lyric and epic poetry, drama, novel in verses, as well as philological works that contain Chakavian vocabulary. Chakavian was the main public and official language in medieval Croatia from 13th to 16th century. Monuments of literacy began to appear in the 11th and 12th centuries, and artistic literature in the 15th. While there were two zones of Čakavian, northern and southern (both mainly along the Adriatic coast and islands, with centres like Senj, Zadar, Split, Hvar, Korčula), there is enough unity in the idiom to allow us to speak of one Chakavian literary language with minor regional variants. This language by far surpassed the position of a simple vernacular dialect and strongly influenced other Serbo-Croatian literary dialects, particularly Shtokavian: the first Shtokavian texts such as the Vatican Croatian Prayer Book, dated to 1400, exhibit numerous literary Chakavianisms. The early Shtokavian literary and philological output, mainly from

(1500–1600) up to Džore Držić, was essentially a mixed Shtokavian–Chakavian idiom, mostly similar to the Jekavian Chakavian of Lastovo and Janjina. Chakavian literature uses many words of Latin, Dalmatian, and Italian origin due to the numerous contacts with these languages. The most famous early Chakavian author is Marko Marulić in 15th/16th century. Also, the first Croatian dictionary, authored by Faust Vrančić, is mostly Chakavian in its form. The tradition of the Chakavian literary language had declined in the 18th century, but it has helped shape the standard

Croatian language Croatian (; ' ) is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian pluricentric language used by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina, and other neighboring countries. It is the offici ...

in many ways (chiefly in morphology and phonetics), and Chakavian dialectal poetry is still a vital part of

Croatian literature Croatian literature refers to literary works attributed to the medieval and modern culture of the Croats, Croatia, and Croatian. Besides the modern language whose shape and orthography was standardized in the late 19th century, it also covers t ...

. The most prominent representatives of Chakavian poetry in the 20th century are Mate Balota,

Vladimir Nazor Vladimir Nazor (30 May 1876 – 19 June 1949) was a Croatian poet and politician. During and after World War II in Yugoslavia, he served as the first President of the Presidium of the Croatian Parliament (Croatian head of state), and first S ...

and Drago Gervais. In 1938, Balota's collection of poems ''Dragi kamen'' was published in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, while his only novel, '' Tight Country: A Novel from Istrian Folk Life'', was published in 1946. The novel became a cult among Kvarner and Istrian Croats. At the end of the 1980s in Istria there began a special subgenre of pop-rock music " Ča-val" ''(Cha wave)''; artists that were part of this scene used the Chakavian dialect in their lyrics, and often fused rock music with traditional Istra- Kvarner music. Notable singers in the Chakavian dialect include Alen Vitasović and

Gustafi Gustafi are a Croatian folk rock band formed in Vodnjan, a small town in Istria, in 1980. The band was founded by Edi Maružin, Vlado Maružin, Čedomir Mošnja, Igor Arih and Livio Morosin and was originally called ''Gustaph y njegovi dobri duho ...

Recent studies

Due to its archaic nature, early medieval development, and corpus of vernacular literacy, the typical Chakavian dialect has attracted numerous dialectologists who have documented its nuances, so that Chakavian was among the best described Slavic dialects, but its atypical tsakavism was partly neglected and less studied. The representative modern work in the field is ''Čakavisch-deutsches Lexikon'', vol. 1.-3, Koeln-Vienna, 1979–1983, by Croatian linguists Hraste and Šimunović and German Olesch. The

Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Croatica, hr, Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, abbrev. HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under patronage of the Croatian bishop J ...

is currently engaged in editing a multivolume dictionary of the Chakavian literary language, based on the wealth of literature written in Chakavian. More than forty dictionaries of local Chakavian varieties have been published, the largest among them including more than 20,000 words are from locations such as Split, the Gacka Valley, Brač and Vis islands, the towns of Baška on Krk and Bell on Cres. Other recent titles include Janne Kalsbeek's work on ''The Cakavian Dialect of Orbanici near Minim in Istria'', as well as Keith Langston's ''Cakavian Prosody: The Accentual Patterns of the Cakavian Dialects of Croatian''.

Chakavian media

* Biannual periodical ''"Čakavska rič"'' (Chakavian word), with 34 annual volumes, published from 1967 by the Literal Association ('Književni krug') in Split. * Annual periodical ''Pannonische Jahrbuch'' with dozen volumes partly in Chakavian of Burgenland Croats, published since 1994 by Pannonisches Institut in Gutterbach (Burgenland, Austria). * Annual periodical 'Vinodolski zbornik' with a dozen volumes published in Crikvenica, including different texts in the local Chakavian of Vinodol valley. * Annual singing festival ' Melodije Istre i Kvarnera' takes place every year in different towns of the Istria and Kvarner regions. Performers perform in local Chakavian dialects exclusively. * A major perpetual program in the Chakavian of Dalmatia is given by the local television stations in Split, Rijeka, and Pula. Other minor half-Chakavian media with temporary Chakavian contents also include the local radio programs in the cities of Split and

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Prim ...

and Krk island radio.

Examples

* (mainland half-Chakavian) * (vicinity of Labin in eastern Istria) * (vicinity of Labin in eastern Istria)

Notes

General references

* J. Božanić: ''Čakavska rič,'' vol. 1.- 32., Književni krug Split. * J. Hamm, M. Hraste, P. Guberina: ''Govor otoka Suska''. Hrvatski dijalektološki zbornik 1, Zagreb 1956. * M. Hraste, P. Šimunović, R. Olesch: ''Čakavisch-deutsches Lexikon'', Band I-III, Köln-Wien, 1979 - 1983. * J. Kalsbeek
The Cakavian Dialect of Orbanici near Zminj in Istria
Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1998. 608 pp * M. Kranjčević: ''Ričnik gacke čakavšćine''. Čakavski sabor, Otočac 2003. * K. Langston
Cakavian Prosody: The Accentual Patterns of the Cakavian Dialects of Croatian
Bloomington: Slavica 2006. 314 pp * I. Lukežić

Izdavački centar Rijeka, Rijeka 1996. * B. Matoković-Dobrila: ''Ričnik velovaroškega Splita'', Denona, Zagreb 2004. * A. Roki-Fortunato: ''Libar Viškiga jazika''. Libar Publishing, Toronto 1997. * P. Šimunović: ''Rječnik bračkih čakavskih govora'', Brevijar, Supetar 2006. * Z. Turina, A. Šepić-Tomin: ''Rječnik čakavskih izraza - područje Bakarca i Škrljeva'', Riječko književno i naučno društvo, Rijeka 1977. * N. Velčić: ''Besedar Bejske Tramuntane''. Čakavski sabor i Adamić d.o.o, Cres-Lošinj 2003.

External links

Dictionary of Istrian dialects
{{Authority control South Slavic languages