Kajkavian (ISO 639-3: kjv) is a Central European Slavic language.
Its written and spoken tradition goes back to medieval state originally called Slovene country with its capital Zagreb.

Slovenie or Windischland, Tothorszag
vs
Horvatistan, Croatia or Horvatorzag.

Today Kajkavian folks face systematic marginalization by Croatian state institutions. Their Slavic, Central European identity and language are endangered due to decades of institutional language policy that has sidelined Kajkavian in favor of Neostokavian – yet the distinct Pannonian-Slovene identity persists, today under the name Kajkavian.

 

1. Kajkavian is the original language of Zagreb and the Kajkavian region around it
2. Kajkavian was the standard literary language in the whole area of Zagreb bishopric until the mid of 19th century
3. If you speak Kajkavian in Zagreb today, most people will not understand what you are saying, and will ask if you are from Slovenia
4. Kajkavian literary language is recognized under ISO 639-3 language code kjv, and there is much literature dated from 16th ct. in Central European national libraries written in kjv.
5. Glottolog entry by respected international linguists for Kajkavian language is here
6. Kajkavians were introduced to today’s official Neostokavian Croatian some 150 years ago.
   Since then, Croatian state institutions and education policy have systematically displaced the Kajkavian language — a process that continues to this day
7. Term “Kajkavian” has been coined by Serbo-Croatian philologists end of 19th ct. and has been in use as such but is actually wrong since based on pronoun “kaj” it should encompass also today Slovenes, but it doesn’t.
   The term reflects a political framing imposed by 19th-century Serbo-Croatian philology that obscured the distinct Pannonian-Slovene identity — an identity that persists today under the name Kajkavian. It should be understood alongside the original endonym used for more than 1000 years – a folk of Pannonian Slovenes !

 

 

Old street sign in Kajkavian literary language in Zagreb – Gospodska vulica¹
Below in German Herren Gasse. Picture Akos Doncsecz

 

According to linguists², Kajkavian is being used for more than 1000 years by so called Kajkavian folks in what is today northern Croatia. Today most “Kajkavians” regard themselves as Kajkavian Croats. However, they do not learn under Croatian rule about their own separate history, language and tradition.
So most Kajkavian folks and Croats did not know that Kajkavian literary language existed, until few years ago, and many still do not know because it is kind of censored on public TV to talk about that.
Kaikaivans also do not know that their ancestors had their own kingdom and that their original name was Slovenci. These facts are all known to historians, yet they are not included in the public education system of Croatia. Still, some regard themselves as Kajkavians only.
Kajkavian language existed long before there was Croatia, like this is the case with many languages where their development is much older than the idea of national state developed in 19th century. In fact there was ancient Kajkavian state around the time of Charlemagne rule with its main city of Sisek, and in late medieval times there was a kingdom of Slovenje or Slovenski orsag with its main city Zagreb. Its language was called Slovenski language, and not Croatian. Slovenski is the first self-name of today’s Kajkavian language. Croatia at that time was a different country in the south of river Una and Kupa. Croatian then was Čakavian-Ikavian language, written in different scripts: glagolitic – istud alphabetum est Chrawaticum and cyrillic script. Kajkavians/Slovenci in their kingdom of Slovenje used only Latin script, and never used these two Croatian scripts.

 

It is important to know the distinction that the original self-name Slovenski language of Slovenski orsag did not denote  language of todays Slovenia, but the language that Serbo-Croatian philologists started to call “Kajkavian” since the end of 19th century, which was thus accepted by Slavistics, even though it is politically incorrect.
Prof. Vatroslav von Jagič, one of the world’s most prominent Slavic philologists, stated in his “Archiv für slawische Philologie” that there were 3 different languages on different territories, that shared the same name Slovenski: in what is present day Slovenia, Slovakia, and Slovenje (North of Croatia). However, only one of them had it’s capital and state – it was Zagreb and Slovenje. These Zagreb Slovenes gradually lost political autonomy as the Stokavian-speaking political establishment expanded its influence northward — a process formalized by the Vienna Literary Agreement of 1850 and enforced by state institutions ever since. How this happened is written here. 

 

When did the ancestors of Kajkavians arrive?

 

Starting from the arrival of Pannonian Slavs at the end of 6th ct.³, there is continuity of culture in the Kajkavian spoken area. Few centuries later we can distinguish the predecessor of todays Kajkavian from what was going develop into neighbouring languages like Cakavian. Thus Kajkavian can be considered as among the oldest languages of Europe. Today Kajkavian area of use stretches from Pitomača in the east to Čabar and Fužine the west. In the south from the village of Krapje to the northern border of Slovenia.Kajkavians are Croatians, but their traditional language is different from todays official language of Croatia, which was introduced in Kajkavian region only 150 years ago. Beside Kajkavian, another Croatian language that differs from todays standard Croatian is Čakavian. Today’s self name for Kajkavian language is Kajkavski – pronounced like Khay-khavs-key.

 

What makes Kajkavian a language?

