| Moravian | |
|---|---|
| moravská nářečí | |
| Native to | Czech Republic,Slovakia |
| Region | Moravia andCzech Silesia |
Native speakers | 108,469 (2011 census)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | czec1259 |
 Map of Moravia and Czech Silesia (borders between the two regions not shown) indicating the major dialect groups:[image reference needed] Central Moravian dialects | |
Moravian dialects (Czech:moravská nářečí, moravština) are thevarieties ofCzech spoken inMoravia, a historical region in the east of theCzech Republic. There are more forms of the Czech language used in Moravia than in the rest of the Czech Republic. The main four groups of dialects are the Bohemian-Moravian group, the Central Moravian group, the Eastern Moravian group and the Lach (Silesian) group (which is also spoken inCzech Silesia).[2] While the forms are generally viewed as regional variants of Czech, someMoravians (108,469 in the 2011 census) claim them to be one separateMoravian language.[1]
Moravian dialects are considerably more varied than the dialects of Bohemia,[3] and span a dialect continuum linking Bohemian and West Slovak dialects.[4] A popular misconception holds that eastern Moravian dialects are closer to Slovak than Czech, but this is incorrect; in fact, the opposite is true, and certain dialects in far western Slovakia exhibit features more akin to standard Czech than to standard Slovak.[3]
Until the 19th century, the language used in Slavic-speaking areas of Moravia was referred to as “Moravian” or as “Czech”. When regular censuses started inAustria-Hungary in 1880, the choice of main-communication languages[note 1] in the forms prescribed inCisleithania did not include Czech language but included the single itemBohemian–Moravian–Slovak[note 2] (the others beingGerman,Polish,Rusyn,Slovene,Serbo-Croatian,Italian,Romanian andHungarian).[5] Respondents who chose Bohemian–Moravian–Slovak as their main communicating language were counted in the Austrian censuses asCzechs.
On the occasion of2011 Census of the Czech Republic, several Moravian organizations (political partyMoravané andMoravian National Community amongst others) led a campaign to promote the Moravian ethnicity and language. TheCzech Statistical Office assured the Moravané party that filling in “Moravian” as language would not be treated as ticking off “Czech”, because forms were processed by a computer and superseding Czech for Moravian was technically virtually impossible.[6]
According to the results of the census, there was a total number of 108,469 native speakers of Moravian in 2011. Of them, 62,908 consider Moravian to be their only native language, and 45,561 are native speakers of both Moravian and Czech.[1]
While the former regional dialects ofBohemia have merged into one interdialect,Common Czech (with some small exceptions in borderlands), the territory of Moravia is still linguistically diversified. This may be due to absence of a single Moravian cultural and political centre (analogous to Prague in Bohemia) for most of the history,[7] as well as the fact that both of its major cities—Brno andOlomouc—used to be predominantly inhabited by a German-speaking population. The most common classification distinguishes three major groups of Moravian dialects: Central Moravian (Hanakian), Eastern Moravian (Moravian-Slovak) and Silesian (Lach).[8] Some typical phonological differences between the Moravian dialects are shown below on the sentence‘Put the flour from the mill in the cart’:[9]
| Central Moravian: | Démókuzemlénanavozék. |
| Eastern Moravian: | Daj múku ze młýna na vozík. |
| Lach: | Daj muku ze mlyna na vozik. |
| (Standard Czech: | Dejmoukuzemlýnanavozík.) |
Central Moravian dialects, orHanakian dialects (Hanak dialects,Haná dialects,Czech:hanácké nářečí, hanáčtina), are spoken in the central part of Moravia aroundZnojmo,Třebíč,Brno,Olomouc,Přerov,Zábřeh andŠumperk. While the Central Moravian group traditionally contained many dialects native to specific microregions, today's spoken language across Central Moravia is moving towards a unified "Common Hanakian dialect" (Czech:obecná hanáčtina).[10] Features of this group include
The dialects spoken in and aroundBrno have seen a lot of lexical influence fromHantec slang, a jargon incorporating many German and Yiddish loanwords into the local Central Moravian dialect. Although by the 21st century the slang had greatly declined in use, some vocabulary from Hantec is still used commonly in everyday speech, for examplešalina instead oftramvaj for “tram”, from Germanelektrische Linie.
