Kajkavian dialect

Kajkavian dialect
Kajkavian
kajkavica, kajkavtina
Native to

Croatia

Native speakers

ca. 1.3 million (date missing)[citation needed]

Language family Indo-European

Balto-Slavic

Slavic

South Slavic

Western

Serbo-Croatian

Kajkavian

Language codes
ISO 639-3

Linguist List

hrv-kay

[1]

South Slavic languages and dialects

The Kajkavian dialect /kakvin/ (Kajkavian noun: kajkavina; Shtokavian adjective: kajkavski, noun: kajkavica
or kajkavtina) is a dialect of the Serbo-Croatian language spoken by Croats in northwestern part of Croatia. It has
low mutual intelligibility with the other two dialects, Shtokavian and Chakavian. All three are named after their word
for "what?", which in Kajkavian is kaj.
Kajkavian is spoken in North Croatia, including the capital Zagreb, as well as in a few enclaves in Austria, Hungary,
and Romania. Though its speakers are ethnic Croats and Kajkavian is thus generally considered a dialect of
Serbo-Croatian, it is closer to neighboring Slovene than it is to Chakavian or Shtokavian.[2]

Kajkavian dialect

Characteristics
The Kajkavian area of Croatia is bordered on the northwest by Slovene language territory. It is bordered on the east
and southeast by Shtokavian dialects roughly along a line that was the former division between Civil Croatia and the
Habsburg Military Frontier; in southwest along Kupa and Dobra rivers, it persisted in ancient (medieval) contact
with Chakavian dialects.
Kajkavian is closely related to Slovene and Prekmurje Slovene in particular. The speakers of Prekmurian are
Slovenes and Hungarian Slovenes who belonged to the Archdiocese of Zagreb during the Habsburg era. Higher
amounts of correspondences between the two exist in inflection and vocabulary.
Some Kajkavian words bear a closer resemblance to other Slavic languages (such as Russian) than they do to
Shtokavian or Chakavian. For instance gda seems (at first glance) to be unrelated to kada, however, when compared
to the Russian , the relationship becomes more apparent, at the same time in Slovene: kdaj, in Prekmurian gda,
kda. Kajkavian kak (how) and tak (so) are exactly like their Russian cognates, as compared to Shtokavian and
Chakavian kako and tako, in Prekmurian in turn tak, kak (in Slovene like Chakavian: tako, kako). (This vowel loss
occurred in most other Slavic languages; Shtokavian is a notable exception, whereas the same feature of Macedonian
is probably not a Serbian influence, because the word is preserved in the same form in Bulgarian, to which
Macedonian is much more closely related than to Serbian.)
Another distinctive feature of Kajkavian is the use of another future tense. Instead of Shtokavian and Chakavian
future I ("u", "e", and "e" + infinitive), Kajkavian speakers use future II ("bum", "bu" and "bu" + active verbal
adjective). Future II in Standard Croatian can only be used in subordinate clauses to refer to a condition or an action
which will occur before other future action. For example, the phrase "I'll show you" is "Ti bum pokazal" in
Kajkavian whereas in standard Croatian it is "Pokazat u ti". This is a feature shared with Slovene: bom, bo, bo.

History
Dialectogical investigations of the Kajkavian dialect had begun at the end of the 19th century: the first
comprehensive monograph was written in Russian by Ukrainian philologist A.M.Lukjanenko in 1905 (Kajkavskoe
nareie). Kajkavian dialects have been classified along various criteria: Serbian philologist Aleksandar Beli had
divided (1927) the Kajkavian dialect according to the reflexes of Proto-Slavic phonemes /tj/ and /DJ/ into three
subdialects: eastern, northwestern and southwestern.
However, later investigations have not corroborated Beli's division. Contemporary Kajkavian dialectology
originates mainly from Croatian philologist Stjepan Ivi's work "Jezik Hrvata kajkavaca"/The Language of
Kajkavian Croats, 1936, which is based on accentuation characteristics. Due to great diversity of Kajkavian speech,
primarily in phonetics, phonology and morphology the Kajkavian dialectological atlas is notable for its
bewildering proliferation of subdialects: from four identified by Ivi, up to six proposed by Croatian linguist
Brozovi (formerly accepted division) and even as many as fifteen, according to a monograph authored by Croatian
linguist Mijo Lonari (1995).

