![Shtokavian subdialects1988 incl Slovenia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Shtokavian_subdialects1988_incl_Slovenia.png)
The dialects of Serbo-Croatian include the
vernacular forms 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 ...
as a whole or as part of its
standard varieties:
Bosnian,
Croatian,
Montenegrin and
Serbian. They are part of the
dialect continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
of
South Slavic languages
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) ...
that joins the
Macedonian dialects
The dialects of Macedonian comprise the Slavic dialects spoken in the Republic of North Macedonia as well as some varieties spoken in the wider geographic region of Macedonia. They are part of the dialect continuum of South Slavic languages that ...
to the south,
Bulgarian dialects
Bulgarian dialects are the nonstandard dialect, regional varieties of the Bulgarian language, a South Slavic language. Bulgarian dialectology dates to the 1830s and the pioneering work of Neofit Rilski, ''Bolgarska gramatika' ...
to the southeast and
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 al ...
to the northwest.
[Matasović 2008]
The division of South Slavic dialects to "Slovene", "Serbo-Croatian", "Macedonian" and "Bulgarian" is mostly based on political grounds: for example all dialects within modern Slovenia are classified as "Slovene", despite some of them historically originating from other regions, while all dialects in modern Croatia are classified as "Croatian" (or "Serbo-Croatian" before 1990) despite not forming a coherent linguistic entity (and some are proven to originate from parts of what is today Slovenia). Therefore, "Serbo-Croatian dialects" are simply South Slavic dialects in countries where a variant of Serbo-Croatian is used as the standard language.
The primary dialects are named after the most common question word for ''what'':
Shtokavian (''štokavski'') uses the pronoun ''što'' or ''šta'',
Chakavian (''čakavski'') uses ''ča'' or ''ca'',
Kajkavian (''kajkavski''), ''kaj'' or ''kej''. The pluricentric Serbo-Croatian standard language and all four contemporary standard variants
are based on the
Eastern Herzegovinian subdialect of Neo-Shtokavian. The other dialects are not taught in schools or used by the state media. The
Torlakian dialect
Torlakian, or Torlak is a group of South Slavic dialects of southeastern Serbia, Kosovo, northeastern North Macedonia, and northwestern Bulgaria. Torlakian, together with Bulgarian and Macedonian, falls into the Balkan Slavic linguistic ar ...
is often added to the list, though sources usually note that it is a transitional dialect between Shtokavian and the Bulgaro-Macedonian dialects.
Burgenland Croatian
Burgenland Croatian (; german: Burgenländisch-Kroatisch, Burgenlandkroatisch, burgenlandkroatische Sprache, burgenländisch-kroatischen Sprache, hu, gradiscsei horvát nyelv) is a regional variety of the Chakavian dialect of Croatian spoken ...
and
Molise Slavic are varieties of the Chakavian dialect spoken outside the South Slavic dialect continuum, which combine influences from other dialects of Serbo-Croatian as well as influences from the dominantly spoken local languages.
Another frequently-noted distinction among the dialects is made through the reflex of the long
Common Slavic
Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium B.C. through the 6th ...
vowel ''
jat
The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...
''; the dialects are divided along Ikavian, Ekavian, and Ijekavian
isogloss
An isogloss, also called a heterogloss (see Etymology below), is the geographic boundary of a certain linguistic feature, such as the pronunciation of a vowel, the meaning of a word, or the use of some morphological or syntactic feature. Major d ...
es, with the reflects of ''jat'' being /i/, /e/, and /ije/ or /je/ respectively.
Main dialects
Shtokavian dialect
History
The Proto-Shtokavian idiom appeared in the 12th century. In the following century or two, Shtokavian was divided into two zones: western, which covered the major part of
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 H ...
and
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 ...
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 =
, capit ...
, and eastern, dominant in easternmost
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 H ...
and greater parts of
Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
and
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
. Western Shtokavian was principally characterized by three-accentual system, while eastern Shtokavian was marked by two-accentual system. According to research of historical linguistics, the Old-Shtokavian was well established by the mid-15th century. In this period it was still being mixed with Church Slavonic to varying degrees, as geographically transitory to Chakavian and Kajkavian dialects spoken on the territory of today's Croatia, with which it had constituted a natural
dialect continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
.
Distribution and subdialects
![Dijalekti-Štokavskog-narečja](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Dijalekti-%C5%A0tokavskog-nare%C4%8Dja.svg)
Originally the dialect covered a significantly smaller area than it covers today, meaning that the Štokavian speech had spread for the last five centuries, overwhelmingly at the expense of Čakavian and Kajkavian idioms. Modern areal distribution of these three dialects as well as their internal stratification (Štokavian and Čakavian in particular) is primarily a result of the
migrations resulting from the spread of
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
on the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
. Migratory waves were particularly strong in the 16th–18th century, bringing about large-scale linguistic and ethnic changes on the Central South Slavic area (See:
Great Serb Migrations
The Great Migrations of the Serbs ( sr, Велике сеобе Срба), also known as the Great Exoduses of the Serbs, refers mainly to two Human migrations, large migrations of Serbs from various territories under the rule of the Ottoman Em ...
).
By far the most numerous, mobile and expansionist migrations were those of Ijekavian Štokavian speakers of eastern
Herzegovina
Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geogra ...
, who have flooded most of Western Serbia, many areas of eastern and western
Bosnia
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 He ...
, large swathes of Croatia (
Banovina,
Kordun
The Kordun () region is a part of central Croatia from the bottom of the Petrova Gora (Peter's mountain) mountain range, which extends along the rivers Korana and Slunjčica, and forms part of the border region to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Within ...
,
Lika, parts of
Gorski kotar, continental parts of northern
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
, some places north 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 t ...
, parts of
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 ...
, southeastern
Baranya Baranya or Baranja may refer to:
* Baranya (region) or Baranja, a region in Hungary and Croatia
* Baranya County, a county in modern Hungary
* Baranya County (former), a county in the historic Kingdom of Hungary
* Baranya, Hungarian name of villag ...
etc.). This is the reason why
Eastern Herzegovinian dialect
The Eastern Herzegovinian dialect (, Serbo-Croatian: ''istočnohercegovački'' / источнохерцеговачки) is the most widespread subdialect of the Shtokavian dialect of Serbo-Croatian, both by territory and the number of speakers. ...
is the most spoken Serbo-Croatian dialect today, and why it bears the name that is only descriptive of its area of origin. These migrations also played the pivotal role in the spread of Neo-Štokavian innovations.
Shtokavian dialect spoken by Croats has more dialects, there are innovative new Shtokavian dialect ikavian as it is spoken in
west Herzegovina
The West Herzegovina Canton ( hr, Županija Zapadnohercegovačka, bs, Zapadnohercegovački kanton) is one of the cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The West Herzegovina Canton is in the Herzegovina region in the southwest of B ...
,
Dalmatian Hinterland
The Dalmatian Hinterland ( hr, Dalmatinska zagora; it, La Morlacca or ) is the southern inland hinterland in the historical Croatian region of Dalmatia. The name ''zagora'' means "beyond (the) hills", which is a reference to the fact that it is t ...
