Dialects
The Čakavian dialect is divided along several criteria. According to the reflex of the Common Slavic phoneme yat */ě/, there are four accents:
- Ekavian accent (northeastern Istria, Rijeka and Bakar, Cres island): */ě/ > /e/
- Ikavian–Ekavian accent (islands Lošinj, Krk, Rab, Pag, Dugi, mainland Vinodol and Pokupje): */ě/ > /i/ or /e/, according to Jakubinskij's law
- Ikavian accent (southwestern Istria, islands Brač, Hvar, Vis, Korčula, Pelješac, Dalmatian coast at Zadar and Split, inland Gacka): */ě/ > /i/
- Ijekavian accent (Lastovo island, Janjina in Pelješac): */ě/ > /je/ or /ije/
Obsolete literature commonly refers to Ikavian–Ekavian dialects as "mixed", which is a misleading term because the yat reflexes were governed by Meyer-Jakubinskij's law.
According to their tonic (accentual) features, Čakavian dialects are divided into the following groups:
- dialects with "classical" Čakavian three-tonic system
- dialects with two tonic accents
- dialects with four tonic accents similar to that of Štokavian dialects
- dialects with four-tonic Štokavian system
- dialects mixing traits of the first and the second group
Using a combination of accentual and phonological criteria, Croatian dialectologist Dalibor Brozović divided the Čakavian dialect system into six (sub)dialects:
| Name | Reflex of Common Slavic yat | Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| Buzet dialect | Ekavian (closed e) | Northern Istria |
| Southwest Istrian dialect | Ikavian | Western Istria |
| Northern Čakavian | Ekavian | Northeast Istria, Istra, Kastav, Rijeka, Cres |
| Middle Čakavian | Ikavian–Ekavian | Dugi otok, Kornati, Lošinj, Krk, Rab, Pag, Vinodol, Ogulin, Brinje, Otočac, Duga Resa |
| Southern Čakavian | Ikavian | Korčula, Pelješac, Brač, Hvar, Vis, Šolta, outskirts of Split and Zadar |
| Southeastern Čakavian | jekavski | Lastovo, Janjina on Pelješac, Bigova on the south of Montenegro |
There is no unanimous opinion on the set of traits a dialect has to possess to be classified as Čakavian (rather than its admixture with Štokavian or Kajkavian); the following traits were mostly proposed:
- interrogatory pronoun is "ča" or "zač" (in some islands also "ca" or "zace");
- old accentuation and 3 accents (mostly in ultima or penultima);
- phonological features that yield /a/ for Old Slavic phonemes in characteristic positions: "language" is jazik (or zajik) in Čakavian and jezik in Štokavian;
- "j" replacing the Štokavian "đ" (dj): for "between", Čakavian meju, Štokavian među;
- "m" shifts to "n" at the end of words: standard Croatian volim ("I love"), sam ("I am"), selom ("village" - Instrumental case) become Čakavian volin, san, selon.
- in conditional occur specific prefixes: bin-, biš-, bimo-, bite-, bis
- contracted or lacking aorist tense;
- some subdialects on island of Pag have kept the archaic form of imperfect
Read more about this topic: Chakavian Dialect