 

The unity of Kajkavian language and its dialects was first proved by most important Croatian linguist Stjepan Ivšič in his groundbreaking work “The language of Croatian Kajkavians” in 1936. Long before that, Kajkavians have developed literary language in which they have been publishing literature since 16th century.
Today, the reality of Kajkavian language is confirmed by prof. emer. dr. sc. Josip Silić⁴ one of the most prominent contemporary Croatian linguists, as well as by famous publicist and linguist dr. sc. Inoslav Bešker⁵, and by many other linguists who are unbiased and well-informed about this marginalised language.
Silić clearly states why Kajkavian has different linguistic system from Neostokavian(=offical Croatian) because Kajkavian has different phonology, morphology and syntax. And that Kajkavian has also different accentuation from official Croatian and today’s Slovene was proved by aforementioned Ivšič.
Also vocabulary in Kajkavian language is different from Neostokavian Croatian – often same or much more similar to Slovene.
So all the five elements of Kajkavian language: phonology, morphology, syntax, accentuation and vocabulary differ from Neostokavian/Croatian language.
This is why Kajkavian language is hardly or not intelligible to a Stokavian speaker.

 

We present here in these pages the details about Kajkavian language and overview of its history.

 

It is important to understand that Kajkavian dialects are not dialects of official Neostokavian Croatian. Unlike bhs-languages (Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian) that form the Neostokavian dialectal group, Kajkavian does not belong to this group. This is something all linguists agree. Kajkavian dialects share common linguistic characteristics of Kajkavian language, with local or regional differences.

 

For characteristics of Kajkavian language jump here.

 

Kajkavian language today in Croatia: institutional & public discrimination

 

Kajkavian language has been existing throughout centuries. From 16th to the mid of 19th century Kajkavian had the functionality of official and literary language (more details below) in the kingdom that was called originally Slovonski orsag or Slovenje. Through medieval times until the 1800 ct. Kajkavians never called their land Croatia or their language Croatian. They denoted it Slovenje and themselves as Slovenci. In Latin this was Slavonia. The area of Regnum of Slovenje was what they call today Kajkavian speaking area, whereas Croatia (Harvatska/Hervatska) was in the south to Knin. All written sources from these times show this – Kajkavian, Austrian, Hungarian and Croatian sources state this. More about it below.
After the middle of 19th ct. Kajkavian language was removed from public use in Kajkavian region/state by the decision of Croatian parliament in favour of, as officially proclaimed, Yugoslavian language⁶.
This Yugoslavian language was the Neostokavian dialect imported from Bosnia/Monte Negro. This is also the reason why bhs-languages are mutually intelligible – they are all based on one and same Neostokavian dialect. But not Kajkavian – it  had different historical, cultural and linguistic development. To remove a highly developed and urban language like Kajkavian from public use in 19th ct. was actually a crazy decision seen from cultural and societal point of view. Kajkavians tried to resist by making allies with Hungarians, but could not stand against the ruling Croatian aristocracy that was mostly for the new southern dialect hoping to Neostokavian get areas and properties in the south.

 

The proclamation of, as initially called, Yugoslavian dialect for new official language of the new Croatia – Cakavian Dalmatia, Stokavian Slavonia (since 18th ct.) and Kajkavian Horvatska marks the start of discrimination of Kajkavian (and Cakavian) language in the new state of Croatia, meaning also in Kajkavian area. This discrimination started in 19th centurty, did not stop even today, and it is worse today than it was before socialist Yugoslavia. The doctrine that Kajkavian is a dialect of official Stokavian Croatian started actually in socialist Yugoslavia, and is carried over without thinking into the new Croatian state by language policy creators. This doctrine has only one goal and reason – to stop Kajkavians from learning and using their language. Initially the doctrine “Away from Austro-Hungarian Empire” introduced new Yugoslavian language for all South Slaves – also meant for Bulgarians and Slovenes. For that, Neostokavian language, the lingua franca among Balkan South Slaves, was chosen as the new official language. Bulgarians did not join, Slovenes managed to resist (they had Prešeren), Kajkavians tried but failed. The Kajkavian “Prešeren” – Miroslav Krleža came some 100 years too late – when all was set and done in favour of Neostokavian language. Kajkavian authors wrote against acceptance of the foreign Neostokavian Croatian language, and lower Kajkavian aristocracy even fought against Ban Jelačič and his Neostokavian-speaking establishment from the south. Also Šafarik, who supported Gaj in introducing new orthography, was against dropping valuable Kajkavian language, but it did not help yet. The institutional dominance of Neostokavian continues to expand.
 
