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Kajkavian | |
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kajkavščina / kajkavština / kajkavica | |
Native to | Croatia |
Ethnicity | Croats |
Standard forms | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | kjv |
Glottolog | kajk1237 |
![]() Kajkavian in Croatia | |
South Slavic languages and dialects |
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Kajkavian /kaɪˈkɑːviən, -ˈkæv-/ (Kajkavian noun: kajkavščina; Shtokavian adjective: kajkavski [kǎjkaʋskiː],[1] noun: kajkavica or kajkavština [kajkǎːʋʃtina])[2] is a South Slavic supradialect or language spoken primarily by Croats in much of Central Croatia and Gorski Kotar.[3][4]
Kajkavian is part of the South Slavic dialect continuum, being a transition between the supradialects of Chakavian, Shtokavian and the Slovene language.[5] There are differing opinions over whether Kajkavian is best considered a dialect of the Serbo-Croatian language or a fully-fledged language of its own, as it is only partially mutually intelligible with either Chakavian or Shtokavian and bears more similarities to Slovene; it is transitional and fully mutually intelligible with Prekmurje Slovene and the dialects in Slovenian Lower Styria's region of Prlekija in terms of phonology and vocabulary.[6]
The term "Kajkavian" and the definition of the dialect are modern-age inventions. The name stems from the interrogative pronoun kaj ("what"). The other supradialects of Serbo-Croatian also derive their names from their reflex of the interrogative pronoun.[7][8] However, the pronouns are only general pointers and do not serve as actual identifiers of the respective dialects. Certain Kajkavian dialects use the interrogative pronoun ča, the one that is usually used in Chakavian. Conversely, some Chakavian dialects (most notably Buzet dialect in Istria) use the pronoun kaj. The pronouns these dialects are named after are merely the most common one in that dialect.
Outside Croatia's northernmost regions, Kajkavian is also spoken in Austrian Burgenland and a number of enclaves in Hungary along the Austrian and Croatian border and in Romania.[9]