Kajkavian dialect

Area of use
Kajkavians now include 31%, i.e. 1,300,000 of Croatia's inhabitants,
chiefly in northern and northwestern Croatia.[citation needed] The mixed
half-Kajkavian towns along the eastern and southern edge of Kajkavian
speaking area are Pitomaa, azma, Kutina, Popovaa, Sunja, Petrinja,
Martinska Ves[3], Ozalj, Ogulin, Fuine, and abar, with included
newer tokavian enclaves of Bjelovar, Sisak, Glina, Dubrava, Zagreb
and Novi Zagreb. The southernmost Kajkavian villages are Krapje at
Jasenovac; and Pavuek, Dvorie and Hrvatsko selo in Zrinska Gora
(R. Fure & A. Jembrih: Kajkavski u povijesnom i sadanjem obzorju
p.548, Zabok 2006). All three Serbo-Croatian dialects
collideWikipedia:Cleanup between Karlovac and Ogulin.

Bilingual Kajkavian/German streetsign in Zagreb

The major cities in northern Croatia with prevailing urban Kajkavians are chiefly Zagreb (old central city, Sesvete
and V. Gorica), Koprivnica, Krapina, Krievci, Varadin, akovec, etc. The typical and archaic Kajkavian is today
spoken chiefly in Zagorje hills and Medjimurje plain, and in adjacent areas of northwestern Croatia where other
immigrants and tokavian standard had much less influence. The most peculiar Kajkavian archidiom (Baegnunski) is
spoken at Bednja in northernmost Croatia.
Most other Croatian speakers know of Kajkavian as the metropolitan dialect of Zagreb city, where a half of citizens
(nearly 300.000 ones) now widely use the "zagrebeki" speech (a half-Kajkavian koine) for their private
communication at home and on street (using a tokavian speech in official sites only).
Moreover, in the central city of old Zagreb and in satellite towns Sesvete and V. Gorica, up today persist at least
7,000 Kajkavian elders speaking old "Agramer" archidiom who understand the official standard but can hardly speak
it. Also the coastal akavian immigrants in Zagreb or elsewhere in northwestern Croatia quickly transform to
Kajkavians in one generation: their non-standard accentuation is subequal to Kajkavian, with many connecting
archaisms in vocabulary. The best adaptable are the transitional northern akavians from northeastern Istria, Cres,
Vinodol, and Pokupje accepting well Kajkavian in few years.
Other southeastern people who immigrate to Zagreb from tokavian territories often pick up rare elements of
Kajkavian in order to assimilate, notably the pronoun "kaj" instead of "to" and the extended use of future anterior
(futur drugi), but they never adapt well because of alien eastern accents and ignoring Kajkavian-akavian archaisms
and syntax.

Kajkavian phonetics
Vowels: /a/, //, //, /e/, //, /i/, //, /o/, /u/
consonants: /b/, /ts/, /t/, /d/, /dz/, /d/, /f/, //, //, /x/, /j/, /k/, /l/, /w/, //, /m/, /n/, //, /p/, /r/, /r/, /s/, //, /t/, /v/, /z/, //

Kajkavian dialect

Letter or
digraph

IPA

Exemple

Translation

/a/

Kaj bu?

What do you will?

//

Ja grem v Varadin.

I'm going to Varadin.

/b/

Kaj bu ti, bum i ja.

What will you, i will to.

/ts/

uda cukora 'ma v otem kolau.

There is a lot of sugar in this cake.

/t/

Hoe kaj ti povedam?

Would you like me to tell you?

/d/

Da l' me ljubi?

Do you love me?

dz

/dz/ Pogledni dzaj za hiom!

Look behind the house!

/d/ Kda nam pak dojde to vreme, kda pemo mi v

Medimurje?

When will this time come again, when we will go to Medjimurje?

//

Moje sreko ne m're bez tebe!

My heart can not go on without you!

/e/

Moj Zagreb tak imam te rad!

My Zagreb, I love you so much!

//

Ja sem Varadinec!

I'm a Varadinian!

/f/

Cveti! Cveti, fijolica lepa!

Blossom! Blossom, beautiful violet!

/g/

Smrt po vse nas dojde! Na koncu, v grabi smo vsi.

Death comes for us all, at the End we are all in our graves!

//

Ljubim tve obice mehke.

I love your tender lips.

/x/

Naj se hurmati, kak nekni hrmak.

Don't fool around, like some baffoon.

/i/

Kdo te ima?

Who haves you.

ie

/j/

Liepa moja, daj mi se osmiehni, ker ti ima najliepi

osmieh na svietu.

