Kajkavian (Kajkavian noun: ''kajkavščina'';
Shtokavian
Shtokavian or Štokavian (; sh-Latn, štokavski / sh-Cyrl, italics=no, штокавски, ) is the prestige dialect of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language and the basis of its Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin standards. It ...
adjective: ''kajkavski'' , noun: ''kajkavica'' or ''kajkavština'' ) 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 is a ...
or
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 met ...
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, G ...
in much of
Central Croatia
Croatia proper ( hr, Hrvatska) is one of the four historical regions of the Republic of Croatia, together with Dalmatia, Istria, and Slavonia. It is located between Slavonia in the east, the Adriatic Sea in the west, and Dalmatia to the south ...
,
Gorski Kotar and northern
Istria
Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian, Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the larges ...
.
[The Kajkavian speech of northern Istria is conventionally called Kajkavian but the features that differentiate it from neighboring Chakavian are not strictly or distinctly Kajkavian nor are those speech forms located in continuum with any other Kajkavian speech in Croatia. Conversely, the same applies to the northeastern Slovene dialects under classification as Slovene that transition into or bundle with Kajkavian Croatian and dialects of both Slovenia and Croatia further south. They have features common to both Slovene across the border as well as Kajkavian elsewhere.]
There are differing opinions over whether Kajkavian is best considered a dialect of
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 and ...
or a fully-fledged language of its own, as it is only partially mutually intelligible with other dialects and bears more similarities to
Slovene (it is transitional and fully mutually intelligible with the
Prekmurje dialect
Prekmurje Slovene, also known as the Prekmurje dialect, East Slovene, or Wendish ( sl, prekmurščina, prekmursko narečje, hu, vend nyelv, muravidéki nyelv, Prekmurje dialect: ''prekmürski jezik, prekmürščina, prekmörščina, prekmör ...
) and the dialects in the Slovenian Lower Styria's region of Prlekija (that bundle with Kajkavian directly far more than to other Slovene dialects) than to the prestige
Shtokavian
Shtokavian or Štokavian (; sh-Latn, štokavski / sh-Cyrl, italics=no, штокавски, ) is the prestige dialect of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language and the basis of its Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin standards. It ...
dialect (which forms the basis of the national normative standards of Serbo-Croatian) in terms of phonology and vocabulary. Notable Croatian linguists consider Kajkavian to be a language in its own right as is evidenced by phonological, morphological, and vocabulary identity shared between the dialects spoken in the Croatian Kajkavian area and in Slovenian Prekmurje and north-eastern Styria, with its own established dialects and documented literature. Croatian linguist Stjepan Ivšić has used Kajkavian vocabulary and accentuation, which significantly differs from that of Shtokavian, as evidence. Furthermore, there is no clear demarcation between Slovene dialects and Kajkavian: this continuum is particularly strong along the border with
Slovenian Styria
Styria ( sl, Štajerska), also Slovenian Styria (''Slovenska Štajerska'') or Lower Styria (''Spodnja Štajerska''; german: Untersteiermark), is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy of ...
, and on the upper stream of the
Kolpa
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 th ...
river, where dialects spoken on
both sides of the border are sometimes indistinguishable. Thus, Kajkavian has low
mutual intelligibility
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...
with
Shtokavian
Shtokavian or Štokavian (; sh-Latn, štokavski / sh-Cyrl, italics=no, штокавски, ) is the prestige dialect of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language and the basis of its Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin standards. It ...
, on which Croatia's standard language is based.
Linguist Josip Silić, one of the main initiators behind the standardisation of Croatian, also regards Kajkavian as a distinct language by dint of its having significantly different morphology, syntax and phonology from the official Shtokavian-based standard. As of 2015, historic Literary Kajkavian has a separate language ISO 639-3 code – ''kjv''. Active attempts are being made by some organizations to widen its recognition and status, which has thus far included the introduction of elective school subjects in Kajkavian in some parts of Croatia.
The term Kajkavian stems from the interrogative pronoun ''kaj'' ("what"). The other main dialects of Croatian also derive their name from their reflex of the interrogative pronoun.
However, the pronouns are only general pointers and do not serve as actual identifiers of the respective dialects. Certain Kajkavian dialects use the interrogative pronoun ''ča'', the one that is usually used in
Chakavian
Chakavian or Čakavian (, , , sh-Latn, čakavski proper name: or own name: ''čokovski, čakavski, čekavski'') is a South Slavic regiolect or language spoken primarily by Croats along the Adriatic coast, in the historical regions of Dalmat ...
. Conversely, some Chakavian dialects (most notably around
Buzet in Istria) use the pronoun ''kaj''. The pronouns these dialects are named after are merely the most common one in that dialect.
Outside Croatia's northernmost regions, Kajkavian is also spoken in
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n
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 ...
and a number of enclaves in
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
along the Austrian and Croatian border and in
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
.
Although speakers of Kajkavian are primarily
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, G ...
, and Kajkavian is generally considered a dialect of Standard
Croatian, its closest relative is the
Slovene language
Slovene ( or ), or alternatively Slovenian (; or ), is a South Slavic languages, South Slavic language, a sub-branch that is part of the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family ...