The Hanakian dialect has a literary presence. Writers who have written in Hanakian dialect includeAlois andVilém Mrštík,Ondřej Přikryl andJakub Obrovský. Written Hanakian dialect often distinguishes between "wide" or "open"ê andô (as inrêba,rôka), and "closed"e ando, to reflect dialects which pronounce these two sounds differently.[10]
Bêl jednó jeden člověk tôze chôdobné na sfětě. Narodil se mô chlapeček, ale nigdo (nihdo) nechtěl mô jiť za kmotra, že bêl tôze chôdobné. Otec si povidá: „Milé Bože, tak sô chôdobné, že mně nihdo nechce poslóžeť v té věce; veznô (vemô) si chlapca, pudô, a keho potkám, teho naptám za kmotra, a nepotkám-lê žádnyho, kostelnik mně přece snaď poslóži.“ Šil a potkal smrť, ale nevěděl, co to je za osobô; bêla pěkná ženská, jako iná ženská. Ptal jô za kmotřêčkô. Ona se nevêmlóvala a hneď ho přêvitala kmôcháčkem, vzala chlapca na rôkê a nesla ho do kostela. Chasnička pokřtilê jak se patři. (full text)
Czech translation:
Byl jednou na světě jeden velmi chudý člověk. Narodil se mu chlapeček, ale nikdo mu nechtěl jít za kmotra, protože byl velmi chudý. Otec si povídá: „Milý Bože, jsem tak chudý, že mi v té věci nikdo nechce posloužit; vezmu si chlapce, půjdu, a koho potkám, toho si najmu jako kmotra, a nepotkám-li nikoho, snad mi přece poslouží kostelník.“ Šel a potkal smrt, ale nevěděl, co je to za osobu; byla to pěkná žena, jako jiná žena. Požádal ji, aby šla za kmotru. Ona se nevymlouvala a hned ho oslovila „kmotříčku“, vzala chlapce na ruce a nesla ho do kostela. Chasníčka pokřtili, jak se patří.
Eastern Moravian dialects are transitional dialects between Czech and Slovak.[12] They are spoken in the strip of land extending fromBřeclav toHodonín,Kyjov,Uherské Hradiště,Zlín andVsetín. The Eastern group contains two dialects of specific interest, theMoravian Wallachian dialect (Czech:valašské nářečí, valašština) and theMoravian-Slovak dialect (Czech:slovácké nářečí, moravská slovenština).[2] Features of Eastern Moravian dialects include:
Lachian dialects (Lach dialects,Czech:lašské nářečí, laština), spoken in north-eastern Moravia and the adjacent regions of Silesia aroundOpava,Ostrava,Frýdek-Místek andFrenštát pod Radhoštěm, are transitional dialects sharing more features ofPolish.[13] Defining phonological features include loss of distinction between long and short vowels, a feature colloquially known as “krátký zobák” (“short beak”) in Czech,[11] stress shifted to the penultimate syllable of the word, as inPolish, rather than the first syllable,[13] alveolar consonantsd,t andn often shifted to their palatal counterparts, and a distinction between “hard” (post-alveolar orretroflex)š,ž,č and “soft” (alveolo-palatal)ś,ź,ć, as in Polish.[11] Silesian dialects also contain manyGerman loanwords unfamiliar to other Czech dialects. The Lachian dialects are closely related to theCieszyn Silesian dialect, spoken in the area aroundKarviná,Český Těšín andTřinec as well as on the Polish side of the border.