,
Lika, parts of
Velebit
Velebit (; it, Alpi Bebie) is the largest, though not the highest, mountain range in Croatia. The range forms a part of the Dinaric Alps and is located along the Adriatic coast, separating it from Lika in the interior. Velebit begins in the nor ...
area and in some places of
Gorski kotar,
Vojvodina
Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...
,
Bačka
Bačka ( sr-cyrl, Бачка, ) or Bácska () is a geographical and historical area within the Pannonian Plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east. It is divided between Serbia and Hungary ...
and in neighboring Hungarian areas. New Shtokavian is spoken by Croats in
east Herzegovina
East Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Istočna Hercegovina, Источна Херцеговина) is the eastern part of the historical Herzegovina region in Bosnia and Herzegovina, east of the Neretva river, part of the Republika Srpska entity. Major ...
, more recently in the
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 Mediterran ...
area and in many places of the former
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 ...
.
The Shtokavian dialect is divided into Old Shtokavian and Neo-Shtokavian subdialects.
Subdialects grouped under Old-Shtokavian are the following:
*
Slavonian dialect
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 ...
(also called ''Archaic Šćakavian'').
*
East Bosnian dialect (also called ''Jekavian-Šćakavian'');
*
Zeta–South Raška dialect (also called ''Đekavian-Ijekavian'');
*
Kosovo–Resava dialect (also called ''Older Ekavian'');
*
Prizren–Timok dialect
The Prizren–Timok dialect (Serbo-Croatian: Призренско–тимочки дијалекат / ''Prizrensko–timočki dijalekat'') is the name given by Serbian linguists to a specific part of Shtokavian dialects, spoken in Eastern and So ...
(also called ''Old-Serbian'')
Neo-Shtokavian dialects comprise the following subdialects:
*
Bosnian–Dalmatian dialect (also called ''Western Ikavian'' or ''Younger Ikavian'');
*
Bunjevac dialect
The Bunjevac dialect (), also known as Bunjevac speech (), is the Danubian branch of Shtokavian– Younger Ikavian dialect of the Serbo-Croatian pluricentric language, preserved among members of the Bunjevac community. Their accent is purel ...
(Shtokavian–Younger Ikavian dialect);
*
Dubrovnik dialect (also called ''Western Ijekavian'');
*
Eastern Herzegovinian dialect
The Eastern Herzegovinian dialect (, Serbo-Croatian: ''istočnohercegovački'' / источнохерцеговачки) is the most widespread subdialect of the Shtokavian dialect of Serbo-Croatian, both by territory and the number of speakers. ...
(also called ''Neo-Ijekavian'');
*
Užican dialect (also called ''Zlatibor dialect'');
*
Šumadija–Vojvodina dialect
Šumadija–Vojvodina dialect (Serbo-Croatian: Latin: ''Šumadijsko-vojvođanski dijalekat'', Cyrillic: Шумадијско-војвођански дијалекат) is a dialect of Shtokavian / Serbo-Croatian. It is a base for Ekavian Standa ...
(also called ''Younger Ekavian'');
*
Smederevo–Vršac dialect
Smederevo–Vršac dialect (Serbo-Croatian: Gaj's Latin alphabet, Latin: ''Smederevsko-vršački dijalekat'', Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Cyrillic: Смедеревско-вршачки дијалекат) is a subdialect of the Shtokavian dialect o ...
.
Characteristics
Shtokavian is characterized by a number of characteristic historical
sound change
A sound change, in historical linguistics, is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature value) by a different one (called phonetic chang ...
s,
accentual changes, changes in
inflection
In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and defin ...
,
morphology
Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to:
Disciplines
* Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts
* Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...
and
syntax
In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...
. Some of these isoglosses are not exclusive and have also been shared by neighboring dialects, and some of them have only overwhelmingly but not completely been spread on the whole Štokavian area. The differences between Štokavian and the neighboring Eastern South Slavic dialects of
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
and
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...
are clear and largely shared with other Western South Slavic dialects, while the differences to the neighboring Western South Slavic dialect of Čakavian and Kajkavian are much more fluid in character, and the mutual influence of various subdialects and idioms play a more prominent role.
General characteristics of Štokavian are the following:
# ''
što'' or ''
šta'' as the demonstrative/interrogative pronoun;
# differentiation between two short (in addition to two or three long) accents, rising and falling, though not in all Štokavian speakers;
# preservation of unaccented length, but not consistently across all speeches;
# ''/u/'' as the reflex of Common Slavic back nasal vowel ''/ǫ/'' as well as the syllabic ''/l/'' (with the exception of central Bosnia where a diphthongal ''/uo/'' is also recorded as a reflex);
# initial group of ''v-'' +
weak semivowel yields ''u-'' (e.g. ''
unuk'' < Common Slavic *vъnukъ);
#
schwa
In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa (, rarely or ; sometimes spelled shwa) is a vowel sound denoted by the IPA symbol , placed in the central position of the vowel chart. In English and some other languages, it rep ...
resulting from the ''jer'' merger yields ''/a/'', with the exception of Zeta-South Sandžak dialect;
#
metathesis of ''vьse'' to ''sve'';
# ''čr-'' > ''cr-'', with the exception of Slavonian, Molise and Vlachia (Gradišće) dialect;
# word-final ''-l'' changes to ''/o/'' or ''/a/''; the exception is verbal adjective in the Slavonian southwest;
# ''
d''' > /dʑ/ (<đ>) with numerous exceptions
# ''cr'' > ''tr'' in the word ''
trešnja'' "cherry"; some exceptions in Slavonia, Hungary and Romania;
# /ć/ and /đ/ from ''jt'', ''jd'' (e.g. ''
poći'', ''pođem''); exceptions in Slavonian and Eastern Bosnian dialect;
# so-called "new iotation" of dentals and labials, with many exceptions, especially in Slavonia and Bosnia;
# general loss of phoneme ''/x/'', with many exceptions;
# ending ''-ā'' in genitive plural of masculine and feminine nouns, with many exceptions;
# ending ''-u'' in locative singular of masculine and neuter nouns (e.g. ''u gradu'', ''u m(j)estu'');
# infix ''-ov-'' / ''-ev-'' in the plural of most monosyllabic masculine nouns, with many exceptions (e.g. in the area between Neretva and Dubrovnik);
#
syncretism
Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various school of thought, schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or religious assimilation, assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in t ...
of dative, locative and instrumental plural of nouns, with many exceptions;
# preservation of ending ''-og(a)'' in genitive and accusative singular of masculine and neuter gender if pronominal-adjectival declension (e.g. ''drugoga''), with exceptions on the area of Dubrovnik and Livno;
# special form with the ending ''-a'' for the neuter gender in nominative plural of pronominal-adjectival declension (e.g. ''ova m(j)esta'' and no ''ove m(j)esta'');
# preservation of
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 ...
, which is however missing in some areas (e.g. around Dubrovnik);
# special constructs reflecting old dual for numerals 2–4 (''dva, tri, četiri stola'');
# many so-called "Turkisms" (''turcizmi'') or "Orientalisms", i.e. words borrowed from
Ottoman Turkish.
As can be seen from the list, many of these isoglosses are missing from certain Štokavian idioms, just as many of them are shared with neighboring non-Štokavian dialects.