(particularly the
Pannonian
Pannonia may refer to:
In geography:
* Basin of Pannonia, a geomorphological region (plain) in Central Europe
* Sea of Pannonia, an ancient (former) sea in Central Europe
* Steppe of Pannonia, a grassland ecosystem in the Pannonian Plain
In h ...
and
Styrian dialects of Slovene), followed by
Chakavian
Chakavian or Čakavian (, , , sh-Latn, čakavski proper name: or own name: ''čokovski, čakavski, čekavski'') is a South Slavic regiolect or language spoken primarily by Croats along the Adriatic coast, in the historical regions of Dalmat ...
and then
Shtokavian
Shtokavian or Štokavian (; sh-Latn, štokavski / sh-Cyrl, italics=no, штокавски, ) is the prestige dialect of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language and the basis of its Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin standards. It ...
. Kajkavian is part of the South Slavic dialect continuum, adjoining the Slovene language (Slovenia) and Chakavian dialects (Croatia).
Classification
Historically, the classification of Kajkavian has been a subject of much debate regarding both the question of whether it ought to be considered a dialect or a language, as well as the question of what its relation is to neighboring vernaculars.
Autonyms used throughout history by various Kajkavian writers have been manifold, ranging from ''Slavic'' (''slavonski'', ''slovenski'', ''slovinski'') to ''Croatian'' (''horvatski'') or ''Illyrian'' (''illirski''). The naming went through several phases, with the Slavic-based name initially being dominant. Over time, the name ''Croatian'' started gaining ground mainly during the 17th century, and by the beginning of the 18th century, it had supplanted the older name ''Slavic''. The name also followed the same evolution in neighboring Slovene
Prekmurje
Prekmurje (; dialectically: ''Prèkmürsko'' or ''Prèkmüre''; hu, Muravidék) is a geographically, linguistically, culturally and ethnically defined region of Slovenia, settled by Slovenes and a Hungarian minority, lying between the Mur Ri ...
and some other border areas in what is now Slovenia, although there the name ''Slovene-Croatian'' (''slovensko-horvatski'') existed as well. The actual term Kajkavian (''kajkavski'') is today accepted by its speakers in Croatia.
The problem with classifying Kajkavian within South Slavic stems in part from its structural differences from neighboring Shtokavian speeches as well as its historical closeness to Slovene speeches. Some
Slavist
Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...
s maintain that when the separation of
Western South Slavic
The South Slavic languages are one of three branches of the Slavic languages. There are approximately 30 million speakers, mainly in the Balkans. These are separated geographically from speakers of the other two Slavic branches (West and East) ...
speeches happened, they separated into four divergent groups — Shtokavian, Chakavian, Kajkavian, and Slovene.
As a result of this, throughout history Kajkavian has often been categorized differently than today. It was considered by many to be either a separate node altogether or a node categorized together with Slovene. Furthermore, very few isoglosses exist that separate all Slovene speeches from all other Western South Slavic dialects. Nor do innovations exist common to Kajkavian, Chakavian, and Shtokavian that would separate them from Slovene.
[
]
Characteristics
The Kajkavian speech area borders in the northwest on the
Slovene language
Slovene ( or ), or alternatively Slovenian (; or ), is a South Slavic languages, South Slavic language, a sub-branch that is part of the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family ...
and in the northeast on the
Hungarian language
Hungarian () is an Uralic language spoken in Hungary and parts of several neighbouring countries. It is the official language of Hungary and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union. Outside Hungary, it is also spoken by Hungarian ...
. In the east and southeast it is bordered by Shtokavian dialects roughly along a line that used to serve as the border between
Civil Croatia and the
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
Military Frontier
The Military Frontier (german: Militärgrenze, sh-Latn, Vojna krajina/Vojna granica, Војна крајина/Војна граница; hu, Katonai határőrvidék; ro, Graniță militară) was a borderland of the Habsburg monarchy and l ...
. Finally, in the southwest, it borders Chakavian along the Kupa and Dobra rivers.
It is thought that historically these borders extended further to the south and east. For example, the eastern border is thought to have extended at least well into modern-day
Slavonia
Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baranja ...
to the area around the town of
Pakrac
Pakrac is a town in western Slavonia, Croatia, population 4,842, total municipality population 8,460 (census 2011). Pakrac is located on the road and railroad connecting the regions of Posavina and Podravina.
Name
In Croatian the town is known a ...
. Some historical toponyms suggest a slightly larger extent.
The Croatian capital,
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 ...
, has historically been a Kajkavian-speaking area, and Kajkavian is still in use by its older and (to a lesser extent) by its younger population. Modern Zagreb speech has come under considerable influence from Shtokavian. The vast intermingling of Kajkavian and standard Shtokavian in Zagreb and its surroundings has led to problems in defining the underlying structure of those speech-groups. As a result, many of the urban speeches (but not rural ones) have been labelled either ''Kajkavian
koine
Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...
'' or ''Kajkavian–Shtokavian'' rather than Kajkavian or Shtokavian.
Additionally, the forms of speech in use exhibit significant sociolinguistic variation. Research suggests that younger Zagreb-born speakers of the Kajkavian koine tend to consciously use more Kajkavian features when speaking to older people, showing that such features are still in their linguistic inventory even if not used at all times.
However, the Kajkavian koine is distinct from Kajkavian as spoken in non-urban areas, and the mixing of Shtokavian and Kajkavian outside of urban settings is much rarer and less developed. The Kajkavian koine has also been named ''Zagreb Shtokavian'' by some.