Both Kajkavian and Slovenian as Slavic languages from Central Europe were not understood by the Balkan South Slaves. Slovenians defended their language, but Kajkavians around Zagreb could not, and Kajkavian langauge had to retreat as official language in the eyes of Ban Jelačič, Ljudevit Gaj and count Draškovič and many other Illyrists. Of course these three hoped to extend their influence on the areas to be/or then added to new Croatia, and actively worked on that. So why Kajkavian was abolished as official language in Kajkavian state is for narrow political and personal interests like greed, and low level of education in history of Illyrists like Ljudevit Gaj, who spread romantic fantastics.
This led to the situation today where Kajkavian language is seriously endangered and on the verge of disappearing in Croatia, because intergenerational transmission is already broken. 
Disappearing / glottophagy of Kajkavian language ((Mario Jembrih 2015: ZAKAJ SME DOBILI MEDNARODNEGA ISO KODA ZA KAJKAVSKI KNJIŽEVNI JEZIK. 14. scientific conference “Kajkavian language, literature and culture through  centuries”, Krapina.)) is mostly the result of discriminating language policies that have been created and promoted by Croatian institutions that are governmental or close to government – Croatian Academy of Science (HAZU, former JAZU), Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics (IHJJ) and Croatian Ministry of Education.
These institutions use the superficial similarity between the name Horvatski that was imposed by Croatian aristocracy instead of name “Slovenski” during less than 2 centuries (1700-1850), and the name Hrvatski that was introduced for today’s Croatian language around 1840 – which was the name for the Balkanian Stokavian language.
So Croatian Aristocracy, Yugoslavian Academy of Sciences and managed to introduce an irrational mess into what is called North Croatia.
Thus HAZU and IHJJ neglect the fact that Horvatski (Kajkavian literary language) and Hrvatski (Southern Neostokavian) were 2 different languages belonging to different dialectal groups and language systems.

 

Horvatski / Kajkavian language / Central European cultural scope

 

• Does not belong to Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian language group / bhs macrolanguage
• Area of Horvatski jezik : Kajkavian state, after 1848. Kajkavian region
• It was called like that from around 1700. until 1862. Before 1700. it was named Slovenski language, of Slovenian Orsag – Slovenej. (Today Slovenia Kajkavians called Kranjska and Štajerska).
• Note for foreign readers: Horvatski is usually translated as “Croatian” – same like Hrvatski.
  Since this is wrong, this is also the main reason many outside of Croatia do not know about Kajkavian language. (i.e. that Horvatski language was actually Kajkavian, and not Balkan Stokavian Croatian like today). Most Croatian language and history scientists cooperate in this falsification, not pointing out this distinction but remaining silent. However, one just needs to compare original sources to see that Horvatski does not equal to Hrvatski which is thus deliberately false translation helping the assimilation of Kajkavian folk in oder to take away their language.

vs

Hrvatski  / Neostokavian language / Balkan cultural scope

 

• Part of Neostokavian Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian language group / bhs macrolanguage.
• Imported into Kajkavian region in 1862. as “Jugoslavenski jezik”⁶
• Language area until 1862.: Bosnia and Hercegovina, Monte Negro, Serbia, Vojna Krajina (Balkanese Vlachs)
• Ludwig von Gay/Ljudevit Gaj admired Monte Negrin Njegoš, and published his texts, proclaiming Monte Negro Neostokavian Iyekavian dialect as ideal Ilirian language. This is how todays Croatian came into existence. Croatian kids today who speak Croatian read Monte Negrinian Njegoš as native, wheras they hardly understand origianl Dubrovnik dialect (which should allegedly be the basis of todays Neostokavian Croatian/Hrvatski :D).

 

But instead of teaching what international slavistics and linguistics teach, Croatian Ministry of Un-Education & Anti-Culture and Croatian Academy of anti-Science teach some Balkans myths and story-telling.
So is e.g. Kajkavian more similar to todays Slovene than to todays official Croatian – however, his does not matter to HAZU and IHJJ who proclaim it for dialect of Neostokavian language – a blatant linguistic nonsense. Both HAZU and IHJJ are allegedly Croatian scientific institutions, but, on matters like Kajkavian language they ignore internationally valid scientific standards, something which they openly admit in public from time to time.
The language policy makers associated with these institutions even openly admit in public that this what they proclaim is against standards of todays Slavistics (as stated by member of HAZU R. Katičič-citation to be added). They know very well that Neostokavian dialect/new Croatian language was introduced into Kajkavian speaking area only 150 years ago, and before that, Kajkavian language was the official language⁷.
But you will not find this simple fact in Croatian educational books, where “fantasy facts” are presented instead of facts about Kajkavian language. However, these facts about Kajkavian language can be found in educational books before Yugoslavian/Croatian age, and can be easily checked in books in Kajkavian literary language, and other historical sources like Austrian and Hungarian.
So HAZU, IHJJ and Croatian Ministry of Education go clearly against all linguistic and historical facts. Obviously scientific standards in Croatia were higher in 1936, when the prominent member of HAZU Stjepan Ivšič could freely and clearly distinguish Kajkavian language from official Croatian language, than they are today in 21. century in the still young state of Croatia! In Croatia instead of progressing, many things appear to be actively moved backwards by current policy creators.

 

How HAZU (Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts), Croatian Institute for Linguistics (IHJJ) and Croatian Ministry of Education actively contribute to discrimination and perform linguicide of Kajkavian language:

 

1. HAZU today denies existence of Kajkavian literary language everywhere it can: e.g. see works of its members/associates Moguš and M. Mihaljevič, where the latter does not mention that Kajkavian language ever existed, in an official book of University of Zagreb.
   