Chakavian dialect
History
Chakavian is the oldest written Serbo-Croatian dialect that had made a visible appearance in legal documents – as early as 1275 ("Istrian land survey") and 1288 ("Vinodol codex"), the predominantly vernacular Chakavian is recorded, mixed with elements of Church Slavic. Archaic Chakavian can be traced back to 1105 in the
Baška tablet
Baška tablet ( hr, Bašćanska ploča, ) is one of the first monuments containing an inscription in the Croatian recension of the Church Slavonic language, dating from . The inscription is written in the Glagolitic script. It was discovered in 1 ...
. All these and other early Chakavian texts up to 17th century are mostly written in
Glagolitic alphabet
The Glagolitic script (, , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed to have been created in the 9th century by Saint Cyril, a monk from Thessalonica. He and his brother Saint Methodius were sent by the Byzan ...
.
Distribution and subdialects
![Croatia Dialects Cakavian](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Croatia_Dialects_Cakavian.svg)
Initially, the Chakavian dialect covered a much wider area than today including 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 =
, capit ...
: 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 t ...
and westwards of
Una river, as well as 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 H ...
. During and after the Ottoman intrusion and subsequent warfare (15th–18th centuries), the Chakavian area has become greatly reduced and in the Croatian mainland it has recently been almost entirely replaced by Shtokavian, so it is now spoken in a much smaller coastal area than indicated above.
Chakavian 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.
* The majority of Adriatic islands are Chakavian, except the easternmost ones (
Mljet
Mljet (; la, Melita, it, Meleda) is the southernmost and easternmost of the larger Adriatic islands of the Dalmatia region of Croatia. The National Park includes the western part of the island, Veliko jezero, Malo jezero, Soline Bay and a sea be ...
and
Elafiti); and easternmost areas of
Hvar
Hvar (; Chakavian: ''Hvor'' or ''For'', el, Φάρος, Pharos, la, Pharia, it, Lesina) is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, located off the Dalmatian coast, lying between the islands of Brač, Vis and Korčula. Approximately long,
wi ...
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 talle ...
, as well as the area around the city of
Korčula
Korčula (, it, Curzola) is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea. It has an area of , is long and on average wide, and lies just off the Dalmatian coast. Its 15,522 inhabitants (2011) make it the second most populous Adriatic island after K ...
on the island of
Korčula
Korčula (, it, Curzola) is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea. It has an area of , is long and on average wide, and lies just off the Dalmatian coast. Its 15,522 inhabitants (2011) make it the second most populous Adriatic island after K ...
.
* Its largest mainland area is the subentire
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 ...
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 serv ...
,
Biograd
Biograd na Moru (), shortened to simply Biograd (), is a town in northern Dalmatia, Croatia and is significant for being another capital of the medieval Kingdom of Croatia. Biograd is administratively part of the Zadar County. It is located on th ...
,
Split
Split(s) or The Split may refer to:
Places
* Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia
* Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay
* Split Island, Falkland Islands
* Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua
Arts, enterta ...
, 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 to ...
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: minor enclave of
Bigova
Bigova ( sr-Cyrl, Бигова) is a village in the municipality of Kotor, Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coord ...
(Trašte) at
Boka Kotorska
The Bay of Kotor ( Montenegrin and Serbian: , Italian: ), also known as the Boka, is a winding bay of the Adriatic Sea in southwestern Montenegro and the region of Montenegro concentrated around the bay. It is also the southernmost part of the hi ...
in Montenegro, the mixed
Čičarija dialect
The Čičarija dialect (''čiško narečje'', ''čički dialekt''Rigler, Jakob. 1963. ''Južnonotranjski govori''. Ljubljana: SAZU, pp. 11–12.) is a Slovene dialect in the Littoral dialect group. It is spoken in a few villages in Slovenian Istr ...
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
,
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 List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
).
The Chakavian dialect comprises the following subdialects:
*
Buzet dialect
The Buzet dialect ( hr, buzetski dijalekt) is a dialect of the Chakavian regiolect or language within Croatia. It is spoken in northern Istria around Buzet.
The Buzet dialect is transitional between the Slovenian language and Kajkavian languag ...
;
*
Middle Chakavian
Central Chakavian (also translated as Middle Chakavian; hr, srednječakavski dijalekt) is a dialect of the Chakavian variety of Croatian. It is spoken on the islands Dugi, Kornati, Lošinj, Krk, Rab, Ugljan (except the southernmost Southern Cha ...
;
*
Northern Chakavian
Northern Chakavian ( sh, sjevernočakavski dijalekt) is a dialect of the Chakavian variety of Croatian. It is spoken in eastern Istria, outskirts of Žminj and Pazin, Croatian Littoral up to Bakar, on the islands of Cres and northern Lošinj, ...
;
*
Southern Chakavian
Southern Chakavian ( sh, južnočakavski dijalekt) or Ikavian Chakavian is a dialect of the Chakavian variety of Croatian. It is spoken in the area south of the Central Chakavian area, in a narrow strip of Dalmatian littoral and the neighbouring i ...
;
*
Southeastern Chakavian
Southeastern Chakavian ( sh, južnoistočni čakavski dijalekt) or Ijekavian accent is a dialect of the Chakavian variety of Croatian. It is spoken by the peoples of the diaspora of Lastovo, and on the islands of Janjina on Pelješac, Bigova o ...
;
*
Southwest Istrian
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
.
Characteristics
There is no generally accepted opinion on the set of characteristics a dialect has to possess to be classified as Chakavian (rather than its admixture with Shtokavian or Kajkavian), but the following characteristics are most commonly proposed:
* interrogatory pronoun is ''"ča"'' or ''"zač"'' (in 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" replacing the Shtokavian "đ" (dj): for "between", Chakavian ''meju'', Shtokavian ''među'';
* "m" shifts to "n" at the end of words: standard Croatian ''volim'' ("I love"), ''sam'' ("I am"), ''selom'' ("village" – Instrumental case) become 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
Besides the usual Chakavian (with typical pronoun "ča"), in some Adriatic islands and in eastern Istra 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 alpha ...
);
* 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 Istra at Labin, Rabac and a dozen nearby villages; minor mainland enclaves are the towns Bakar and Trogir. Tsakavism is also frequent in Adriatic islands: part of Lošinj and nearby islets, 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 the ...
), Hvar town, and subentire Vis with adjacent islets.
Kajkavian dialect
History
Dialectogical investigations of the Kajkavian dialect had begun at the end of the 19th century: the first comprehensive monograph was written in Russian by Ukrainian philologist A. M. Lukjanenko in 1905 (''Kajkavskoe narečie''). Kajkavian is not only a folk dialect, but in the course of history of Serbo-Croatian it has been the written public language (along with the corpus written in Čakavian and Štokavian). Kajkavian was the last to appear on the scene, mainly due to economic and political reasons. Although the first truly vernacular Serbo-Croatian texts (i.e. not mixed with Church Slavonic) go back to the 13th century (Chakavian) and to the 14th century (Shtokavian), the first Kajkavian published work was ''Pergošićs "Decretum" from 1574. After that, numerous works appeared in Serbo-Croatian Kajkavian literary language in the following centuries.
Kajkavian literary language gradually fell into disuse since
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 ...
