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Italic Languages of
Istria
Istriot
Istriot is described as
"an archaic Romance language, often confused with
Istro-Rumanian. Perhaps closer to Friulian or Dalmatian than to
Istro-Rumanian."
Native speakers: 1,000 or fewer (1994 Tapani Salminen) in Western
coast of Istrian Peninsula, now only in the towns of Rovinj
(Rovigno) and Vodnjan (Dignano). Few children speakers.
- Variant(s): Istro-Romance
- Geographical location: Croatia: western coast of the Istrian
Peninsula, now only in towns of Rovinj (Rovigno) and Vodnjan (Dignano)
- Relationships: /Romance/Indo-European
- Present state of the language: SERIOUSLY ENDANGERED
(a) children speakers: probably none
(b) mean age of youngest speakers: not known
(c) distribution by sex:
(d) total number of speakers, members of the ethnic group: probably
less than 1,000
(e) degree of speakers' competence: all idiolects are likely to be
heavily contaminated by Italian
- Sources:
(i) information (about the language): Flavia Ursini:
Istro-Romanisch. Lexicon der Romanistische Linguistik. III. Tübingen
1989. 537--548.
(ii) published and unpublished material (of the language): little
published
(iii) competent scholar(s) and institution(s): Flavia Ursini
(Padova)
- Remarks: the genetic classification of Istriot is not settled: it
is often regarded as an early, i.e. pre-Venetian, off-shot from Italy,
but others held that it is a separate branch of Romance or see
connections with Friulian or Dalmatian
- Compiler: Tapani Salminen, Helsinki, 31 Dec 1993
Istro-Romanian
Istro-Romanian is further
described as "structurally a separate language from Romanian
(F.B. Agard). Split from the other 3 Romanian languages between 500
and 1000 A.D. Not the same as the Istriot language."
Native speakers: 555 to 1,500 (1994 T. Salminen) in Northeast
Istrian Peninsula, Zejane village and a few villages to the south.
Few children speakers.
- Variant(s): Istrio-Romanian
- Geographical location: Croatia: one village, ^Zejane, in the
northeast of the Istrian Peninsula, and a few villages south of it
- Relationships: / Eastern / Romance / Indo-European
- Present state of the language: SERIOUSLY ENDANGERED
(a) children speakers: probably few
(b) mean age of youngest speakers:
(c) distribution by sex:
(d) total number of speakers, members of the ethnic group: one
report gives 1,250 to 1,500 speakers (450 to 500 in Žejane, 800 to
1,000 in the southern villages), another only 555
(e) degree of speakers' competence: not known, but all speakers are
bilingual in Croatian, which certainly has a strong influence on the
language
- Sources:
(i) information (about the language): Wolfgang Dahmen: Istrorumänisch.
Lexicon der Romanistische Linguistik. III. Tübingen 1989. 448--460.
(ii) published and unpublished material (of the language): quite
little
(iii) competent scholar(s) and institution(s): Wolfgang Dahmen,
Pavao Tekavčić.
- Remarks: The high number of speakers assigned to Istro-Romanian in
the Ethnologue and, consequently, International Encyclopedia of
Linguistics actually refers to Italian (Venetian) speakers in the
former Yugoslavia. The third Romance idiom on the Istrian Peninsula,
Istriot, is also often confused with Istro-Romania whereas both of
these languages are oftentimes also association with the extinguished
(?) Dalmatian language and Friulan (Furlan).
- Compiler: Tapani Salminen, Helsinki, 31 Dec 1993
Istro-Venetian / Istrian
Istrian
(Istro-Venetian) is a dialect of Venetian, along with Trentine, and
Venetian proper. While the Ethnologue does not report the status of the
Istro-Venetian dialect, and despite the given numbers of speakers, in
the Istrian Peninsula it is quite possibly in the
ENDANGERED category.
Venetian speakers: 100,000 in Croatia
and Slovenia (1994 Tapani Salminen), more specifically in Croatian
Istria and Dalmatia, and in Slovenian Istria. Local variations
(identified with major towns): Polesan, Piranese, Albonese, etc.
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