Burgenland Croatian

Burgenland Croatian
gradišćanskohrvatski jezik
Native to Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia
Native speakers
 19,000  (2001 census)[1]
Indo-European
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3 –
Glottolog burg1244[2]

Burgenland Croatian (gradišćanskohrvatski jezik) is a regional variety of the Chakavian dialect of the Croatian language spoken in Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Burgenland Croatian is recognized as a minority language in the Austrian state of Burgenland where it is spoken by 19,412 people according to official reports (2001).[1] Many of the Burgenland Croatian speakers in Austria also live in Vienna and Graz, due to the process of urbanization, which is mostly driven by the poor economic situation of large parts of Burgenland.

Smaller Croatian minorities in western Hungary, southwestern Slovakia and southern Czech Republic are often also called Burgenland Croats. They use the Burgenland Croatian written language and are historically and culturally closely connected to the Austrian Croats. The representatives of the Burgenland Croats estimate their total number in all three countries and emigration at around 70,000.

Dialects

History

Grgur Mekinić: Dusevne Peszne (Ghostly Hymns), is one of the first Burgenland Croatian artworks (1609).

Burgenland Croatian was the language of Croatian refugees who fled Croatia during the Turkish Wars 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 the Croatian language (Shtokavian, Chakavian and Kajkavian), with the majority being the Chakavians who originally came from the northern Adriatic 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, 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 the Croatian language.

The Burgenland Croatian language and the Prekmurian language (this is a Slovene language-variant in the Prekmurje and Hungary) was to press with interact. The first Prekmurian works (for example Old hymn-book of Martjanci) was applied to the Burgenland Croatian books. A few writers of the Prekmurian language were of Burgenland Croatian descent (for example Jakab Szabár) and also the Burgenland Croatian language (József Ficzkó).

Written language

Burgenland Croatian written language is based mainly on the local Chakavian speech with some influences from the other Croatian dialects spoken in Burgenland. It uses the Latin alphabet with the same diacritical modifiers as the Croatian alphabet. In the course of language development it acquired some of its own specialised vocabulary, sometimes different from that used in standard Croatian.

Spoken language

Croats living in the south of Burgenland speak mainly the Shtokavian-Chakavian dialect, those in the central part the Chakavian dialect with a hard Kajkavian influence, and in the north (close to Vienna) the Chakavian dialect.

Differences between Standard and Burgenland Croatian

Example words

English Standard Croatian Burgenland Croatian
black crna črna
word riječ rič
Jesus Christ Isus Krist Jezuš Kristuš
lower donji dolnji

The Lord's prayer in Slovene, Burgenland Croatian and Standard Croatian

Slovene Burgenland Croatian Croatian
Oče naš, ki si v nebesih,

posvečeno bodi tvoje ime,
pridi k nam tvoje kraljestvo,
zgodi se tvoja volja
kakor v nebesih tako na zemlji.
Daj nam danes naš vsakdanji kruh
in odpusti nam naše dolge,
kakor tudi mi odpuščamo svojim dolžnikom,
in ne vpelji nas v skušnjavo,
temveč reši nas hudega. Amen.

 Oče naš, ki si na nebesi,

sveti se ime tvoje,
pridi kraljevstvo tvoje,
budi volja tvoja,
kako na nebu tako i na zemlji.
Kruh naš svakidanji daj nam danas,
i otpusti nam duge naše,
kako i mi otpušćamo dužnikom našim,
i ne zapeljaj nas u skušavanje,
nego oslobodi nas od zla. Amen.

 Oče naš, koji jesi na nebesima,

sveti se ime tvoje,
dođi kraljevstvo tvoje,
budi volja tvoja,
kako na nebu tako i na zemlji.
Kruh naš svagdanji daj nam danas,
i otpusti nam duge naše,
kako i mi otpuštamo dužnicima našim,
i ne uvedi nas u napast,
nego izbavi nas od zla. Amen.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bevölkerung 2001 nach Umgangssprache, Staatsangehörigkeit und Geburtsland
  2. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Burgenland Croatian". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

External links