, ca. 1830–1850, when leaders of the Croatian National Unification Movement (the majority of them being Kajkavian native speakers themselves) adopted the most widespread and developed Serbo-Croatian Shtokavian literary language as the basis for the Croatian standard language. However, after a period of lethargy, the 20th century has witnessed new flourishing of literature in Kajkavian dialect – this time as Croatian dialectal poetry, main authors being
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,
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 ...
etc. Nowadays, 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 "Rječnik hrvatskoga kajkavskoga književnoga jezika"/''Dictionary of the Croatian Kajkavian Literary Language'', 8 volumes (1999).
Distribution and subdialects
![Kajkavstina](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Kajkavstina.png)
Kajkavian is spoken in
North Croatia
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
, including the 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 ...
, as well as in a few enclaves 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 ...
,
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 ...
, and
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 ...
. Though its speakers are ethnic Croats and Kajkavian is thus generally considered a dialect of Serbo-Croatian, it is closer to neighboring
Slovene than it is to Chakavian or Shtokavian. The Kajkavian area of Croatia is bordered on the northwest by
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 ...
territory. It is bordered on the east and southeast by Shtokavian dialects roughly along a line that was the former division 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 ...
; in southwest along Kupa and Dobra rivers, it persisted in ancient (medieval) contact with Chakavian dialects.
The major cities in northern Croatia with prevailing urban Kajkavians are chiefly Zagreb (old central city, Sesvete and V. Gorica), Koprivnica, Krapina, Križevci, Varaždin, Čakovec, etc. The typical and archaic Kajkavian is today spoken chiefly in
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 compris ...
hills and
Medjimurje plain, and in adjacent areas of northwestern Croatia where other immigrants and Štokavian standard had much less influence. The most peculiar Kajkavian archidiom ''(Baegnunski)'' is spoken at
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. The mixed half-Kajkavian towns along the eastern and southern edge of 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 ...
,
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, w ...
,
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 ...
, with included 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,
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 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, it i ...
. 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.
Kajkavian dialects have been classified along various criteria: 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 ...
had 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 have not corroborated Belić's division. Contemporary Kajkavian dialectology originates mainly from 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 is based on accentuation characteristics. Due to great diversity of Kajkavian speech, primarily in phonetics, phonology and morphology – the Kajkavian dialectological atlas is notable for its bewildering proliferation of subdialects: from four identified by Ivšić, up to six proposed by Croatian linguist
Brozović (formerly accepted division) and even as many as fifteen, according to a monograph authored 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).
The most commonly accepted division of Kajkavian dialect lists the following subdialects:
*
Zagorje–Međimurje;
*
Turopolje-Posavina;
*
Križevci-Podravina;
*
Prigorje
Prigorje () is a geographical subdivision of Croatia, the region around its capital Zagreb, which stretches along the southern slope of Medvednica mountain (colloquially known as "Zagreb's mountain") roughly between Žumberak mountain range and ...
;
*
Lower Sutlan;
*
Goran.
Characteristics
Kajkavian is closely related to Slovene and to 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 ...
in particular. The speakers of 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. Higher amounts of correspondences between the two exist in inflection and vocabulary. Some Kajkavian words also 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'' seems (at first glance) to be unrelated to ''kada'', however, when compared to the Russian ''когда'', the relationship becomes more apparent, at the same time in Slovene: ''kdaj,'' in Prekmurje Slovene ''gda, kda''. Kajkavian ''kak'' (''how'') and ''tak'' (''so'') are exactly like their Russian cognates, as compared to Shtokavian and Chakavian ''kako'' and ''tako,'' in Prekmurje Slovene in turn ''tak, kak'' (in Slovene like Chakavian: ''tako, kako''). (This vowel loss occurred in most other Slavic languages; Shtokavian is a notable exception, whereas the same feature of
Macedonian is probably not a Serbian 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 Serbian.). Another distinctive feature of Kajkavian is the use of another
future tense
In grammar, a future tense (abbreviated ) is a verb form that generally marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future. An example of a future tense form is the French ''aimera'', meaning ...
. Instead of Shtokavian and Chakavian future I ("ću", "ćeš", and "će" + infinitive), Kajkavian speakers use future II ("bum", "buš" and "bu" + active verbal adjective). Future II in Standard Croatian can only be used in subordinate clauses to refer to a condition or an action which will occur before other future action. For example, the phrase ''"I'll show you"'' is ''"Ti bum pokazal"'' in Kajkavian whereas in standard Croatian it is ''"Pokazat ću ti"''. This is a feature shared with Slovene: ''bom'', ''boš'', ''bo''.
Comparative analysis
The Serbo-Croatian dialects differ not only in the question word they are named after, but also heavily in phonology, accentuation and intonation, case endings and tense system (morphology) and basic vocabulary. In the past, Chakavian and Kajkavian dialects were spoken on a much larger territory, but have subsequently been replaced by Štokavian during the period of migrations caused by Ottoman Turkish conquest of the Balkans in the 15th and the 16th century. These migrations caused the koinéisation of the Shtokavian dialects, that used to form the West Shtokavian (more closer and transitional towards the neighbouring Chakavian and Kajkavian dialects) and East Shtokavian (transitional towards the Torlakian and the whole Bulgaro-Macedonian area) dialect bundles, and their subsequent spread at the expense of Chakavian and Kajkavian. As a result, Štokavian now covers an area larger than all the other dialects combined, and continues to make its progress in the enclaves where subliterary dialects are still being spoken.
The main bundle of isoglosses separates Kajkavian and Slovenian dialects on the one hand from Štokavian and Čakavian on the other. These are:
# long falling accent of newer origin (neocircumflex);
# development of the consonant group ''rj'' (as opposed to consonant ''/r/'') from former soft ''/r'/'' before a vowel (e.g. ''morjem'', ''zorja'');
# reflexes of ''/o/'' or ''/ọ/'' of the old
Common Slavic
Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium B.C. through the 6th ...
nasal vowel
A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the soft palate (or velum) so that the air flow escapes through the nose and the mouth simultaneously, as in the French vowel or Amoy []. By contrast, oral vowels are produced wit ...
''/ǫ/'', and not ''/u/'';
# inflectional morpheme ''-o'' (as opposed to ''-ojo'') in the instrumental singular of a-declension.
Other characteristics distinguishing Kajkavian from Štokavian, beside the demonstrative/interrogatory pronoun ''kaj'' (as opposed to ''što/šta'' used in Štokavian), are:
[Cited after ]
# a reflex of old
semivowels
In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel, glide or semiconsonant is a sound that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary, rather than as the nucleus of a syllable. Examples of semivowels in English are the c ...
of ''/ẹ/'' (e.g. ''dẹn'' < Common Slavic *dьnь, ''pẹs'' < Common Slavic *pьsъ); closed ''/ẹ/'' appearing also as a ''
jat
The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...