Bohemian-Moravian dialects, or South-eastern Bohemian dialects, spoken in theBohemian-Moravian Highlands in western Moravia aroundDačice,Jihlava andŽďár nad Sázavou are a transitional group between dialects of Bohemia and Moravia, sharing some features in common withCommon Czech and others more in common with Central Moravian.[8][11]
Moravian dialects preserve numerous archaic phonological features that are no longer used in contemporary Czech, but can still be found in many other Slavic languages. The following tables list selected cognates, pointing out the archaisms and showing their equivalents in the other languages:
| Czech | Moravian | Slovak | Polish | Upper Sorbian | Lower Sorbian | Russian | Ukrainian | Slovenian | Prekmurje dialect | Serbo-Croatian | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| naše | naša | naša | nasza | naša | naša | наша (naša) | наша (naša) | naša | naša | naša | our (fem.) |
| ovce | ovca | ovca | owca | wowca | wójca | овца (ovca) | вівця (vivcja) | ovca | ovca | ovca | sheep |
| zmije | zmija | zmija | żmija | zmija | zmija | змея (zmeja) | змія (zmija) | — | — | zmija | viper; snake |
| moře | mořa | mora | morza | morja | mórja | моря (morja) | моря (morja) | morja | mourja | mora | sea (gen.) |
| koně | koňa | koňa | konia | konja | konja | коня (konja) | коня (konja) | konja | konja | konja | horse (gen.) |
| pole | pola | poľa | pola | pola | póla | поля (polja) | поля (polja) | polja | polá | polja | field (gen.) |
| Czech | Moravian | Slovak | Polish | Upper Sorbian | Lower Sorbian | Russian | Ukrainian | Slovenian | Prekmurje dialect | Serbo-Croatian | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| duši | dušu | dušu | (duszę) | dušu | dušu | душу (dušu) | душу (dušu) | dušo | düšo | dušu | soul (acc.) |
| ulici | ulicu | ulicu | (ulicę) | улицу (ulicu) | вулицю (vulycju) | ulico | vulico | ulicu | street' (acc.) | ||
| chci | chcu | (chcem) | (chcę) | chcu | cu | хочу (choču) | хочу (choču) | (hočem) | (ščém) | (ho)ću | I want |
| moři | mořu | moru | morzu | morju | mórju | морю (morju) | морю (morju) | morju | mourji | moru | sea (dat.) |
| poli | polu | poľu | polu | polu | pólu | полю (polju) | полю (polju) | polju | poli | polju | field (dat.) |
| ji | ju | ju | (ją) | ju | ju | её (jejo) | її (jiji) | jo | jo | nju/ju/je | her (acc.) |
| Czech | Moravian | Slovak | Polish | Upper Sorbian | Russian | Ukrainian | Slovenian | Prekmurje dialect | Kajkavian | Serbo-Croatian | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ještě | (j)ešče | ešte | jeszcze (ješče) | hišće | ещё (jeśśo) | щe (šče) | še | ešče | jošče, išče | još | still, yet |
| Czech | Moravian | Slovak | Polish | Upper Sorbian | Russian | Ukrainian | Slovenian | Prekmurje dialect | Serbo-Croatian | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| snad | snaď | snáď | snadź/snać[n 1] | snadź | hopefully | |||||
| radost | radosť | radosť | radość | radosć | радость (radost') | радість (radist') | radost | radost | radost | joy |
| den | deň | deň | dzień | dźeń | день (d'en') | день (den') | dan | dén | dan | day |
| ||||||||||
While Moravian grammar tends to be similar toCzech grammar, there are some defining features. For instance, Moravian dialects apply a uniform pattern to the 3rd person plural ending of class IV-it verbs, and class III-et verbs, which in standard Czech traditionally varied in an unintuitive fashion:[14]
| Standard Czech (infinitive) | Haná dialect | Moravian-Slovak dialect | meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| prosí (inf. prosit) | prosijó | prosijú | they beg |
| trpí (inf. trpět) | trpijó, trpějó | trpijú, trpějú | they suffer |
| sází, sázejí (inf. sázet) | sázijó, sázejó | sázijú, sázejú | they sow |
Moravian dialects also occasionally useprepositions in a different fashion to Standard and Common Czech, usually mirroring usage in Slovak (e.g.něcok jídlu >něcona jídlo for "something to eat",Slovak:niečo na jedlo) or Polish (e.g.pojďke mně >choďdo mě, for "come to me",Polish:chodź do mnie).[15]
Since the end of the 20th century, the private association Moravian Language Institute (Ústav jazyka moravského), founded by waiter and amateur linguist Jan Kozohorský, has made attempts tostandardise a literary Moravian language. The movement has been criticised by linguistics professors atMasaryk University in Brno as controversial and with strong political undertones.[16]
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