   
2. HAZU is publisher of Dictionary of Kajkavian literary language – something they inherited and do not care about today. Dictionary was initiated by Miroslav Krleža, who created his best work in Kajkavian literary language. If it was not for him, it would never have been started. How much HAZU cares today about this dictionary shows us the facts: dictionary is not available to buy, it is not finished, there is no digital version. Its current editor Katičič never wrote a single article on Kajkavian (literary) language nor does he speak Kajkavian language.
   
   
3. HAZU and IHJJ today create language policies in which they deny existence of Kajkavian language, even it the opposite was proven by Ivšič (most important Croatian linguist) and others
   
   
4. In Croatian educational books for primary and high-schools there is no mention about Kajkavian literary language, about its 4 centuries of literature. Instead they speak of “dialect” (narječje/dijalekt).
   
   
5. Croatian educational system teaches the content of language policies set by IHJJ and HAZU. So Kajkavian language is not taught in primary and high schools. Instead students are taught that Kajkavian dialects are dialects of Croatian Neostokavian language, and that Croatian Neostokavian is the only language that always have existed  in Kajkavian speaking area – again a blatant example of nonsense.
   
   
6. Students in schools are not taught about common linguistic elements of Kajkavian language like accentuation, morphology or grammar – which are the elements of Kajkavian literary language. Thus students are not aware that Kajkavian accentuation and vocals exist at all, but regard them as “wrong” dialect of Neostokavian – as taught in the school (with few exceptions which are due to individual effort of very few teachers, who however can not stop the systematic glottophagy).
   
   
7. At universities, Kaikaivan is only studied from dialectological point of view. Also here the doctrine set in socialist Yugoslavia continues: “Kajkavian dialects are dialects of Croatian Neostokavian language” – again, nonsense from scientific perspective.

 

The message that HAZU, IHJJ and Croatian Ministry of Education spread, that “Kajkavian is a dialect of official Croatian Neostokavian language”, is actually the barbaric programme within which remaining Kajkavian spoken language is being substituted by Neostokavian dialects since 1990.
In other words, it is a programme which performs the aforementioned glottophagy and linguicide of Kajkavian language. Kajkavian, an old Central European language, not intelligible on Balkans, is simply removed and exchanged against the Balkanian lingua franca of former Yugoslavia – the Neostokavian language.
This new Croatian language policy is a clearly discriminating policy which goes against the civilised world and scientific and cultural standards that were achieved in the last 200 years.

 

 

Back to Kajkavian language – it is the main vehicle of rich Kajkavian culture, which is tied to one of the oldest cultural traditions in Europe as it emerged in 6th century. This is evident in traditional Kajkavian customs, mythology, songs, unbroken continuity of culture, and of course in the language itself. In all these areas there are significant, old Slavic elements that were preserved in Kajkavian and are not present to such extent in other Slavic languages and cultures, though there are parallels with Russian and Ukrainian languages and culture. As such, Kajkavian language is of precious value for Cultural Diversity in Croatia and also in Europe and whole humanity. It is the mother language of Kajkavians living in Croatia, in the region where Alpine hills traverse into Pannonian valley.

 

Kajkavian literary language

 

is the polyfunctional, normed and stylistically differentiated idiom that is based on Zagreb speech⁸). Kajkavian literary language had the functionality of a standard language from 16th until the mid of 19th century. As such it was used in all areas of life such as business, legal, and religious areas.
Rich literature in Kajkavian literary language along with dictionaries, grammars and orthographies was produced, and is kept in national libraries across the Central Europe.
The 2nd phase of Kajkavian literary language was in the first half of 20th century, where great authors like Krleža, Fran Galovič, Dragutin Domjanič and Ivan Goran Kovačič created some of the best works of modern Kaikaivan literature.

 

The ISO 639-3 language code for Kajkavian literary language is kjv. It was adopted on the initiative of Kajkavian Renaissance, and was supported by distinguished academics – linguists and ethnologists.

 

Works in Kajkavian literary language are still being performed in public and understandable to Kajkavians.
Here are samples of Kajkavian literary language through centuries. It is visible from these sources that Kajkavians called themselves Slovenes and their state they called Slovenje still in the 17th century. Again, this was distinct from todays Slovenes, although linguistic and cultural connections existed, still today visible in the language, toponyms and names of the people. Slovenski orsag is in Latin Kingdom of Slavonia – that we see today on Croatian coat of arms. And of course this is not taught in Croatian schools for some strange reasons (denial of Kajkavian history).

 

Todays Kajkavian language, although not being a standardised language (e.g. like Ryukyuan in Japan also is not standardised), shares with Kajkavian literary language common linguistic characteristics, and is used in Kajkavian region in North Croatia in Kajkavian dialects.