As a result of the previously mentioned mixing of dialects, various Kajkavian features and characteristics have found their way into the standard Shtokavian (''standard Croatian'') spoken in those areas. For example, some of the prominent features are the fixed stress-based accentual system without distinctive lengths, the merger of /č/ and /ć/ and of /dž/ and /đ/, vocabulary differences as well as a different place of stress in words. The Zagreb variety of Shtokavian is considered by some to enjoy parallel prestige with the prescribed Shtokavian variety. Because of that, speakers whose native speech is closer to the standard variety often end up adopting the Zagreb speech for various reasons.
Kajkavian is closely related to Slovene - and to
Prekmurje Slovene
Prekmurje Slovene, also known as the Prekmurje dialect, East Slovene, or Wendish ( sl, prekmurščina, prekmursko narečje, hu, vend nyelv, muravidéki nyelv, Prekmurje dialect: ''prekmürski jezik, prekmürščina, prekmörščina, prekmör ...
in particular. Higher amounts of correspondences between the two exist in inflection and vocabulary. The speakers of the Prekmurje dialect are
Slovenes
The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Slovenci ), are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia, and adjacent regions in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Slovenes share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovene as their n ...
and
Hungarian Slovenes
Hungarian Slovenes ( Slovene: ''Madžarski Slovenci'', hu, Magyarországi szlovének) are an autochthonous ethnic and linguistic Slovene minority living in Hungary. The largest groups are the Rába Slovenes ( sl, porabski Slovenci, dialecticall ...
who belonged to the
Archdiocese of Zagreb
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Zagreb ( hr, Zagrebačka nadbiskupija, la, Archidioecesis Zagrebiensis) is the central archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Croatia, centered in the capital city Zagreb. It is the metropolitan see of Croatia, an ...
during the Habsburg era (until 1918). They used Kajkavian as their liturgical language, and by the 18th century, Kajkavian had become the standard language of Prekmurje.
Moreover, literary Kajkavian was also used in neighboring
Slovene Styria during the 17th and 18th centuries, and in parts of it, education was conducted in Kajkavian.
As a result of various factors, Kajkavian has numerous differences compared to Shtokavian:
* Kajkavian has a prothetic ''v-'' generalized in front of ''u'' (compare Kajkavian ''vuho'', Shtokavian ''uho''; Kajkavian ''vugel'', Shtokavian ''ugao''; Kajkavian ''vučil'', Shtokavian ''učio''). This feature has been attested in Glagolitic texts very early on, already around the 15th century (Petrisov zbornik, 1468). A similar feature exists in
colloquial Czech, as well as in many
Slovene dialects
In a purely dialectological sense, Slovene dialects ( sl, slovenska narečja , ) are the regionally diverse varieties that evolved from old Slovene, a South Slavic language of which the standardized modern version is Standard Slovene. This also ...
, especially from the
Pannonian
Pannonia may refer to:
In geography:
* Basin of Pannonia, a geomorphological region (plain) in Central Europe
* Sea of Pannonia, an ancient (former) sea in Central Europe
* Steppe of Pannonia, a grassland ecosystem in the Pannonian Plain
In h ...
,
Styrian and
Littoral dialect group
The Littoral dialect group (''primorska narečna skupina'') is a group of very heterogeneous dialects of Slovene. The Littoral dialects are spoken in most of the Slovenian Littoral (except for the mountainous areas around Tolmin and Cerkno, whe ...
s.
* Proto-Slavic *dj resulted in Kajkavian ''j'' as opposed to Shtokavian ''đ'' (cf. Kajkavian ''meja'', Shtokavian ''međa'', Slovene ''meja'').
* The nasal *ǫ has evolved into a closed /o/ in Kajkavian (cf. Kajkavian ''roka'', Shtokavian ''ruka'', Slovene ''roka'').
* Common Slavic *v and *v- survived as ''v'' in Kajkavian, whereas in Shtokavian they resulted in ''u'' and ''u-'', and in Chakavian they gave way to ''va''. The same feature is maintained in most Slovene dialects.
* Kajkavian has retained /č/ in front of /r/ (cf. Kajkavian ''črn'', ''črv'', Shtokavian ''crn'', ''crv'', Slovene ''črn'', ''črv'').
* Kajkavian /ž/ in front of a vowel turns into /r/. A similar evolution happened in Slovene, Chakavian as well as Western Shtokavian, however the latter does not use it in its standard form (cf. Kajkavian ''moči > morem/moreš/more'', Shtokavian ''moći > mogu/možeš/može'', Slovene ''moči > morem/moreš/more'').
* Kajkavian retains ''-jt'' and ''-jd'' clusters (cf. Kajkavian ''pojti'', ''pojdem'', Shtokavian ''poći'', ''pođem'').
This feature is shared by standard Slovene.
* Like most Slavic varieties (including Slovenian, but not Shtokavian), Kajkavian exhibits
final-obstruent devoicing
Final-obstruent devoicing or terminal devoicing is a systematic phonological process occurring in languages such as Catalan, German, Dutch, Breton, Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, Turkish, and Wolof. In such languages, voiced obstruents in ...
, however it is not consistently spelled out (cf. Kajkavian ''vrak'', Shtokavian ''vrag'')
* Diminutive suffixes in Kajkavian are ''-ek'', ''-ec'', ''-eko'', ''-eco'' (cf. Kajkavian ''pes > pesek'', Shtokavian ''pas > psić'').