'' reflex;
# retention of word-final ''-l'' (e.g. ''došel'', as opposed to Štokavian ''došao'');
# word-initial ''u-'' becoming ''v-'' (e.g. ''vuho'', ''vuzel'', ''vozek'');
# dephonemicization of
affricate
An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pair. ...
s /č/ and /ć/ to some form of middle value;
# genitive plural of masculine nouns has the morpheme ''-of'' / ''-ef'';
#
syncretized dative, locative and instrumental plural has the ending ''-ami'';
# the ending ''-me'' in the first-person plural present (e.g. ''vidime'');
# affix ''š'' in the formation of adjectival
comparative
In general linguistics, the comparative is a syntactic construction that serves to express a comparison between two (or more) entities or groups of entities in quality or degree - see also comparison (grammar) for an overview of comparison, as wel ...
s (e.g. ''debleši'', ''slabeši'');
#
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 ...
;
# future tense formation in the form of ''bom/bum došel, došla, došlo''.
Characteristics distinguishing Čakavian from Štokavian, beside the demonstrative/interrogatory pronoun ''ča'', are:
# preservation of polytonic three-accent system;
# vocalization of
weak jers (e.g. ''malin/melin'' < Common Slavic *mъlinъ; cf. Štokavian ''mlin'');
# vowel ''/a/'' as opposed to ''/e/'' after
palatal consonants
Palatals are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). Consonants with the tip of the tongue curled back against the palate are called retroflex.
Characteristic ...
''/j/'', ''/č/'', ''/ž/'' (e.g. Čk. ''jazik/zajik'' : Št. ''
jezik
''Jezik'' (lit. "Language") is a Croatian language literary magazine published in Croatia by the Croatian Philological Society since 1952. Its editors-in-chief have included Ljudevit Jonke and Stjepan Babić.
The magazine is known for its an ...
'', Čk. ''počati'' : Št. ''
početi'', Čk. ''žaja'' : Št. ''
želja'');
# the appearance of extremely palatal ''/t'/'' or ''/ć'/'' (< earlier ''/t'/'') and ''/j/'' (< earlier ''/d'/'') either in free positions or in groups ''
št''', ''
žd''';
# depalatalization of ''/n'/'' and ''/l'/'';
# ''/ž/'' instead of ''/dʒ/'' (c.f. Čk. ''žep'' : Št. ''
džep
Džep ( sr, Џеп) is a village in Serbia located in the municipality of Vladičin Han
Vladičin Han ( sr-cyrl, Владичин Хан, ) is a town and municipality located in the Pčinja District of southern Serbia. As of 2011, the population ...
'');
# ''/č/'' > ''/š/'' (c.f. Čk. ''maška'' : Št. ''
mačka'');
# word-initial consonant groups ''čr-'', ''čri-'', ''čre-'' (c.f. Čk. ''črivo/črevo'' : Št. ''
cr(ij)evo'', Čk. ''črn'' : Št. ''
crn'');
#
conditional mood The conditional mood (abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood used in conditional sentences to express a proposition whose validity is dependent on some condition, possibly counterfactual.
It may refer to a distinct verb form that expresses the condit ...
with ''biš'' in the 2nd-person singular;
# non-
syncretized dative, locative and instrumental plural.
The differences among the dialects can be illustrated on the example of
Schleicher's fable Schleicher's fable is a text composed in a reconstructed version of the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) language, published by August Schleicher in 1868. Schleicher was the first scholar to compose a text in PIE. The fable is entitled ("The Sheep weand ...
. Diacritic signs are used to show the difference in accents and prosody, which are often quite significant, but which are not reflected in the usual orthography.
style="font-size:90%;"
:Neoštokavian Ijekavian/Ekavian
: Óvca i kònji
:Óvca koja níje ìmala vȕnē vȉd(j)ela je kònje na br(ij)égu. Jèdan je òd njīh vȗkao téška kȍla, drȕgī je nòsio vèliku vrȅću, a trȅćī je nòsio čòv(j)eka.
:Óvca rȅče kònjima: «Sȑce me bòlī glȅdajūći čòv(j)eka kako jȁšē na kònju».
:A kònji rȅkoše: «Slȕšāj, ȏvco, nȃs sȑca bòlē kada vȉdīmo da čòv(j)ek, gospòdār, rȃdī vȕnu od ovácā i prȁvī òd(j)eću zá se. I ȍndā óvca nȇmā vȉše vȕnē.
:Čȗvši tō, óvca pȍb(j)eže ȕ polje.
: Old Štokavian (
Orubica,
Posavina
Posavina ( sr-cyr, Посавина) is a geographical region that stretches along the Sava river, encompassing only the inner areas of the Sava river basin, that are adjacent or near to the Sava river itself, namely catch region spanning fro ...
):
:Óvca i kònji
:Óvca kòjā nî ìmala vȕnē vȉdla kònje na brîgu. Jèdān od njȉjū vũkō tȇška kȍla, drȕgī nosȉjo vȅlikū vrȅću, a trȅćī nosȉjo čovȉka.
: Óvca kȃza kȍnjima: «Svȅ me bolĩ kad glȅdām kako čòvik na kònju jȁšī».
:A kònji kāzȁše: «Slȕšāj, ȏvco, nãs sȑca bolũ kad vȉdīmo da čòvik, gȁzda, prȁvī vȕnu od ovãc i prȁvī rȍbu zá se od njẽ. I ȍndā ōvcȁ néma vȉšē vȕnē.
:Kad tȏ čȕ ōvcȁ, ȕteče ȕ polje.
: Čakavian (
Matulji
Matulji ( it, Mattuglie) is a municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Croatia. It is located west of the city of Rijeka, north of the town of Opatija, and it borders Slovenia.
Municipality
There are a total of 11,246 inhabitants in the m ...
near Rijeka):
:Ovcȁ i konjı̏
:Ovcȁ kȃ ni imȅla vȕni vȉdela je konjȉ na brȇge. Jedȃn je vȗkal tȇški vȏz, drȕgi je nosîl vȅlu vrȅt'u, a trȅt'i je nosîl čovȅka.
:Ovcȁ je reklȁ konjȇn: «Sȑce me bolĩ dok glȅdan čovȅka kako jȁše na konjȅ».
:A konjȉ su reklȉ: «Poslȕšaj, ovcȁ, nȃs sȑca bolẽ kad vȉdimo da čovȅk, gospodãr dȅla vȕnu od ovãc i dȅla rȍbu zȃ se. I ȍnda ovcȁ nĩma vȉše vȕni.
:Kad je tȏ čȕla, ovcȁ je pobȅgla va pȍje.
: Kajkavian (
Marija Bistrica
Marija Bistrica () is a village and municipality in the Krapina-Zagorje County in central Croatia, located on the slopes of the Medvednica mountain in the Hrvatsko Zagorje region north of the capital Zagreb. The municipality has 5,976 inhabitants, ...
):
:õfca i kȍjni
:õfca tera nı̃je imȅ̩̏la vȕne vȉdla je kȍjne na briẽgu. Jȇn od nîh je vlẽ̩ke̩l tẽška kȍla, drȕgi je nȍsil vȅliku vrȅ̩ču, a trẽjti je nȍsil čovȅ̩ka.
:õfca je rȇkla kȍjnem: «Sȑce me bolĩ kad vîdim čovȅka kak jȃše na kȍjnu».
:A kȍjni su rȇkli: «Poslȕhni, õfca, nȃs sȑca bolĩju kad vîdime da čȍve̩k, gospodãr, dȇ̩la vȕnu ot õfci i dȇ̩la oblȅ̩ku zȃ se. I ȏnda õfca nȇma vȉše vȕne.