 

Kajkavian language has its distinct grammar, orthography, and a system of accentuation – called fundamental Kajkavian accentuation^10.All of these are linguistic features that differ from standard Croatian language. Kajkavian language has its own dialects with its special vocals – diphtongues. Standard Croatian language (just like Bosnian and Serbian) has only 5 vowels, whereas Kajkavian language has at least 7 vowels (Kajkavian dialects can have and usually have more than 7 vowels). As such Kajkavian language is fully functional written and spoken language, even if not used in all areas of life. Written Kajkavian today is used mostly in poetry and stories. It is spoken mostly in informal domains, but also here it is in continuous decline – language loss on lexical, grammar, morphology and accentuation levels has been happening since 1850, and is happening right now.
On lexical level Kajkavian language is much more similar to Slovene, with which it shares many same words  – shown clearly in the table Vocabulary Comparison.
Similar or same words and morphology in Kajkavian and Slovene reflect the fact that Kajkavian and Slovene, although different, have developed closely-linked throughout the centuries, and belong to the same historical line of languages.

 

Kajkavian speaking area through centuries

 

Due to its absence from public schools in the last 150 years, Kajkavian is seriously endangered language, suffering loss of words, accents, grammar and morphology. Glottophagy or language eating is happening, where Kajkavian dialects are “eaten” and substituted by Neostokavian dialects of standard Croatian language.
As of begin of 2014. Kajkavians are still not learning their mother language at school. Learning Kajkavian language in public education is not only a cultural need but fundamental human right, as declared by UNESCO. As such it is only a matter of time until Kajkavian will be introduced again into public schools.

 

 

As it can be seen on the map, Kajkavian (dark green) is spoken and written from Gorski Kotar in the West to Podravina in the East, as well as in neighbouring areas Kajkavians in Hungary. In North it is spoken in Medjimorye and Zagorye continuing to Posavina in the South.
Ancestors of Kajkavians settled down at the end of 6th century in Lower Pannonia, from Balaton lake in Hungary to the first slopes of southern Alps. Few centuries later, in the 1st half of 9th. century, there is already a proto-Kaiakvian state with prince Ljudevit who ruled from Sisek and fought against Carolingians and Southern Slavs which are associated with Croatia. His state in Carolingian sources was named Pannonia Inferior⁹.
Beginning of Kajkavian are set around that time, at the end of 9th century. It is after the Avarian rule ceased, and multiple Slavic states formed on, and different variants of language begin to develop. Still ancestors of Kajkavians remained close to ancestors of todays SLovene, connected along the paths of rivers and hills. Then Hungarians came, and for some 2 centuries there is not much info about Kajkavians. But in 12th century, there is again a strong state on the area where Ljudevits state was. Its centre is a little more north this time – the city of Zagreb. The Kajkavian state is named Slovene¹⁰ state, Slavonia in Latin or “Slovenje” in Kajkavian, as distinguished from Croatian state or “Harvatska” in the south. The Kajkavian state is mentioned as kingdom, and creates its own money. Just when it started to develop more – the Turks came. In the 15th century, Turks destroyed the underdeveloped Croatia, and its nobility and many of the people fled north to Kajkavian state. The Cakavian Croats were mostly assimilated, but brought the new name Croat or Horvat along, along with Cakavian dialect which also found its way into Kajkavian books. In the 16th century the name Croat started to appear often in Kajkavian kingdom. Before that, there were no Croats in Kajkavian state.
The Kajkavian Kingdom of Slovenje (in Latin Slavonia) or Kajkavian state switched its name to Horvatska at the begin of 18th century, under the influence of Croatian nobility. Kajkavian nobility was substituted by Hungarian or Croatian. Mostly clerics were for original Slovene name, but newcomers – Croatian nobility had to keep their name, if it wanted to keep their aristocratic titles. As nobility their origins were of utter importance to them, and whenever they looked for them, they said they were from Croatia – a land that disappeared under Turks.

 

At that time there is still no trace of todays official Neostokavian Croatian language in Kajkavian area, although it was brought to the South of Kajkavian area as lingua franca in areas under Turks. There was contact between Kajkavian and Croatian(Čakavian) language, which is evident also in Kajkavian books from 18th ct., where the latter was brought by Croatian refugees. Also there was contact to Ikavian Stokavian in Eastern Slavonia (todays Neostokavian name of Osijek was originally Ikavian Osik still in 19th ct.). Of course, Kajkavian language continued to be connected with its natural and closest language that we call today Slovene in what is today Slovenia. Dialects that are today in Slovenia like Prleški, Prekmurski, dialects around Podčetrtek then belonged to Kajkavian language, as it is shown on these pages, and even today show bigger similarities to Kajkavian language than to todays official Slovene(Kranjski).