The same diminutive suffixes are found in Slovene.
* Negative past-tense construction in Kajkavian deviates syntactically from neighboring speeches in its placing of the negative particle. Some argued that this might indicate a remnant of the Pannonian Slavic system. Similar behavior occurs in Slovak (compare Kajkavian ''ja sem nę čul'', Slovene ''jaz nisem slišal'', Shtokavian ''ja nisam čuo'').
* Some variants of Kajkavian have a different first-person plural present-tense suffix, ''-mę'' (cf. Kajkavian ''-mę'', ''rečemę'', Slovene ''-mo'', ''rečemo'', Shtokavian ''-mo'', ''kažemo'', Slovak ''-me'', ''povieme'') such as the Bednja dialect, although most Kajkavian sub-dialects retain the suffix ''-mo.''
* Relative pronouns differ from neighboring dialects and languages (although they are similar to Slovene). Kajkavian uses ''kateri'', ''tęri'' and ''šteri'' depending on sub-dialect (cf. Czech ''který'', Slovak ''ktorý'', Shtokavian ''koji'', standard Slovene ''kateri'',
Carniola
Carniola ( sl, Kranjska; , german: Krain; it, Carniola; hu, Krajna) is a historical region that comprised parts of present-day Slovenia. Although as a whole it does not exist anymore, Slovenes living within the former borders of the region sti ...
n dialects ''k'teri'', ''kęri'').
* The genitive plural in Shtokavian adds an -a to the end, whereas Kajkavian retains the old form (cf. Kajkavian ''vuk'', ''vukov/vukof'', Shtokavian ''vuk'', ''vukova'', Slovene ''volk'', ''volkov'', Kajkavian ''žene'', ''žen'', Shtokavian ''žene'', ''žena'', Slovene ''žene'', ''žen''/''žena'').
* Kajkavian retains the older locative plural (compare Kajkavian ''prsti'', ''prsteh'', Shtokavian ''prsti'', ''prstima'', Slovene ''prsti'', ''prstih'').
* The loss of the
dual is considered to be significantly more recent than in Shtokavian.
* Kajkavian has no vocative case.
This feature is shared with standard Slovene and most Slovene dialects.
* So-called ''s-type nouns'' have been retained as a separate declension class in Kajkavian contrasted from the neuter due to the formant ''-es-'' in oblique cases. The same is true for Slovene (compare Kajkavian ''čudo'', ''čudesa'', Shtokavian ''čudo'', ''čuda'', Slovene ''čudo'', ''čudesa'').
* Kajkavian has no
aorist
Aorist (; abbreviated ) verb forms usually express perfective aspect and refer to past events, similar to a preterite. Ancient Greek grammar had the aorist form, and the grammars of other Indo-European languages and languages influenced by the I ...
. The same is true for Slovene.
* The
supine
In grammar, a supine is a form of verbal noun used in some languages. The term is most often used for Latin, where it is one of the four principal parts of a verb. The word refers to a position of lying on one's back (as opposed to 'prone', lyi ...
has been retained as distinctive from infinitive, as in Slovene. The infinitive suffixes are ''-ti'', ''-či'' whereas their supine counterparts are ''-t'', ''-č''. The supine and the infinitive are often stressed differently. The supine is used with verbs of motion.
* The future tense is formed with the auxiliary ''biti'' and the ''-l'' participle as in standard Slovene and similar to Czech and Slovak (compare Kajkavian ''išel bom'', Shtokavian ''ići ću'', standard Slovene ''šel bom'', eastern Slovene dialects ''išel bom'').
* Modern urban Kajkavian speeches tend to have stress as the only significant prosodic feature as opposed to the Shtokavian four-tone system.
* Kajkavian exhibits various syntactic influences from German.
* The Slavic prefix u- has a ''vi-'' reflex in some dialects, similar to Czech ''vý-'' (compare Kajkavian ''vigled'', Czech ''výhled'', Shtokavian ''izgled''). This feature sets Kajkavian apart from Slovene, which shares the prefix -iz with Shtokavian.
In addition to the above list of characteristics that set Kajkavian apart from Shtokavian, research suggests possible a closer relation with Kajkavian and the
Slovak language
Slovak () , is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. It is part of the Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of the larger Balto-Slavic branch. Spoken by appro ...
, especially with the Central Slovak dialects upon which standard Slovak is based. As modern-day Hungary used to be populated by Slavic-speaking peoples prior to the arrival of Hungarians, there have been hypotheses on possible common innovations of future West and South Slavic speakers of that area. Kajkavian is the most prominent of the South Slavic speeches in sharing the most features that could potentially be common
Pannonian
Pannonia may refer to:
In geography:
* Basin of Pannonia, a geomorphological region (plain) in Central Europe
* Sea of Pannonia, an ancient (former) sea in Central Europe
* Steppe of Pannonia, a grassland ecosystem in the Pannonian Plain
In h ...
innovations.
