75 SE-Čakavian and I-Štokavian

[incomplete. grammar details still missing.]

We arrive at two dialects that are mixing quite often, and most of the times it's hard to tell if a speech is more Čakavian or Štokavian.

Both dialects have just i for the 'yat' and are therefore called ikavski ("ikavian"). Therefore, dite, mliko, lipo, svit, cvit, vrime, mriža vs. Std. dijëte, mlijëko, lijëpo, svijët, cvijët, vrijëme, mrëža.

The two dialects are spoken in two areas: SE-čakavian is spoken in western and southern Istria (refugees from the Turkish wars moved there some 500 years ago) and in Dalmatia, on all islands except the most southern ones (Mljet and further down south) and on the mainland west from the Neretva river (this means that Dubrovnik uses another dialect), and inland up to Central and Western Bosnia. Also, there are some long-time-ago settlers in Slavonia and Northern Vojvodina (in Serbia) around Subotica.

In Dalmatia, there is a opposition between the islands and the mainland, which can be shown schematically (and simplified) like this:

islands, some coastal towns	most coastal towns	Split, coastal area	hills, inland
→ Vlaji
SE-čakavian + some i-štokavian	i-štokavian + some SE-čakavian	i-štokavian	i-štokavian
ča, bil/bi, san	ča, bija, san	šta, bija, san	šta, bio, sam
← Boduli

I have shown variation in the "Final L Rule", and the 1^st pers. sg. säm. More or less on islands and along the coast, there is final -n vs. the final -m in the Standard.

The most widespread version of the "Final L Rule" is that any final l is changed to a or ja. This is most visible in past participles:

bija, gleda, mislija, učija, pisa vs. Std. bio, gledao, mislio, učio, pisao

There's an interesting fact in Dalmatia: there are names for people "inland" or "further inland" (Vlaj) and "coastal" or "islanders" (Bodul). This means that people inland call everyone on the coast and islands Boduli, and people on the mainland coast call only the islanders Boduli; the opposite holds for the name Vlaj. The names are often used as mild insults.

The grammar is a mix of čakavian and štokavian, but nowadays štokavian features prevail on the mainland (but maybe still use ča "what"), while čakavian is still used on the islands. There are some exceptions, for example some songs from the mainland use čakavian to sound more archaic or poetic. An example is Projdi vilo written and sung by Zlatan Stipišić (known as Gibonni):

Projdi vilo mojin verson Niz kadene od sarca mog Jubav išće tilo jako Nosin brime od žeje moje Ti zanesi dite moje Moje ime od karvi moje (Z. Stipišić)

Obviously čakavian forms — projdi (imperative of projdem), verson (ins. of vers "verse"), jubav etc. with some interesting forms sarce, karv instead of srce "heart", krv "blood" etc. Stress patterns are also čakavian (moje is stressed on the last syllable, etc.) Vila is an interesting concept: it's something like a "fairy", a powerful being looking like a beautiful girl. The term is much revered in the traditional Croatian culture, some old organizations have it in their name, many songs use it: this is a powerful mythical being, not a creature from tales for children.

Another example of contemporary Dalmatian pop, Ditelina s četiri lista "Four-leaf clover", is fully štokavian; and Dalmatino povišću pritrujena is written in an intentionally archaic čakavian (more about the song later):

You can hear how the singer in Dalmatino (left) pronounces moja with the stress on the first syllable. Otherwise a lot of words, especially Venetian loans, are similar. The past participles are posidija, zalija, etc. And you can hear only čakavian in the other song (on the right, but I cannot understand all without a dictionary!)

One more example is Nostalgična by TBF, an example of Split dialect:

Local dialects in Dalmatia are often called by locals simply "Dalmatian". As we see it's not so simple. However, there's immense pride in their dialect, one can hear it quite often on TV, there is a big music production and songs on these dialects are popular through the whole former Yugoslavia. There is a lot of local patriotism as well, as indicated by popular songs named Samo ti, Dalmacijo "Only you, Dalmatia", Dalmacijo, sve ti cvitalo "Dalmatia, may everything blossom for you", Dalmacija u mom oku "Dalmatia in my eye", Dalmatinac sam "I am Dalmatian", perhaps the most revered, quite archaic Dalmatino povišću pritrujena "Dalmatia, burdened by history" (written by the father of already mentioned Zlatan Stipišić), etc. All those songs are often sung on football matches, in celebrations, etc. Look for them on the YouTube™

A tradition of Dalmatia is klapa (a capella) singing. A lot of klapa performances can be found on YouTube™. They sing mostly traditional songs, and easily fill football stadiums.

However, southern čakavian is spoken in Western Istria as well, again with a lot of štokavian mix. Songs by Gustafi illustrate them:

Kadi su ta vrata kroz ka san pasa Ja bin se torna Kadi san prije bija kad san bija ja Kad te nis pozna Kadi su ti žuti lasi Ke čeka san i gleda hi z daleka I sve se ruši, sve se ruši Sve z vragon gre bez nje Ma ja san tu (Edi Maružin)

One can hear many characteristic words: kadì "where", lasi "hair", nis = Std. nisam, and -a in past participles: bija, čeka, gleda (Std. bio, čekao, gledao). Characteristic čakavian words like bin (cond.) and gre are found. Interestingly, the sound is quite different: Istria is quite far away from Dalmatia.

[to be continued]