 

As already stated, until the middle of 19th ct. Kajkavian literary langauge was official language in Croatia and was taught in schools. From 18th. ct. till 19th ct. it was known under the name “Horvatski” (which meant then “Croatian” but denoted only what we call today Kajkavian)¹¹ and it was also used in neighbouring, today Slovenian counties like Prekmurje, Prlekija, and even in Austrian Gradišče (Burgenland).
Many still do not know that language used by Croats in Gradišče today is based also a lot on Kajkavian literary language. Kajkavian literary language persisted the longest in Medjimorje, where it was still taught in the 20th century until 1918. Later it was transmitted in speech and in books. But also in Medjimorje Kajkavian was removed from official use with its annexation to Yugoslavia. Despite of all these unfavourable circumstances, Kajkavian language is still alive and continues to be used and developed in 21. century – also in the virtual space. The dogma during Yugoslavian regimes was kept that Kajkavian language is only “a peasant dialect” which is far from reality, because also aristocracy like Patačič, Oršič and Zrinski, scientists and some of the best Croatian modern writers like Krleža, Ivan Goran Kovačič, Fran Galovič and Dragutin Domjanič(president of Matica hrvatska) created their best works in their mother tongue – Kajkavian language.

 

1. lecture at Zagreb University in Kajkavian literary language (then called Horvatski), was held on 6.11.1832. by Matho Smodek. At this time Kajkavian was the main language in Zagreb and North Croatia. In many books, Smodek’s lecture is presented as if it was in held in todays standard Croatian, but it was in Kajkavian literary language.

 

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW KAIKAVIAN?

 

Kajkavian is Croatian language, but older than today’s standard Croatian, and as such it belongs not only to Kajkavians and Croatia, but also to universal heritage and whole humanity.
Why is Kajkavian the main vehicle of Kajkavian culture?
Without Kajkavian language there would be no unique Kajkavian folks songs from Medjimorje – “Medjimorske popevke“, there would be no “Ballads of Petrica Kerempuh” by Krleža, no poems of Ivan Goran Kovačič from Gorski Kotar in his mother tongue Kajkavian and no Kajkavian poems of Fran Galovič from Podravina. Followingly there would be no Kajkavians. The famous band Cinkuši orsingers Teta Liza and Gusti Dragsar could not performtheir great music, and contemporary culture scene in Croatia would be much poorer! Without Kajkavians there would be no Kajkavian Art Naive, the only authentic modern fine art from Croatia that is acknowledged internationally; there would be even no “Illirian Movement”, without which Croatia as we know it would not exist – the movement was started in Kajkavian region by Kajkavians. There would be no Zrinski as we know them, since they adopted Kajkavian language after they had migrated to Kajkavian region (Slovenski orsag) and they supported Kajkavian as they become famous among Kajkavians.
So by knowing Kajkavian language you transmit and develop this unique European tradition of Kajkavians, which is really creative and rich and alive and important, progressing continuously from 6th century!

 

OVERVIEW OF HISTORY OF KAIKAVIAN LANGUAGE

 

First written sources in Kajkavian are dated around 1100. (Radho’s Bible¹²). The name of Kajkavian language went through 2 transitions:

 

1. Slovenski. Original self-name, after the medieval  Kajkavian kingdom – S(c)lavonia/Slovenski orsag¹³. Untill 18th ct. (Croatia/Harvatska was at that time from the south of the Gvozd mountain and was Chakavian/Ikavian speaking).
2. Horvatski. From 18th. until the mid of 19th ct. The name came due to the shift of noblemen from Croatia who lost all their properties to Turks and fled North to Kajkavian kingdom/Slovenski orsag where they mixed with Kajkavians.
3. Kajkavski. From the end of 2nd half of 19th ct. Named by Slavic philologists. Pronounced like “Khay-khavs-key”.

 

Unlike today’s standard Croatian language which belongs to Neo-Stokavian group of languages, Kajkavian language does not belong to Neo-Stokavian group (which consists of Serbian, Montenegro, Bosnian, and Stokavian Croatian dialects – ISO 639-3 code bhs).
Kajkavian is different – it is more similar to Slovene, but has also similar sources like Čakavian (Čakavski), another language spoken in Croatia. Some vernaculars spoken in neighbouring areas in Slovenia are similar to Kajkavian, because until the 18th century they developed together with Kajkavian or under the influence of Kajkavian language. These are Prekmurian, Prlekian, Porabian, vernacular of Halože and vernacular of Podčetrtek. Together with Kajkavian dialects in Croatia they form the dialect continuum from Kajkavian to today’s Slovene. Kajkavian also shares many characteristics in its development with Western-Slavic languages like Slovac or Czech. Although it underwent somehow different development, the connections to Slovac and Polish remained – it still has same diphthongs and many same words, unlike to Stokavian.
Example: Future in Kajkavian “ja bu(de)m pisal” is constructed in the way like in Slovenian, Czech, Slovac and Polish language.
Please notice the similarity between Kajkavian and Polish expression:

The famous words by Ljudevit von Gay:
Išče Horvatska nie zginula – gda mi živemo were actually translated by him from a famous Polish song:
Ješče Polska nie zginela – kiedy my zyjemy.

 

First part of the sentence is almost identical in Polish and Kajkavian, and this similarity goes much further beyond common similarity of Slavic languages.

 

Slovak: Kde sa to dá kúpiť? Velkost 40 prosím.
Kajkavian: Gde se to da kupiti? Velikšinu 40 prosim. 