Some Kajkavian words bear a closer resemblance to other Slavic languages such as
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
than they do to Shtokavian or Chakavian. For instance ''gda'' (also seen as shorter "da") seems to be at first glance unrelated to ''kada'', however when compared to Russian ''когда'', Slovene ''kdaj'', or Prekmurje Slovene ''gda'', ''kda'', the relationship becomes apparent. Kajkavian ''kak'' (''how'') and ''tak'' (''so'') are exactly like their Russian cognates and Prekmurje Slovene compared to Shtokavian, Chakavian, and standard Slovene ''kako'' and ''tako''. (This vowel loss occurred in most other Slavic languages; Shtokavian is a notable exception, whereas the same feature in
Macedonian is probably not due to Serbo-Croatian influence because the word is preserved in the same form in
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
, to which Macedonian is much more closely related than to Serbo-Croatian.)
History of research
Linguistic investigation began during the 19th century, although the research itself often ended in non-linguistic or outdated conclusions. Since that was the age of national revivals across Europe as well as the South Slavic lands, the research was steered by national narratives. Within that framework, Slovene philologists such as
Franz Miklosich
Franz Miklosich (german: Franz Ritter von Miklosich, also known in Slovene as ; 20 November 1813 – 7 March 1891) was a Slovene philologist.
Early life
Miklosich was born in the small village of Radomerščak near the Lower Styrian town of Lju ...
and
Jernej Kopitar
Jernej Kopitar, also known as Bartholomeus Kopitar (21 August 1780 – 11 August 1844), was a Slovene linguist and philologist working in Vienna. He also worked as the Imperial censor for Slovene literature in Vienna. He is perhaps best known ...
attempted to reinforce the idea of Slovene and Kajkavian unity and asserted that Kajkavian speakers are Slovenes.
On the other hand,
Josef Dobrovský
Josef Dobrovský (17 August 1753 – 6 January 1829) was a Czech philologist and historian, one of the most important figures of the Czech National Revival along with Josef Jungmann.
Life and work
Dobrovský was born at Balassagyarmat, Nógr ...
also claimed linguistic and national unity between the two groups but under the Croatian ethnonym.
The first modern dialectal investigations of Kajkavian started at the end of the 19th century. The Ukrainian philologist A. M. Lukjanenko wrote the first comprehensive monograph on Kajkavian (titled ''Кайкавское нарѣчiе'' (''Kajkavskoe narečie'') meaning ''The Kajkavian dialect'') in Russian in 1905. Kajkavian dialects have been classified along various criteria: for instance Serbian philologist
Aleksandar Belić
Aleksandar Belić (Serbian Cyrillic: Александар Белић, ; 15 August 1876 – 26 February 1960) was a Serbian linguist and academic.
Biography
Belić was born in Belgrade. After studying Slavic languages in Belgrade, Odessa, and M ...
divided (1927) the Kajkavian dialect according to the reflexes of Proto-Slavic phonemes /tj/ and /dj/ into three subdialects: eastern, northwestern and southwestern.
However, later investigations did not corroborate Belić's division. Contemporary Kajkavian dialectology begins with Croatian philologist
Stjepan Ivšić
Stjepan Ivšić (; 13 August 1884 – 14 January 1962) was a Croatian linguist, Slavic specialist, and accentologist.
Biography
After finishing primary school in Orahovica, he attended secondary school in Osijek and Požega. At the Faculty of Phi ...
's work "Jezik Hrvata kajkavaca" (''The Language of Kajkavian Croats'', 1936), which highlighted accentual characteristics. Due to the great diversity within Kajkavian primarily in phonetics, phonology, and morphology, the Kajkavian dialect atlas features a large number of subdialects: from four identified by Ivšić to six proposed by Croatian linguist
Brozović (formerly the accepted division) all the way up to fifteen according to a monograph by Croatian linguist
Mijo Lončarić
Mijo Lončarić (born 1 September 1941) is a Croatian linguist.
He was born in Reka, Croatia. He received a degree in Yugoslav languages and literature and German at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb in 1966, a ...
(1995).
Area of use
![Kamenita vulicza](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Kamenita_vulicza.jpg)
Kajkavian is mainly spoken in northern and northwestern Croatia. The mixed half-Kajkavian towns along the eastern and southern edge of the Kajkavian-speaking area are
Pitomača
Pitomača is a municipality in Croatia in the Virovitica–Podravina County. It has a population of 10,059 ( 2011 census), of whom 98.62% are Croats.
History
Since the end of the Ottoman Empire until 1918, Pitomača (named ''PITOMACA'' before ...
,
Čazma
Čazma is a town in Bjelovar-Bilogora County, Croatia. It is part of Moslavina.
Geography
Čazma is situated 60 kilometers east of Zagreb and only 30 kilometres from the center of the region - Bjelovar.
Čazma is situated on the slopes of Mos ...
,
Kutina
Kutina is a town in central Croatia, the largest settlement in the hilly region of Moslavina, in the Sisak-Moslavina County. The town proper has a population of 13,735 (2011), while the total municipal population is 22,760.
The settlement of Kuti ...
,
Popovača
Popovača is a town in Croatia in the Moslavina geographical region. Administratively it is part of the Sisak-Moslavina County. The town has a population of 11,905 (2011 census), 96% of which are ethnic Croats.
History
In the late 19th and early ...
,
Sunja,
Petrinja
Petrinja () is a town in central Croatia near Sisak in the historic region of Banovina. It is administratively located in Sisak-Moslavina County.
On December 29, 2020, the town was hit by a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 , causing ...
,
Martinska Ves,
Ozalj
Ozalj (, hu, Ozaly, german: Wosail or ''Woseil'') is a town in central Croatia, located north of Karlovac and southwest of Jastrebarsko, on the Kupa River. It is close to Žumberak in the north and the border with Slovenia in the northwest, wi ...