My Beauty, give me one smile, because you have the most beautiful
smile in the world.

/j/

Hej, haj, priel je kraj, nikdar ve ne bu dial nam

maj.

Hej, haj, End has come, to us May, never again whould it smell .

/l/

Moja ljubica, ti si najlepa ena na svetu!

My Love, you are the most beautiful women in the world!

/w/

Ja sem vera v Zagrebu bil, kda sem dimo iel,

solzicu sem pustil.

Yesterday I was in Zagreb, when I went home, tear had drop.

lj

//

Tak malo dobroga, v ivljenju tu se najde.

So little good, in life is there to find.

/m/

Molim te kaj mi oprosti.

Please forgive me.

/n/

Zna kaj? - Nikaj!

You know what? - Nothing!

nj

//

Ja samo nju ljubim.

I love only her.

//

Idemo na morje?

Are we going to the sea?

/o/

Ja sem samo tvoj.

I'm only yours.

/p/

Upam se, da me jo ima rada.

I hope, you love me still.

/r/

Vjutro se ja rano 'stanem, malo pred zorju.

I woke up early in the morning, a little before dawn.

/r/

Prelo je prelo, puno ljet.

Many years have passed.

/s/

Popevke sem slagal, i roice bral.

Songs did I compose, and roses did I pick.

//

Ja bi ti tel kulec dati.

I whoud like to give you a kiss.

/t/

Kajti: kak bi bilo da nebi nekak bilo, nebi bilo nikak, Because: how would it be if it wouldn't be like this, it would be
ni tak kak je bilo.
nohow, and not like this as it is.

/u/

Nikdar ni tak bilo da ni nekak bilo, pak ni vesda ne

bu da nam nekak ne bu.

Never had been that has not been nothing and nohow, so it will never
be that somehow would it not be.

Kajkavian dialect

/v/

Vrag te 'zel!

Devil has taken you away!

/z/

Zakaj? - Morti zato?

Why? - Maybe because?

//

Kde dela? - Ja delam na eleznici. Zakaj pita?

Where are you working? - I'm working on railway. Why do you ask?

Kajkavian literary language

Kajkavian is not only a folk dialect, but in the course of history of Serbo-Croatian it has been the written public
language (along with the corpus written in akavian and tokavian). Kajkavian was the last to appear on the scene,
mainly due to economic and political reasons. Although the first truly vernacular Serbo-Croatian texts (i.e. not mixed
with Church Slavonic) go back to the 13th century (Chakavian) and to the 14th century (Shtokavian), the first
Kajkavian published work was Pergoi's "Decretum" from 1574.
After that, numerous works appeared in Serbo-Croatian Kajkavian literary language: chronicles by Vramec,
liturgical works by Ratkaj, Habdeli, Mulih; poetry of Ana Katarina Zrinska, dramatic opus of Titu Brezovaki.
Kajkavian-based are important lexicographic works like Jambrei's "Dictionar", 1670, and monumental (2,000
pages and 50,000 words) inter-dialectal (ChakavianShtokavianKajkavian, but based on Kajkavian idiom)
dictionary "Gazophylacium" by Ivan Belostenec (posthumously, 1740). Interestingly enough, Miroslav Krlea's
visionary poetic masterpiece, "Balade Petrice Kerempuha", 1936, drew heavily on Belostenec's dictionary.
Kajkavian grammars include Kornig's, 1795, Matijevi's, 1810 and urkoveki's, 1837.
Kajkavian literary language gradually fell into disuse since Croatian National Revival, ca. 18301850, when leaders
of the Croatian National Unification Movement (the majority of them being Kajkavian native speakers themselves)
adopted the most widespread and developed Serbo-Croatian Shtokavian literary language as the basis for the
Croatian standard language.
However, after a period of lethargy, the 20th century has witnessed new flourishing of literature in Kajkavian
dialect this time as Croatian dialectal poetry, main authors being Antun Gustav Mato, Miroslav Krlea, Ivan
Goran Kovai, Dragutin Domjani, Nikola Pavi etc.
Kajkavian lexical treasure is being published by the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in "Rjenik hrvatskoga
kajkavskoga knjievnoga jezika"/Dictionary of the Croatian Kajkavian Literary Language, 8 volumes (1999).
Latterly Dario Vid Balog, actor, linguist and writer translate the New Testament in Kajkavian.[4]
Below are examples of the Lord's Prayer in the Croatian variant of Shtokavian, literary Kajkavian and a Meimurje
variant of the Kajkavian dialect.
Standard Croatian

Literary Kajkavian

Meimurje-Kajkavian

Oe na, koji jesi na nebesima,

Otec na, koj si na nebesi,

Japek na ki si v nebesaj,

sveti se ime tvoje,

sveti se ime tvoje,

nek se sveti ime Tvoje,

doi kraljevstvo tvoje,

dojdi kralestvo tvoje,

nek prihaja cesarstvo Tvoje,

budi volja tvoja,

budi vola tvoja,

nek bo volja Tvoja,

kako na nebu tako i na zemlji.

kak na nebu tak i na zemli.

kakti na nebi tak pa na zemlji.

