What about Dalmatian?
Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian are a single language: Serbo-Croat. Of course regional dialects exist, as they do in any other language, but a different dialect is not a different language. For example, 'Croatian' spoken in Zagreb and 'Serbian' spoken in Belgrade are almost identical - contrast that with the Dalmatian dialect which is so much more different from the other Serbo-Croat dialects that it comes closest to qualifying as a distinct language. And yet - even though a lot of people speak it, it doesn't exist as an official language. What a joke!Actually, it would be a joke if it were not for the fact that the various governments, having got new names for an old language, are now hell-bent to introduce new words and rules to make those languages different.As there seems to be a languages free-for-all, perhaps we should get Dalmatian officially recognised as a language - then I could add it to my CV!
Sent by: Olga
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I'm Italian and I speak Serbo-Croatian... I am totally in love with Bosnians, Croatians and Serbs (in alphabetical order) and their cultures. I speak that one language and have no problems in any of those countries and have fluent conversations anywhere I go... Should I assume I am magically speaking 3 languages at once and put on my CV 3 languages as Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian will count separately? Then I am wondering how many languages we are speaking in Italy where every 20 KM accents and terms are often different...
I have a document from the year 1561 which I believe is a baptismal record. It is from Rovinj, Croatia (or Rovingo in Italian). I sent it to a University, which verified that it wasn't quite Latin and seems like it is some Italian dialect. I wondering if it is Dalmation.
Olga, I don't know where you are from, nor what drives you to make these incorrect statements ... but I am a Croatian, who happens to know a few things about my mother tongue, so please allow me to correct you and say:
1. Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian are three languages, not one.
2. "Dialect" is something completely different from "language" - you are confusing the two.
3. The term "Serbo-croatian" does not exist. It was an imaginery "language" made up during the communism times. Therefore, people can speak Croatian or Serbian, nobody in a world can speak Serbo-Croatian which is a non-existent language.
4. You can't compare the Zagreb dialect to the Belgrade dialect as they are dialects from two different languages.
5. These languages exist since the beginnings of its people. This or that government doesn't affect historical and linguistical facts.
Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian are one language with few differences. The Dalmatian language does not exist anymore due to giving up its Illyrian origin and changing into a Slavonic language. We can talk about an original Croatian language which is talked in Ikavica non-Stokavica dialect. That is the language that Dalmatians, Krajina's Bosnians, South Western Bosnians and few enclaves in Central Bosnia talk. This group of people speak pure Croatian that came with them from Ukraina. I observed and listened to how they speak and found that this language origines from there. Regardless of religion people in Bosnia and Dalmatia, this language is recognised as a dialect but not as a language and it loses more and more of its speakers due to standardisation of official languages. I must say that today's Croatian is not a Croatian language but belongs to a group of Slavs that brought the language from Russia. As far as Serbian is concerned it more corresponds to Polish or Slovak. Today's Croatian and Bosnian should be called Sclavinian by the first Slavonic country that was created in the Balkan that did not differenciate between Slavs.
Dalmatian IS a recognised extinct Romance language that evolved from Latin and was spoken in Dalmatian coastal cites and islands in the early middle ages. It slowly became extinct under Venetian influence and was replaced by Italian. What you refer to as Dalmatian is a dialect of Croatian that is strongly influenced by old Dalmatian and Venetian dialect of Italian. It has a lot of difference with standard Croatian, and if Bosnian, Montenegrin or Serbian could be considered separate languages, then so should Dalmatian.
The Dalmatian language developed from Vulgar Latin spoken by Romanized Illyrians in Dalmatian cities in the early Medieval times. Main dialects were Vegliot (northhern) and Ragusan (southern). The last speaker of the Vegliot dialect died in 19th century on the island of Krk (Veglia). The Chakavian dialect of the Croatian language has saved a lot of Dalmatian words, toponims ...
I agree with you Olga. Dalmatian is the oldest language in the Balkans. It must be revived and taught in our schools as Catalan in Spain. Without our Dalmatian language we will lose our identity and die out as a nationality and become assimilated into Croatian. I love Croatia as my country but I am Dalmatian first and we all must fight together to keep our Dalmatian alive and be proud of it.
Bravo olga ja sam iz trogira i govorim dalmatinski to je nas jezik nasi identitet i treba ga priznati i ucit u skole kai katalan.
There are different levels of these languages. The administrative and legislative vocabulary is the same no matter what dialect/language you speak. But if you put together farmers from North Croatia, Dalmatia and Serbia and let them speak about food they are not going to understand each other.
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thank you marijanna
exactly what I want to say ...
but why do we want to separate??
why do dalmatians want to separate from "croatia"?
isn't dalmatia croatia??
"imam dvije domovine"
we all fought together to bring croatia to what it is today
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