| Burgenland Croatian | |
|---|---|
| gradišćanskohrvatski jezik | |
| Native to | Austria,Hungary,Czech Republic,Slovakia |
| Ethnicity | Burgenland Croats |
Native speakers | 19,000 (in Burgenland) 50,000–60,000 (all speakers)[1] (2001 census)[2] |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | burg1244 |
| ELP | Burgenland Croatian |
| IETF | ckm-AT |
 Dialects of Burgenland Croats byJosip Lisac | |
 Burgenland Croatian is classified as Definitely Endangered by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010) | |
| South Slavic languages and dialects | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Western South Slavic
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Transitional dialects
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Burgenland Croatian[a] is a regional variety of theChakavian dialect ofCroatian spoken inAustria,Hungary, theCzech Republic, andSlovakia. Burgenland Croatian is recognized as aminority language in the Austrian state ofBurgenland, where it is spoken by 19,412 people according to official reports (2001).[2] Many of the Burgenland Croatian speakers in Austria also live inVienna andGraz, 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 calledBurgenland 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.
Burgenland Croatian was the language ofCroatian refugees who fled Croatia during theCroatian–Ottoman 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 theCroatian language (Shtokavian,Chakavian andKajkavian), with the majority being the Chakavians. A part of them originally probably came fromDalmatia, and all of them mostly emigrated from the riverUna valley.[3][4]
Burgenland Croats did not take part in the shaping of the present standard Croatian in the 19th century. Instead, they constructed their own written standard based mainly on the local Chakavian speech and adopted theCroatian 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 theCroatian.
Burgenland Croatian and thePrekmurje Slovene of Slovene (inPrekmurje and Hungary) have influenced each other. The first Prekmurje Slovene works (for example, theOld Hymnal of Martjanci) was applied to the Burgenland Croatian books. A few of those that wrote in Prekmurje Slovene were of Burgenland Croatian descent (for exampleJakab Szabár) and also Burgenland Croatian (József Ficzkó).
After the dissolution of theAustro-Hungarian monarchy in 1918 the areas in which Burgenland Croats lived were divided betweenAustria,Czechoslovakia andHungary. After 1921 most of these areas became part of Austria, which established a new province ofBurgenland, after which the Croatian minority was named. In 1922 Austria founded theApostolic administration of Burgenland and began to abolish bilingual schools through the introduction of the teaching of German in all primary schools. This process halted temporarily after the adoption ofThe National Education Act, which allowed for Croatian-language elementary schools. AfterHitler'sannexation of Austria in 1938 this law was abolished. In 1955 theAustrian State Treaty was signed. This permitted the Burgenland Croats to use Croatian in education, judiciary and public administration. With the adoption of theLaw on National Minorities in 1976, use of Croatian in public life became further limited. As a result of the 1987 acceptance of aconstitutional complaint, parts of the law were changed and Croatian was introduced as an official language in 6 out of 7 districts of Burgenland.[10]
Burgenland Croatian written language is based mainly on the localChakavian dialect with some influences from the other Croatian dialects spoken in Burgenland. It uses theLatin alphabet with the same diacritical modifiers as theCroatian alphabet. In the course of language development it acquired some of its own specialised vocabulary, sometimes different from that used in standard Croatian.
The popularThe Little Prince has also been translated into Burgenland Croatian (1998), specifically the Standard version byIvan Rotter.[11]
| English | Standard Croatian | Burgenland Croatian |
|---|---|---|
| black | crna | črna |
| word | riječ | rič |
| Jesus Christ | Isus Krist | Jezuš Kristuš |
| lower | donji | dolnji |
The beginnings of literacy are linked to:Klimpuški misal (KlimpuškiMissal) (1501), S. Consul Histrianus andAntun Dalmatin'sPostila (Fasting) (1568),Duševne pesne (Duševne pesne, Spiritual songs) (1609) and Grgur Mekinić Pythiraeus'sDruge kniige duševnih pesan (Druge knjige duševnih pesan, Other books of the Spiritual songs) (1611). Until the mid-19th century, the literature in Burgenland Croatian had religious character and was intended mostly forpeasants. Main writers were priests and nuns. In the second half of the 19th century teachers began to write. Thanks to that, many school textbooks and calendars were written.
Newspapers of the Burgenland Croats are:Crikveni glasnik (Church Gazette), 1946;Naše selo (Our village), 1947;Naš tjednik (Our weekly), 1947;Naša domovina (Our homeland), 1952;Glas (Voice), 1957;Novi glas (New Voice), 1969;Put (Way), 1981).
Most popular Burgenland Croat writers are: J. Mulih (1694–1754), Godefrid Palković (1714–78), L. Bogović (1719–89), E. M. Kragel (1725–88), M. Laáb (cca. 1746–1823), J. Ficko (1772–1843), M. Drobilić (1808–91), T. Jordan (1815–93), G. Glavanić (1833–72), M. Naković (1840–1900), I. Mušković (1848–1930), M. Borenić (1850–1939), Ivan Čuković (1865–1944), P. Jandrišević (1879–1938), I. Blažević (1888–1946), Mate Meršić Miloradić (1850–1928), Ignac Horvat (1895–1973), Martin Meršić, A. Blazović (1921–2004), Franz Probst (1919–93), N. Benčić (b. 1938), Ivan (Lav) Sučić (b. 1938), Mathilda Bölcs (b. 1949), J. Čenar (b. 1956), P. Tyran (b. 1955) and H. Gassner (b. 1955).[10]
| Slovene | Burgenland Croatian (1830)[12] | Burgenland Croatian (2021)[citation needed] | Croatian |
|---|---|---|---|
Oče naš, ki si v nebesih, | Otacz naß, ki szi na nebeszi! | Oče naš, ki si na nebesi, | Oče naš, koji jesi na nebesima, |
Tako Sanja Vulić, nakon raščlambe relevantnih jezikoslovnih teorija i činjenica, govor Hrvatskoga Groba svrstava u istočnu skupinu govora kontinentalnoga poddijalekta srednjočakavskoga dijalekta čakavskoga narječja.
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