 

Self-name for Slovak language is Slovenski, and original self-name of Kajkavian language was Slovenski too. Also there is same form for it is not/es ist nicht in Slovak and some North-Kajkavian dialects: to je nie instead of to nieje. Also compare Kajkaviangnesfrom Bednja with gnes in Porabje in Hungary, and dnes in Czech Republic.

 

Kajkavian language has its own system of accentuation with 3 accents, its vocals/ diphthongs, and its own syntax and grammar by which it differs from Neo-Stokavian group but also from standard Slovene. Kajkavian was not included in current standard Croatian language¹³, which has its advantages, because thus it managed to preserve its uniqueness and its special characteristics, its originality and authenticity. On the other hand it is bad because as we already stated, Kajkavian is not taught at schools. The term dialectused for Kajkavian language and meant a variety of a language, was introduced in Yugoslavian times only to discredit Kajkavian language during the authoritarian regime and to remove it from teaching in schools.
This is a situation that shall change, since Kajkavians are very fond of its language and customs, they speak and sing in it even 150 years after it was abolished from official and public use, and they would like also others to learn it. Kajkavian is to some extent heterogeneous language due to variety in its dialects and accents. This varieties of Kajkavian accents were unified by Ivšič’s in his Fundamental Kajkavian Accentuation.  Below we present the main characteristics common to all or most Kajkavian dialects, a summary of what you should know about Kajkavian language.

 

MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF KAIKAVIAN LANGUAGE

 

You can download here a presentation about Kajkavian language. It is meant for public schools and universities, or for individual use:Kajkavian – main characteristics of Kakavian language.pdf

• pronoun KAJ (kej, kuoj) meaning what

 

PAST

• first written words in Rado-bible the end of 11th century
• was official and literary language from 16th to mid of 19th century in the area that was first called Slovenski orsag / Slovenje from 11th ct. (Kajkavian Kingdom of Slavonia/regnum Sclavoniaein Latin), since 18th ct. called Horvatski orsag(or Horvatska – which was mostly the Kajkavian speaking area)
• was used on all levels in public communication: also in legal and business matters
• from 16th to end of 19th rich development of Kajkavian literature with its centre Zagreb.
• literature comparable with literature in the same Central-European cultural circle (Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia)
• Translations from English, French, Latin and German into Kajkavian (e.g. John Milton‘s Paradise Lost)
  Here is an excerpt from Paradise Lost in Kajkavian literary language, as well as excerpts from other works.
• after the removal of Kajkavian literary language from public institutions in the 2nd half of 19th century, Kajkavian continues to be spoken and writers and poets continue to write in it, but the size of creation of literature becomes considerably smaller

 

however some of the best literary works in Croatia in 20th century were created in Kajkavian (literary) language, such as “Ballads of Petrica Kerempuh” by Miroslav Krleža

 

PRESENT

 

• preservation of old Common Slavic words or closer sounding to them than Croatian like e.g.:
  Common Slavic: *obédъ, *sosédъ, *sêno, *têlo, *têsto
  Kajkavian lang. :  obed,      sosed,     seno,   telo,   testo 
  Croatian lang. :     objed,     susjed,   sijeno, tijelo, tijesto
• today is spoken & written in Croatia in Kajkavian region:
  North Croatia, from Gorski Kotar in the West to Podravina in the East.
• also in some neighbouring areas over the rivers Mura and Drava in Hungary
• written mostly by writers and poets
• Kajkavian plays are present in theatres
• Kajkavian folk songs are performed in public (e.g. pentatonic Medjimorje songs)
• Kajkavian literary language has got ISO 639-3 code kjv at the begin of 2015
  Internet:
• this Portal of Kajkavian language,  
• The biggest Facebook page in Kajkavian dedicated to Kajkavian language & culture that is regional & avant-garde is: http://www.facebook.com/Kajkavci
• A Facebook group with 4.000 members in Kajkavian vernacular of Medjimorje exists (January 2014) Medjimorje dialect has kept most of Kajkavian literary language: http://www.facebook.com/groups/medimurski.recnik
• In general is Kajkavian underrepresented on the Internet
• A scientific symposium is held every year in Krapina called “Kajkavian language, literature and culture through centuries” where historic and contemporary Kajkavian literature is discussed.
  But: Kajkavian is not equally present in public education and communication systems like Stokavian Croatian
• very little of Kajkavian literature is presented in public education system
• children are not learning Kajkavian at elementary nor at high-school
• current goal in public education for native Kajkavian speakers is to have basic understanding of e.g. only few songs written in their native vernacular, not to learn to write or speak Kajkavian nor to learn about Kajkavian literary language

 

Kajkavian is incorrectly mentioned in public education as dialect of Croatian language, which contradicts linguistic reality (since Croatian is defined as standard Croatian language based on Neoštokavian dialect, to which Kajkavian does not belong). Diverse Kajkavian cultural NGOs are working to correct this error.

 

FUTURE

• A major campaign by Kajkavian Renaissance started in 2012 to revitalize and reintroduce Kajkavian language as an important asset for Cultural Diversity and as a vehicle of Kajkavian culture and tradition: several ongoing projects initiated, more on the way.