:Kad je to čȗla, õfca je pobȇ̩gla f pȍlje.
: English language
: The Sheep and the Horses
:
n a hill,a sheep that had no wool saw horses, one of them pulling a heavy wagon, one carrying a big load, and one carrying a man quickly.
: The sheep said to the horses: "My heart pains me, seeing a man driving horses".
: The horses said: "Listen, sheep, our hearts pain us when we see this: a man, the master, makes the wool of the sheep into a warm garment for himself. And the sheep has no wool".
: Having heard this, the sheep fled into the plain.
Torlakian dialect
![Torlak dialects map en](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Torlak_dialects_map_en.png)
The Torlakian dialects are intermediate between the Eastern and Western branches of South Slavic, and have been variously described, in whole or in parts, as belonging to either group. In the 19th century, their classification was hotly contested between Serbian and Bulgarian writers.
Most Serbian linguists (like
Pavle Ivić
Pavle Ivić ( sr-cyr, Павле Ивић, ; 1 December 1924 – 19 September 1999) was a Serbian South Slavic dialectologist and phonologist.
Biography
Both his field work and his synthesizing studies were extensive and authoritative. A few of ...
and Asim Peco) classify Torlakian as an
Old-Shtokavian dialect, referring to it as
Prizren-Timok dialect.
[Pavle Ivić, Dijalektološka karta štokavskog narečja]
/ref>[Ivić Pavle, Dijalektologija srpskohtrvatskog jezika, 2001, 25 (also published in German)] However, this opinion was not shared by the Croatian linguists and thus Milan Rešetar
Milan Rešetar (February 1, 1860 – January 14, 1942) was a linguist, historian and literary critic from Dubrovnik.
Biography
Rešetar was born in Dubrovnik. After the gymnasium in Dubrovnik, he studied classical philology and Slavic languages i ...
classified the Torlak dialects (which he called ''Svrlijg'') as a different group from Shtokavian.
All old Bulgarian scientists as Benyo Tsonev, Gavril Zanetov and Krste Misirkov
Krste Petkov Misirkov ( bg, Кръсте (Кръстьо) Петков Мисирков; mk, Крсте Петков Мисирков, ; 18 November 1874 – 26 July 1926) was a philologist, journalist, historian and ethnographer from the regio ...
classified Torlakian as dialect of Bulgarian language. They noted the manner of the articles, the loss of most of the cases, etc. Today Bulgarian linguists (Stoyko Stoykov
Stoyko Ivanov Stoykov ( bg, Стойко Иванов Стойков; 26 October 1912 – 9 December 1969) was a Bulgarian linguist, Slavist.
Biography
Graduated Slavic Philology at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", (1935). Specialized ...
, Rangel Bozhkov) also classify Torlakian as a "Belogradchik
Belogradchik ( bg, Белоградчик ) is a town in Vidin Province, Northwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of the homonymous Belogradchik Municipality. The town, whose name literally means "small white town," is situated in the foo ...
- Tran" dialect of Bulgarian, and claim that it should be classified outside the Shtokavian area. Stoykov further argued that the Torlak dialects having a grammar that is closer to Bulgarian was indicative of them being originally Bulgarian.
In Macedonian dialectology, the Torlakian varieties spoken on Macedonian territory (Kumanovo
Kumanovo ( mk, Куманово ; also known by other #Etymology, alternative names) is a city in North Macedonia and the seat of Kumanovo Municipality, the List of municipalities in the Republic of Macedonia by population, largest municipali ...
, Kratovo and Kriva Palanka
Kriva Palanka ( mk, Крива Паланка ) is a town located in the northeastern part of North Macedonia. It has 14,558 inhabitants. The town of Kriva Palanka is the seat of Kriva Palanka Municipality which has almost 21,000 inhabitants.
...
dialects) are classified as part of a North-Eastern group of Macedonian dialects.
The Torlakian dialects, together with Bulgarian and Macedonian, display many properties of the Balkan linguistic area, a set of structural convergence features shared also with other languages of the Balkans such as Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
and Aromanian. In terms of areal linguistics, they have therefore been described as part of a prototypical " Balkan Slavic" area, as opposed to other parts of Serbo-Croatian, which are only peripherally involved in the convergence area.
Other varieties
Burgenland Croatian
Burgenland Croatian (''gradišćanskohrvatski jezik'') is a regional variety of the Chakavian dialect
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 Da ...
spoken in Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is recognized as a minority language
A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities. With a total number of 196 sovereign states recognized internationally (as of 2019) and ...
in the Austrian state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of 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 ...
where it is spoken by 19,412 people according to official reports (2001).
This variety was the language of Croatian refugees who fled Croatia during the Turkish Wars
A series of military conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and various European states took place from the Late Middle Ages up through the early 20th century. The earliest conflicts began during the Byzantine–Ottoman wars, waged in Anatolia in ...
and settled in the western part of what was then Hungary, the area where they still live. Burgenland Croats included speakers of all three dialects of Croatian (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 ...
, 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 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 nort ...
), with the majority being the Chakavians who originally came from the northern Adriatic
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...
coast. Burgenland Croats did not take part in the shaping of the present Croatian standard language in the 19th century. Instead, they constructed their own written standard based mainly on the local Chakavian speech and adopted the Croatian alphabet
Croatian may refer to:
* Croatia
* Croatian language
* Croatian people
* Croatians (demonym)
See also
*
*
* Croatan (disambiguation)
* Croatia (disambiguation)
* Croatoan (disambiguation)
* Hrvatski (disambiguation)
* Hrvatsko (disambiguat ...
, a modified Latin alphabet, as their script.
It is still a matter of debate whether Burgenland Croatian should be classified as a Slavic micro-language of its own. Burgenland Croatian dialects are mostly viewed as isolated dialects of Croatian. Burgenland Croatian and 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 ...
of Slovene (spoken in 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 Hungary) was to press with interact. The first Prekmurje Slovene works (for example Old hymn-book of Martjanci) was applied to the Burgenland Croatian books. A few writers of the Prekmurje dialect were of Burgenland Croatian descent (for example Jakab Szabár
Jakab Szabár ( sl, Jakob Sabar; Horvátzsidány, around 15 July 1802 or 1803 – Cserföld, 14 December 1863) was a writer and Roman Catholic priest. Szabár was a Hungarian Croat who wrote in the Prekmurje dialect and Hungarian.
He was b ...
) and also Burgenland Croatian ( József Ficzkó).
The variety uses the Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the o ...
with the same diacritical modifiers as the Croatian alphabet
Croatian may refer to:
* Croatia
* Croatian language
* Croatian people
* Croatians (demonym)
See also
*
*
* Croatan (disambiguation)
* Croatia (disambiguation)
* Croatoan (disambiguation)
* Hrvatski (disambiguation)
* Hrvatsko (disambiguat ...
. In the course of language development it acquired some of its own specialised vocabulary, sometimes different from that used in standard Croatian. Sampled differences from standard Croatian are presented in the table in turn.
Burgenland Croatian written language is based mainly on the local 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 ...
speech with some influences from the other Croatian dialects spoken in Burgenland. These dialects include:
* Dolinci dialect: dialect of the Dolinci in Unterpullendorf, Frankenau
Frankenau () is a small town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in Hesse, Germany.