,
Ogulin
Ogulin () is a town in north-western Croatia, in Karlovac County. It has a population of 7,389 (2021) (it was 8,216 in 2011), and a total municipal population of 12,251 (2021). Ogulin is known for its historic stone castle, known as Kula, and the ...
,
Fužine, and
Čabar
Čabar is a town in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. There are 3,770 inhabitants (census 2011), in the following settlements:
* Bazli, population 5
* Brinjeva Draga, population 5
* Crni Lazi, population 117
* Čabar, popula ...
, including newer Štokavian enclaves of
Bjelovar
Bjelovar ( hu, Belovár, german: Bellowar, Kajkavian: ''Belovar'') is a city in central Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Bjelovar-Bilogora County. At the 2021 census, there were 36,433 inhabitants, of whom 93.06% were Croats.
History ...
,
Sisak
Sisak (; hu, Sziszek ; also known by other alternative names) is a city in central Croatia, spanning the confluence of the Kupa, Sava and Odra rivers, southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb, and is usually considered to be where the Posavin ...
,
Glina Glina is a word of Slavic origin, meaning "clay". It may refer to:
* Glina (river) in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
*Glina, Croatia, a town in Croatia
** Glina massacres, 1941
* Glina, Piotrków County in Łódź Voivodeship (central Poland)
* ...
,
Dubrava, Zagreb
Dubrava is a large urban area in east Zagreb, Croatia. It is located in the northeastern part of the city and divided by the Dubrava Avenue into two administrative areas:
* Gornja Dubrava (''Upper Dubrava''), population 61,841 (2011)
* Donja Dubr ...
and
Novi Zagreb
Novi Zagreb () is the part of the City of Zagreb located south of the Sava, Sava river. Novi Zagreb forms a distinct whole because it is separated from the northern part of the city both by the river and by the levees around Sava. At the same time ...
. The southernmost Kajkavian villages are
Krapje at
Jasenovac; and
Pavušek,
Dvorišče and
Hrvatsko selo
Hrvatsko Selo is a village in Croatian municipality of Topusko.
References
Populated places in Sisak-Moslavina County
{{SisakMoslavina-geo-stub ...
in Zrinska Gora (R. Fureš & A. Jembrih: ''Kajkavski u povijesnom i sadašnjem obzorju'' p. 548, Zabok 2006).
The major cities in northern Croatia are located in what was historically a Kajkavian-speaking area, mainly Zagreb, Koprivnica, Krapina, Križevci, Varaždin, Čakovec. The typical archaic Kajkavian is today spoken mainly in
Hrvatsko Zagorje
Hrvatsko Zagorje (; Croatian Zagorje; ''zagorje'' is Croatian for "backland" or "behind the hills") is a cultural region in northern Croatia, traditionally separated from the country's capital Zagreb by the Medvednica Mountain. It comprises ...
hills and
Međimurje plain, and in adjacent areas of northwestern Croatia where immigrants and the Štokavian standard had much less influence. The most peculiar Kajkavian dialect ''(Bednjounski)'' is spoken in
Bednja
Bednja () is a village and municipality in Croatia in the Varaždin County (west of Lepoglava), and also a river in northern Croatia.
According to the 2011 census, there are a total of 3,992 inhabitants, in the following settlements:
* Bednja, p ...
in northernmost Croatia. Many of northern Croatian urban areas today are partly Štokavianized due to the influence of the
standard language
A standard language (also standard variety, standard dialect, and standard) is a language variety that has undergone substantial codification of grammar and usage, although occasionally the term refers to the entirety of a language that includes ...
and immigration of Štokavian speakers.
Other southeastern people who immigrate to Zagreb from Štokavian territories often pick up rare elements of Kajkavian in order to assimilate, notably the pronoun "kaj" instead of "što" and the extended use of future anterior (''futur drugi''), but they never adapt well because of alien eastern accents and ignoring Kajkavian-Čakavian archaisms and syntax.
Kajkavian phonetics
Vowels:
consonants:
Literary Kajkavian
![Danica zagrebecka (1850)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Danica_zagrebecka_%281850%29.jpg)
Writings that are judged by some as being distinctly Kajkavian can be dated to around the 12th century. The first comprehensive works in Kajkavian started to appear during the 16th century at a time when Central Croatia gained prominence due to the geopolitical environment since it was free from Ottoman occupation. The most notable work of that era was Ivanuš Pergošić's , released in 1574. was a translation of
István Werbőczy
István Werbőczy or Stephen Werbőcz (also spelled ''Verbőczy'' and Latinized to ''Verbeucius'' 1458? – 1541) was a Hungarian legal theorist and statesman, author of the Hungarian Customary Law, who first became known as a legal scholar ...
's .
At the same time, many Protestant writers of the Slovene lands also released their works in Kajkavian in order to reach a wider audience, while also using some Kajkavian features in their native writings. During that time, the autonym used by the writers was usually (Slavic), (Croatian) or (Illyrian).
