Šime Starčević (18 April 1784 – 14 May 1859) was a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n priest and linguist. He was born in Žitnik, near

Gospić Gospić () is a town in Lika, Croatia. It is the seat of the Lika-Senj County. Geography Gospić is located in the mountainous and sparsely populated region of Lika. It is the administrative center of Lika-Senj County. Gospić is located n ...

. He worked as a pastor in

, Lički Novi,

Udbina Udbina is a settlement and a municipality in historical Krbava, in the Lika region of Croatia. Administratively, it is part of the Lika-Senj County. Geography Udbina is located in the large karst field called Krbava. It is approximately 45 kil ...

, and since 1814 in

Karlobag Karlobag is a naselje, village and a seaside municipalities of Croatia, municipality on the Adriatic coast in Croatia, located at the foot of the Velebit mountain, overlooking the island of Pag (island), Pag, west of Gospić and south of Senj. The ...

. He knew Latin, French, Italian and German, and could read

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto- ...

. In 1812 he published in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

his ''Nòva ricsôslovica iliricska vojnicskoj mladosti krajicsnoj poklonjena'' and ''Nòva ricsôslovica iliricsko-francèzka'' ("A new Illyrian-French grammar"). His French grammar was revised and translated from German, using domestic terminology for linguistic terms. His grammar of "Illyrian" was the first Croatian grammar describing the four-accentual system of the Neoštokavian dialect.

Works

Thirty years after publishing his grammar he again become active as a writer. He published ''Homilie ili tumačenje Sv. evanđelja'' (1850), ''Ričoslovje'' in sequels in '' Glasnik dalmatinski'' (1849–1850) and polemics on grammar in '' Zora dalmatinska'' (1844-1849). He advocated the use of a single dialect as the literary language, namely the Neoštokavian

Ikavian Shtokavian or Štokavian (; sh-Latn, štokavski / sh-Cyrl, italics=no, штокавски, ) is the prestige supradialect of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language and the basis of its Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin standa ...

, without dialectal mixing and without changes in the traditional orthographic practices. He has been described as a keen debater, great linguistic purist, and the most consistent representative of the Ikavian literary language and the so-called "Slavonian orthography". He died in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sime Starcevic Linguists from Croatia 19th-century Croatian Roman Catholic priests 19th-century linguists People from Gospić 1784 births 1859 deaths Linguists of Slavic languages