Geography
Location
Frankenau lies in the Kellerwald range southwest of the Talgang (566 m-high mountain). It is found on the southern edge of the Kellerwald-Eder ...
, Kleinmutschen, etc. is a Chakavian dialect;
* Grob dialect: a Kajkavian dialect;
* Hac dialect: Chakavian dialect of Haci near Neusiedl;
* Poljan dialect: dialect of the Poljanci near Lake Neusiedl
Lake Neusiedl (german: Neusiedler See), or Fertő ( hu, Fertő (tó); hr, Nežidersko jezero, Niuzaljsko jezero; sl, Nežidersko jezero; sk, Neziderské jazero; cs, Neziderské jezero) is the largest endorheic lake in Central Europe, strad ...
, is a Chakavian dialect;
* Štoj dialect: dialect of the Croatian folklore group Štoji ( Güttenbach, Stinatz, Neuberg), is a Shtokavian–Chakavian mixed dialect;
* Vlah dialect: dialect of the Vlahi, is a Shtokavian dialect in Weiden bei Rechnitz
Weiden bei Rechnitz ( hr, Bandol, hu, Bándol) is a town in the district of Oberwart in the Austrian state of Burgenland
Burgenland (; hu, Őrvidék; hr, Gradišće; Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland;'' Slovene: ''Gradiščanska'') is the easte ...
, Zuberbach, Althodis, Schandorf
Schandorf ( hr, Čemba, hu, Csém) is a village in the district of Oberwart in Burgenland in southeastern Austria.
History
The earliest record of the village's existence dates to 1244. In the first half of the 16th century, the region was dev ...
, Dürnbach, Allersdorf, etc.
Molise Slavic
Molise Slavic or ''Slavomolisano'' is a variety of the Shtokavian dialect with some Chakavian influences spoken in the province of Campobasso
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
, in the Molise
Molise (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Neapolitan, Mulise) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise, alongside the region of Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effe ...
Region of southern Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, in the villages of Montemitro
Montemitro (also called ''Mundimitar'') is a small town and ''comune'' in the province of Campobasso in the Molise region of Italy, near the Trigno river.
Like Acquaviva Collecroce and San Felice del Molise, Montemitro is home to a community of ...
(''Mundimitar''), Acquaviva Collecroce
Acquaviva Collecroce (also called ''Živavoda Kruč'' or, usually, just ''Kruč'') is a small town and ''comune'' in the province of Campobasso, in the Molise region of southern Italy, between the Biferno and Trigno rivers.
Like the smaller towns ...
(''Živavoda Kruč'') and San Felice del Molise
San Felice del Molise (also called ''Filić'' or ''Štifilić'') is a small town and ''comune'' in the province of Campobasso in the Molise region of Italy, near the Trigno river.
Like Acquaviva Collecroce and Montemitro, San Felice del Molise i ...
(''Štifilić''). There are fewer than 1,000 active speakers, and fewer than 2,000 passive speakers. The language has been preserved since a group of 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 ...
emigrated from Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
abreast of advancing Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
. The residents of these villages speak a Chakavian dialect
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 Da ...
with Ikavian accent
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 ...
. The Molise Croats
Molise Croats ( hr, Moliški Hrvati) or Molise Slavs ( it, Slavo-molisani, Slavi del Molise) are a Croat community in the Molise province of Campobasso of Italy, which constitutes the majority in the three villages of Acquaviva Collecroce (''Kru ...
, however, consider themselves to be Italians who speak a Slavic language, rather than ethnic Slavs. Some speakers call themselves ''Zlavi'' or ''Harvati'' and call their language simply ''na našo'' ("our language").
The language was preserved until today only in the aforementioned three villages, although several villages in Molise and Abruzzo region are aware of their Slavic and Croat
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, Ge ...
ancestry
An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...
. The existence of this Croat colony
In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...
was unknown outside Italy until 1855 when Medo Pucić
Orsat "Medo" Pucić, ( it, Orsatto Pozza, ; 12 March 1821 – 30 June 1882) was a Republic of Ragusa, Ragusan writer and an important member of the Catholic Serbs, Catholic Serb movement.
Biography
Orsat Pucić was born on in Dubrovnik, then in ...
, a linguist from 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 Mediterran ...
, during one of his journeys in Italy overheard a tailor in Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
speaking with his wife in a language very similar to Pucić's own. The tailor then told him that he came from the village of Kruč, then part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ( it, Regno delle Due Sicilie) was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1860. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and size in Italy before Italian unification, comprising Sicily and a ...
. Subsequently, the ''Gajica'', the modern Croatian alphabet
Croatian may refer to:
* Croatia
* Croatian language
* Croatian people
* Croatians (demonym)
See also
*
*
* Croatan (disambiguation)
* Croatia (disambiguation)
* Croatoan (disambiguation)
* Hrvatski (disambiguation)
* Hrvatsko (disambiguat ...
, was adopted to the language.
The language is highly Italianized and also retains many archaic features. Because the colony was established before the discovery of the Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
, all the names of animals and plants introduced from the Americas are borrowed from Italian or created from whole cloth. Along with these, Molise Slavic features the following characteristics:
# The analytic ''do'' + genitive replaces the synthetic independent genitive. In Italian it is ''del-'' + noun, since Italian has lost all its cases.
# ''do'' superseded ''od''.
# Slavic verb aspect
In linguistics, aspect is a grammatical category that expresses how an action, event, or state, as denoted by a verb, extends over time. Perfective aspect is used in referring to an event conceived as bounded and unitary, without reference to ...
is preserved, except in the past tense imperfective verbs are attested only in the Slavic imperfect
The imperfect (abbreviated ) is a verb form that combines past tense (reference to a past time) and imperfective aspect (reference to a continuing or repeated event or state). It can have meanings similar to the English "was walking" or "used to w ...
(''bihu'', they were), and perfective verbs only in the perfect (''je izaša'', he has come out). There is no colloquial imperfect in the modern West South Slavic languages. Italian has aspect in the past tense that works in a similar fashion (impf. ''portava'', "he was carrying", versus perf. ''ha portato'', "he has carried").
# Slavic conjunctions superseded by Italian or local ones: ''ke'', "what" (Cr. ''što'', also ''ke'' – Cr. ''da'', "that", It. ''che''); ''e'', ''oš'', "and" (Cr ''i'', It. ''e''); ''ma'', "but" (Cr. ''ali'', ''no'', It. ''ma''); ''se', "if" (Cr. ''ako'', It. ''se'').
# An indefinite article is in regular use: ''na'', often written 'na, possibly derived from earlier ''jedna'', "one", via Italian ''una''.
# Structural changes in genders. Notably, ''njevog'' does not agree with the possessor's gender (Cr. ''njegov'' or ''njezin'', his or her). Italian ''suo'' and its forms likewise does not, but with the object's gender instead.
# As in Italian, the perfective enclitic is tightly bound to the verb and always stands before it: ''je izaša'', "is let loose" (Cr. facul. ''je izašao'' or ''izašao je''), Italian ''è rilasciato''.
Division by ''jat'' reflex
A basic distinction among the dialects is in the reflex of the long Common Slavic
Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium B.C. through the 6th ...
vowel ''jat
The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...