After that, numerous works appeared in the Kajkavian literary language: chronicles by
Vramec, liturgical works by
Ratkaj,
Habdelić,
Mulih; poetry by
Ana Katarina Zrinska
Countess Ana Katarina Zrinska (c. 1625–1673) was a Croatian noblewoman and poet, born into the House of Frankopan, Croatian noble family. She married Count Petar Zrinski of the House of Zrinski in 1641 and later became known as Katarina Zrinsk ...
and
Fran Krsto Frankopan
Fran Krsto Frankopan ( hu, Frangepán Ferenc Kristóf; 4 March 1643 – 30 April 1671) was a Croatian baroque poet, nobleman and politician. He is remembered primarily for his involvement in the failed Zrinski-Frankopan conspiracy. He was a C ...
, and a dramatic opus by
Tituš Brezovački. Kajkavian-based are important lexicographic works like
Jambrešić's "", 1670, and the monumental (2,000 pages and 50,000 words) Latin-Kajkavian-Latin dictionary "" (including also some Chakavian and Shtokavian words marked as such) by
Ivan Belostenec
Ivan Belostenec (c. 1594 – 2 February 1675) was a Croatian linguist, lexicographer and poet.
Life
In 1616 he joined the Paulists. He studied philosophy in Vienna and theology in Rome. Belostenec was a prior of Pauline monasteries in Lepoglava ...
(posthumously, 1740).
Miroslav Krleža
Miroslav Krleža (; 7 July 1893 – 29 December 1981) was a Yugoslav and Croatian writer who is widely considered to be the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century. He wrote notable works in all the literary genres, including poetry (''Ba ...
's poetic work "" drew heavily on Belostenec's dictionary. Kajkavian grammars include
Kornig's, 1795,
Matijević's, 1810 and
Đurkovečki's, 1837.
During that time, the Kajkavian literary language was the dominant written form in its spoken area along with Latin and German. Until
Ljudevit Gaj
Ljudevit Gaj (; born Ludwig Gay; hu, Gáj Lajos; 8 August 1809 – 20 April 1872) was a Croatian Linguistics, linguist, politician, journalist and writer. He was one of the central figures of the pan-Slavist Illyrian movement.
Biography
Origi ...
's attempts to modernize the spelling, Kajkavian was written using
Hungarian spelling conventions.
Kajkavian began to lose its status during the
Croatian National Revival
The Illyrian movement ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Ilirski pokret, Илирски покрет; sl, Ilirsko gibanje) was a pan-South-Slavic cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian inte ...
in mid-19th Century when the leaders of the
Illyrian movement
The Illyrian movement ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Ilirski pokret, Илирски покрет; sl, Ilirsko gibanje) was a pan-South-Slavic cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian inte ...
opted to use the Shtokavian dialect as the basis for the future South Slavic standard language, the reason being that it had the highest number of speakers. Initially, the choice of Shtokavian was accepted even among Slovene intellectuals, but later it fell out of favor.
The Zagreb linguistic school was opposed to the course that the standardization process took. Namely, it had almost completely ignored Kajkavian (and Chakavian) dialects which was contrary to the original vision of Zagreb school. With the notable exception of vocabulary influence of Kajkavian on the standard Croatian register (but not the Serbian one), there was very little to no input from other non-Shtokavian dialects.
Instead, the opposite was done, with some modern-day linguists calling the process of 19th-century standardization an event of "neo-Shtokavian purism" and a "purge of non-Shtokavian elements".
Early 20th century witnessed a drastic increase in released Kajkavian literature, although by then it had become part of what was considered Croatian dialectal poetry with no pretense of serving as a standard written form. The most notable writers of this period were among others,
Antun Gustav Matoš,
Miroslav Krleža
Miroslav Krleža (; 7 July 1893 – 29 December 1981) was a Yugoslav and Croatian writer who is widely considered to be the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century. He wrote notable works in all the literary genres, including poetry (''Ba ...
,
Ivan Goran Kovačić,
Dragutin Domjanić and
Nikola Pavić
Nikola () is a given name which, like Nicholas, is a version of the Greek ''Nikolaos'' (Νικόλαος). It is common as a masculine given name in the South Slavic countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montene ...
.
Kajkavian lexical treasure is being published by 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 Jo ...
in ("Dictionary of the Croatian Kajkavian Literary Language", 8 volumes, 1999).
Later,
Dario Vid Balog
Dario is a masculine given name, etymologically related to Darius.
Given name
* Dario Allevi (born 1965), Italian politician
* Dario Argento (born 1940), Italian film director
* Dario Badinelli (born 1946), Italian triple jumper
* Dario Bellezza ...
, actor, linguist and writer translated the New Testament in Kajkavian.
In 2018 is published the Kajkavian translation of
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry, simply known as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ; 29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), was a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of s ...
's ''
The Little Prince
''The Little Prince'' (french: Le Petit Prince, ) is a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and military pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 an ...
'' () by
Kajkavsko spravišče aka .
Mali Princ je pregovoril kajkavski! – Umjesto kave 15. prosinca 2018. (bozicabrkan.com)
/ref>
Below are examples of the Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...
in the Croatian variant of Shtokavian, literary Kajkavian and a Međimurje variant of the Kajkavian dialect.
Vocabulary comparison
What follows is a comparison of some words in Kajkavian, Shtokavian
Shtokavian or Štokavian (; sh-Latn, štokavski / sh-Cyrl, italics=no, штокавски, ) is the prestige dialect of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language and the basis of its Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin standards. It ...
and Slovene along with their English translations. Kajkavian is lexically closer to Slovene than to the Croatian Shtokavian dialects, which is considered by some another argument that Kajkavian is a separate language. The Kajkavian words are given in their most common orthographic form. Shtokavian words are given in their standard Croatian form. In cases where the place of accent or stress differs, the syllable with the stress or accent is indicated in bold. Words that are the same in all three are not listed. Loanwords are also not listed.