Kruh na svagdanji daj

Kruha naega vsagdanega dej

Kruhek na vsakdanei daj

nam danas

nam denes.

nam denes

i otpusti nam duge nae,

I otpusti nam duge nae,

ter odpuaj nam duge nae,

kako i mi otputamo dunicima

naim,

kak i mi otpuamo dunikom naim,

i ne vpelaj nas vu skuavanje,

kakti i mi odpuamo dunikom

naim,

i ne uvedi nas u napast,

nego oslobodi nas od zla.

ter naj nas vpelati v skunje,

nego izbavi nas od zla.

Amen.
UNIQ-ref-0-fd756af28c3a4d3a-QINU

nek zbavi nas od vsakih hudobah.

Amen.

Amen.

Kajkavian dialect

Location map of Serbo-Croatian dialects in Croatia and areas in BiH with

Croat majority. Kajkavian in purple.

Distribution of Chakavian, Kajkavian and Western Shtokavian

before migrations. Kajkavian in yellow.

Kajkavian media
During Yugoslavia in 20th century, Kajkavian was mostly restricted in private communication, poetry and folklore.
By the recent regional democratizing and cultural revival from 1990s, Kajkavians partly regained their former
half-public positions chiefly in Zagorje County and Varadin County and local towns, being now presented there in
some modern public media e.g.:
Quarterly periodical "Kaj", with 35 annual volumes in nearly a hundred fascicles, published since 1967 by the
Kajkavian Association ('Kajkavsko Spravie') in Zagreb city.
Autumnal Weeks of Kajkavian culture in Krapina since 1997, with iterative professional symposia on Kajkavians
resulting by five published proceedings.
Annual periodical Hrvatski sjever ('Croatian North'), with dozen volumes partly in Kajkavian, published by
Matica Hrvatska in akovec.
A new internet portal: Kaykavian Zohowiki [5], a minor wiki-lexicon on the Kajkavian culture and dialect in
northwestern Croatia, starting in autumn 2009.
A permanent program in Kajkavian of the Kajkavian radio in Krapina township. Other minor half-Kajkavian
media with temporary Kajkavian contents include also the local television of Varadin city, local radio program
Sljeme in Zagreb, and some local newspapers in northwestern Croatia, e.g. in Varadin, akovec, Samobor, etc.

Examples
Kaj bum? - in Kajkavian: What should I do?
Kak je, tak je; tak je navek bilo, kak bu tak bu, a bu vre nekak kak bu!
"Nigdar ni tak bilo da ni nekak bilo, pak ni vezda ne bu da nam nekak ne bu." - Miroslav Krlea (quotation from
poem "Khevenhiller")
Kaj bu ti, bum i ja! (Whatever you do, I'll do it too!)
Ne bu ilo! (standard Croatian: Ne moe tako, Nee ii, Slovene: Ne bo lo, "It won't work!")
"Bumo vidli!" (tokavski: "Vidjet emo!", Slovene: Bomo videli, English: "We will see!")
"Dej mui!" or "Mui daj!" (tokavski: "Daj uti!", Slovene: Daj moli, English: "Shut up!")
"Bu pukel?" - "Bum!" (jokingly: "Will you explode?" - "I will!")
Numerous supplementary examples see also by A. Negro: "Agramerski tikleci" [6]

Kajkavian dialect
Another major example traditional Kajkavian "Paternoster" (bold = site of stress): Japa na kteri si f 'nebesih
nek sesvete ime Tvoje, nek prihaja cesarstvo Tvoje, nek bu volya Tvoja kakti na nebe tak pa na zemle. Kruhek
na sakdajni nam daj denes ter odpuaj nam dugi nae, kakti mi odpuamo dunikom naim ter naj nas fpelati
vu skunje, nek nas zbavi od sekih hudobah. F'se veke vekof, Amen.