'', usually transcribed as *ě. Depending on the reflex, the dialects are divided into Ikavian, Ekavian, and Ijekavian, with the reflects of ''jat'' being /i/, /e/, and /ije/ or /je/ respectively. The long and short ''jat'' is reflected as long or short */i/ and /e/ in Ikavian and Ekavian, but Ijekavian dialects introduce a ''ije''/''je'' alternation to retain a distinction.
Standard Croatian and Bosnian are based on Ijekavian, whereas Serbian uses both Ekavian and Ijekavian forms (Ijekavian for Montenegrin, Croatian and Bosnian Serbs; Ekavian for most of Serbia). Influence of standard language through state media and education has caused non-standard varieties to lose ground to the literary forms.
The jat-reflex rules are not without exception. For example, when short ''jat'' is preceded by ''r'', in most Ijekavian dialects developed into /re/ or, occasionally, /ri/. The prefix ''prě-'' ("trans-, over-") when long became ''pre-'' in eastern Ijekavian dialects but to ''prije-'' in western dialects; in Ikavian pronunciation, it also evolved into ''pre-'' or ''prije-'' due to potential ambiguity with ''pri-'' ("approach, come close to"). For verbs that had ''-ěti '' in their infinitive, the past participle ending ''-ěl'' evolved into ''-io'' in Ijekavian Neoštokavian.
The following are some examples:
See also
* 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 ...
* Serbo-Croatian grammar
Serbo-Croatian is a South Slavic language that, like most other Slavic languages, has an extensive system of inflection. This article describes exclusively the grammar of the Shtokavian dialect, which is a part of the South Slavic dialect continuu ...
*
References
Bibliography
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* Crystal, David (1998) st pub. 1987 "The Cambridge encyclopedia of language". Cambridge. New York: Cambridge University Press.
* Alexander, Ronelle (2000). "In honor of diversity: the linguistic resources of the Balkans". Kenneth E. Naylor memorial lecture series in South Slavic linguistics ; vol. 2. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University, Dept. of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures.
* Matasović, Ranko (2008). Poredbenopovijesna gramatika hrvatskoga jezika". Matica hrvatska. Zagreb. .
* Kapović, Mate (2017).
The Position of Kajkavian in the South Slavic Dialect Continuum in Light of Old Accentual Isoglosses
Zeitschrift fur slawistik (0044-3506) 62 (2017), 4; 606–620.
* Brozović, Dalibor (1992). Serbo-Croatian as Pluricentric Language, u: ''Pluricentric Languages''. Differing Norms in Different Nations. Ed. Michael Clyne. Berlin-New York. Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 347–380.
* Blum, Daniel (2002). "Sprache und Politik : Sprachpolitik und Sprachnationalismus in der Republik Indien und dem sozialistischen Jugoslawien (1945–1991) anguage and Policy: Language Policy and Linguistic Nationalism in the Republic of India and the Socialist Yugoslavia (1945–1991). Beiträge zur Südasienforschung ; vol. 192 (in German). Würzburg: Ergon. p. 200. .
*
* Okuka, Miloš (2008). "Srpski dijalekti". SDK Prosvjeta. .
Further reading
* Božanić J. "Čakavska rič", vol. 1.- 32., Književni krug Split.
* Feletar D., Ledić G., Šir A.: ''Kajkaviana Croatica'' (Hrvatska kajkavska riječ). Muzej Međimurja, 37 str., Čakovec 1997.
* Friedman, Victor (1999). Linguistic emblems and emblematic languages: on language as flag in the Balkans. Kenneth E. Naylor memorial lecture series in South Slavic linguistics ; vol. 1. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University, Dept. of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures. OCLC 46734277.
* Fureš R., Jembrih A. (ured.) (2006). ''Kajkavski u povijesnom i sadašnjem obzorju'' (zbornik skupova Krapina 2002–2006). Hrvatska udruga Muži zagorskog srca, 587 str. Zabok.
* Hamm J., Hraste M., Guberina P. (1956). "Govor otoka Suska". Hrvatski dijalektološki zbornik 1, Zagreb.
* Hraste M., Šimunović P., Olesch R. (1979–1983). "Čakavisch-deutsches Lexikon", Band I-III, Köln-Wien.
* JAZU / HAZU (1984–2005). ''Rječnik hrvatskoga kajkavskog književnog jezika'' (A – P), I – X. Zavod za hrvatski jezik i jezikoslovlje 2500 str, Zagreb.
* Kalsbeek J. (1998). "The Cakavian Dialect of Orbanici near Zminj in Istria". Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics. Amsterdam: Rodopi. 608 pp.
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* Kranjčević M. (2003). ''Ričnik gacke čakavšćine''. Čakavski sabor, Otočac.
* Kristophson, Jürgen (2000). "Vom Widersinn der Dialektologie: Gedanken zum Štokavischen" ialectological Nonsense: Thoughts on Shtokavian Zeitschrift für Balkanologie (in German) 36 (2): 178–186. ISSN 0044-2356.
* Langston K. (2006). "Cakavian Prosody: The Accentual Patterns of the Cakavian Dialects of Croatian". Bloomington: Slavica. 314pp.
* Lipljin, T. (2002). "Rječnik varaždinskoga kajkavskog govora". Garestin, Varaždin, 1284 str. (2. prošireno izdanje u tisku 2008.)
* Lončarić, M. (1996). "Kajkavsko narječje". Školska knjiga, Zagreb, 198 str.
* Lukežić I. (1996). "Trsatsko-bakarska i crikvenička čakavština". Izdavački centar Rijeka, Rijeka.
* Magner, F. (1971). "Kajkavian Koiné". Symbolae in honorem Georgii Y. Shevelov, München.
* Matoković-Dobrila B. (2004). "Ričnik velovaroškega Splita", Denona, Zagreb.
* Moguš, M (1995). "A History of the Croatian Language", NZ Globus, Zagreb 1995.
* Peco, Asim (1967). "Uticaj turskog jezika na fonetiku štokavskih govora". Naš jezik, 16, 3. (Serbo-Croatian)
* Roki-Fortunato A. (1997). "Libar Viškiga jazika". Libar Publishing, Toronto.
* Šimunović P. (2006). "Rječnik bračkih čakavskih govora", Brevijar, Supetar.
* Škiljan, Dubravko (2002). Govor nacije: jezik, nacija, Hrvati oice of the Nation: Language, Nation, Croats Biblioteka Obrisi moderne (in Serbo-Croatian). Zagreb: Golden marketing. OCLC 55754615.
* 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.
* Thomas, Paul-Louis (2003). "Le serbo-croate (bosniaque, croate, monténégrin, serbe): de l’étude d’une langue à l’identité des langues" erbo-Croatian (Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Serbian): from the study of a language to the identity of languages Revue des études slaves (in French) 74 (2–3): 311–325. ISSN 0080-2557.
* Turina Z., Šepić-Tomin A. (1977). "Rječnik čakavskih izraza – područje Bakarca i Škrljeva", Riječko književno i naučno društvo, Rijeka.
* Velčić N. (2003). "Besedar Bejske Tramuntane". Čakavski sabor i Adamić d.o.o, Cres-Lošinj.
{{Authority control
Serbo-Croatian language