Kajkavian media
During Yugoslavia in the 20th century, Kajkavian was mostly restricted to private communication, poetry and folklore. With the recent regional democratizing and cultural revival beginning in the 1990s, Kajkavian partly regained its former half-public position chiefly in Zagorje and Varaždin Counties and local towns, where there is now some public media e.g.:
* A quarterly periodical ''"Kaj"'', with 35 annual volumes in nearly a hundred fascicles published since 1967 by the Kajkavian Association ('Kajkavsko Spravišče') in Zagreb.
* An autumnal week of ''Kajkavian culture'' in Krapina since 1997, with professional symposia on Kajkavian resulting in five published proceedings.
* An annual periodical, ''Hrvatski sjever'' ('Croatian North'), with a dozen volumes partly in Kajkavian published by Matica Hrvatska in Čakovec.
* A permanent radio program in Kajkavian, ''Kajkavian Radio'' in Krapina. Other minor half-Kajkavian media with temporary Kajkavian contents include local television in Varaždin, the local radio program ''Sljeme'' in Zagreb, and some local newspapers in northwestern Croatia in Varaždin, Čakovec, Samobor, etc.
Examples
* ''Kaj bum?'' – in Kajkavian: ''What should I do?''
* ''Kak je, tak je; tak je navek bilo, kak bu tak bu, a bu vre nekak kak bu!''
* ''"Nigdar ni tak bilo da ni nekak bilo, pak ni vezda ne bu da nam nekak ne bu."'' – Miroslav Krleža
Miroslav Krleža (; 7 July 1893 – 29 December 1981) was a Yugoslav and Croatian writer who is widely considered to be the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century. He wrote notable works in all the literary genres, including poetry (''Ba ...
(quotation from poem " Khevenhiller")
* ''Kaj buš ti, bum i ja!'' (Whatever you do, I'll do it too!)
* ''Ne bu išlo!'' (standard Croatian: ''Ne može tako'', ''Neće ići'', Slovene: ''Ne bo šlo'', "It won't work!")
* ''"Bumo vidli!"'' (štokavski: "Vidjet ćemo!", Slovene: ''Bomo videli'', English: "We will see!")
* ''"Dej muči!"'' or ''"Muči daj!"'' (štokavski: "Daj šuti!", Slovene: ''Daj molči'', English: "Shut up!")
* ''"Buš pukel?" – "Bum!"'' (jokingly: "Will you explode?" – "I will!")
* Numerous supplementary examples see also by ''A. Negro:'
"Agramerski štikleci"
* Another major example – traditional ''Kajkavian "Paternoster"'' (bold = site of stress): Japa naš kteri si f 'nebesih nek sesvete ime Tvoje, nek prihaja cesarstvo Tvoje, nek bu volya Tvoja kakti na nebe tak pa na zemle. Kruhek naš sakdajni nam daj denes ter odpuščaj nam dugi naše, kakti mi odpuščamo dužnikom našim ter naj nas fpelati vu skušnje, nek nas zbavi od sekih hudobah. F'se veke vekof, Amen.
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Feletar D., Ledić G., Šir A.: ''Kajkaviana Croatica'' (Hrvatska kajkavska riječ). Muzej Međimurja, 37 pp., Čakovec 1997.
* Fureš R., Jembrih A. (ured.): ''Kajkavski u povijesnom i sadašnjem obzorju'' (zbornik skupova Krapina 2002-2006). Hrvatska udruga Muži zagorskog srca, 587 pp. Zabok 2006.
* JAZU / HAZU: ''Rječnik hrvatskoga kajkavskog književnog jezika'' (A – P), I – X. Zavod za hrvatski jezik i jezikoslovlje 2500 pp., Zagreb 1984-2005.
* Lipljin, T. 2002: ''Rječnik varaždinskoga kajkavskog govora''. Garestin, Varaždin, 1284 pp. (2. prošireno izdanje u tisku 2008.)
* Lončarić, M. 1996: ''Kajkavsko narječje''. Školska knjiga, Zagreb, 198 pp.
* Magner, F. 1971: ''Kajkavian Koiné''. Symbolae in Honorem Georgii Y. Shevelov, Munich.
* Moguš, M.: ''A History of the Croatian Language'', NZ Globus, Zagreb 1995
* Šojat, A. 1969-1971: ''Kratki navuk jezičnice horvatske'' (Jezik stare kajkavske književnosti). Kaj 1969: 3-4, 5, 7-8, 10, 12; Kaj 1970: 2, 3-4, 10; Kaj 1971: 10, 11. Kajkavsko spravišče, Zagreb.
* Okuka, M. 2008: ''Srpski dijalekti''. SKD Prosvjeta, Zagreb, 7 pp.
*
References
*
*
*
Further reading
* Jedvaj, Josip 1956:
Bednjanski govor
', Hrvatski dijalektološki zbornik, Yugoslav 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 Jo ...
External links
"Agramerski štikleci"
Kajkavian phrases and proverbs
Kajkavska Renesansa – Kajkavski jezik
{{Serbo-Croatian dialects
South Slavic languages