References
[1] http:/ / multitree. linguistlist. org/ codes/ hrv-kay
[2] Marc Greenberg, 1996, The Role of Language in the Creation of Identity: Myths in Linguistics among the Peoples of the Former Yugoslavia.
(http:/ / kuscholarworks. ku. edu/ dspace/ bitstream/ 1808/ 969/ 1/ yugoslav_myths96. pdf)
[3] http:/ / toolserver. org/ %7Edispenser/ cgi-bin/ dab_solver. py?page=Kajkavian_dialect& editintro=Template:Disambiguation_needed/
editintro& client=Template:Dn
[4] Biblija kajkavski (http:/ / web. me. com/ jurek/ kajkavski/ matej. html)
[5] http:/ / yoshamya. wiki. zoho. com
[6] http:/ / agramerskistikleci. blog. hr

Feletar D., Ledi G., ir A.: Kajkaviana Croatica (Hrvatska kajkavska rije). Muzej Meimurja, 37 str., akovec
1997.
Fure R., Jembrih A. (ured.): Kajkavski u povijesnom i sadanjem obzorju (zbornik skupova Krapina 2002-2006).
Hrvatska udruga Mui zagorskog srca, 587 str. Zabok 2006.
JAZU / HAZU: Rjenik hrvatskoga kajkavskog knjievnog jezika (A P), I X. Zavod za hrvatski jezik i
jezikoslovlje 2500 str, Zagreb 1984-2005.
Lipljin, T. 2002: Rjenik varadinskoga kajkavskog govora. Garestin, Varadin, 1284 str. (2. proireno izdanje u
tisku 2008.)
Lonari, M. 1996: Kajkavsko narjeje. kolska knjiga, Zagreb, 198 str.
Magner, F. 1971: Kajkavian Koin. Symbolae in honorem Georgii Y. Shevelov, Mnchen.
Mogu, M.: A History of the Croatian Language, NZ Globus, Zagreb 1995
ojat, A. 1969-1971: Kratki navuk jezinice horvatske (Jezik stare kajkavske knjievnosti). Kaj 1969: 3-4, 5, 7-8,
10, 12; Kaj 1970: 2, 3-4, 10; Kaj 1971: 10, 11. Kajkavsko spravie, Zagreb.

Further reading
Jedvaj, Josip 1956: Bednjanski govor (http://www.bednja.hr/download/Jedvaj_Bednjanski_govor.pdf),
Hrvatski dijalektoloki zbornik, Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts

External links
"Agramerski tikleci" (http://agramerskistikleci.blog.hr): Kajkavian phrases and proverbs

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

Kajkavian dialect Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=565794863 Contributors: Adavidb, AjaxSmack, Angr, Avicennasis, Bazzargh, Bertrand Bellet, Blackwater009,
Brutaldeluxe, Ceha, ChrisGualtieri, Croat1, Curps, Dagobyte2, Dbachmann, Decltype, Deflective, Discospinster, Doncsecz, Doremo, Duja, Editorxd, Eleassar, Elephantus, EugeneZelenko,
Evlekis, Fejstkajkafski, Filelakeshoe, FkpCascais, Francis Tyers, Gaius Cornelius, GregorB, Hadija, Ilijahu, Ivan tambuk, IvanOS, Jalen, JorisvS, Joy, JustAGal, Kubura, Kwamikagami,
LAuburger, Lfdder, Litany, Luka Jaov, Maestral, Man vyi, MannyCalavera, Marianocecowski, Marko Leljak, Marnen, Mateo m27, Mir Harven, Missmarple, Moreplovac, Mrcina, Mychele
Trempetich, Nerby, PRODUCER, Paul Foxworthy, Plantago, Pulcherrimus, Rjwilmsi, Saimdusan, Sam Hocevar, Sardanaphalus, Shatner, Shaun mcgrath, Silverije, Skysmith, SofieElisBexter,
Sokac121, Steinbach, Sulejman, Szajci, Taivo, Thomasthesnail, Timbouctou, Tty29a, Typhlosion, VKokielov, Viator slovenicus, Vilmos, Wikih101, WorldWide Update, Zoranq, 89 anonymous
edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

File:Croatian dialects.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Croatian_dialects.PNG License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: ceha
File:Kamenita vulicza.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Kamenita_vulicza.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors:
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Image:Croatian dialects in Cro and BiH 1.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Croatian_dialects_in_Cro_and_BiH_1.PNG License: GNU Free Documentation
License Contributors: Ceha
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