 

CHARACTERISTICS of KAIKAVIAN LANGUAGE

 

• Language self-name today is Kajkavski. It went through few transitions from Slovenski over Horvatskito todays Kajkavski(spelled like “khay-kavs-key”)
• specific 3-accent system: short, circumflex, acute: ̏,   ̑,  ̃ ¹⁰
• accent is often on penultima, possible also on ultima: bregóv, nogáj
  Dialects
• Ivšič first proved unity of Kajkavian language in his work “Language of Croatian Kajkavians”¹⁰ describing 4 main Kajkavian dialect groups based on Kajkavian fundamental accentuation.
• There is one more Kajkavian dialect of Gorski Kotar, which had a slightly different development from the other four. It can be divided in at least 2 main groups (Eastern and Western Gorski Kotar). It has archaic Kajkavian features.
• Kajkavian has diphthongs: uo, oa, ie, .., unlike official Croatian and its dialects
• alternation of phonemes k, g, h in the nominative plural, dative and locative cases does not occur:
  Kai: ruoka→ ruoki, noga→ nogi, svrha→ svrhi
  (Croat. ruka→ ruci, noga→ nozi, svrha→ svrsi). In other words, phonemesk, g, hdo not change into c, z, s, as they do in Croatian
  • this is because Kajkavian language (like Slovenian too) did not have Second Slavic palatalisation, whereas todays standard Croatian (Neostokavian) had it.
• prothetic v– before -u and -o: vusnica, vugurek, vuho, vulica, vu, vogel
• prothetic j–before vowel: jogenj, joko, Jana, jembrelo, Jambrovič
• No soft ć nor hard č but only middle hard č
• Plural masculine in nominative case has short sufix –i: obloki, brodi, kabli; unlike longer sufix-ovi in Croatian/Serbian/MonteNegrin/Bosnian
• Only one future tense, like in Slovenian and West-Slavic languages: ja bu(de)m delal
• Active verbal adjective in singular masculine in the 1st and 3rd person ends with -l unlike standard Croatian -o.
• kai: ja sem delal vs Cro: ja sam radio
• Suffix for forming comparative and superlative adjectives is –ši/a/e: lep, lepši, najlepši
• Diminutive sufix for masculine singular is mostly -ekor -ec, (plural -eki,-eci) unlike uniform Croatian (Stokavian) -ić.
• Supine with verb of motion:
  • idi spat= supine.
  • Lepo mi je dremati = infinitive.
    vs no supine in Croatian
• No vocative case (same as nominative) → no palatalisation in declension: vuok idi v kraj–as opposed to Croatian
• Plural in masculine genitive case has sufix -ov: dečecov, čuonov
• Plural in genitive case looses sufix: leta → let, krave → krav; sela → sel
• Preserved distinction between dative, locative and instrumental cases
  • DLI-distinction: D k ženam, L pri ženah, I z ženami
• Plural 2nd person imperative has often sufix  –ete: budete
• Same sufix in acusative case for living creatures and things: imam rad Kneza Ljudevita, imaš hamra?
• Kajkavian has, like German and French, and unlike standard Croatian, open e:  e.g. ve, vezda, sedem, devet, deset
• Thus Kajkavian has at least two e vowels, closed and open e, where open ecan have more variations of openness
  • most variations of open exist in Kaikaivan Medjimorye dialect
• Syllabic /r/is written in Kajkavian literary langauge and today still spoken as -er: cvertje, černi, čerleni, tern-ac
  • Not in all dialects though due to glottophagy
• In Kajkavian, language merger of yers into schwa-like sound became -e, whereas in Stokavian it became -a-: 
  • Kai: denes, veter, pekel
  • Croatian/bhs lang: danas, vjetar, pakao
• Preserved Proto-Slavic consonant group *čr-: črešnja
• Open -e in Proto-Slavic sufix -me: ideme, očeme, živeme instead of suffix –mo.
  • Connection wih West-Slavic languages (e.g. Slovak)
• Preserved Proto-Slavic form *šč: pušča, ščukati
• Proto-Slavic forms *stji *skj manifest as  -šč: proščenje, klješča, piščalka, puščati, iščem, trešče (from treska)-> like in oldest Church Slavonic manuscript Kiev Misal
• Secondary Proto-Slavic group stəj is -stj: listjé, kostjú, smetjé
• Secondary Proto-Slavic zdəj is –zdj: grozdje
• Palatal rj: zorja, morje, škarje/škoar(i)je, odgovarjati
• Another important distinction from Croatian standard language is that Kajkavian is neither “ekavian” nor “ijekavian”, nor “ikavian” language. This classification  is valid for languages of Neostokavian group, to which Kajkavian does not belong, but standard Croatian does, so it can not be used for Kajkavian language nor for Kajkavian dialects.
• Kajkavian has 4 reflexes of Slavic yat (ě) : e, ie, ei, (i):
  • e.g. brieg, breg, breig, (brig)¹⁴
  • In Kajkavian, same word can have different yat reflexes in different cases (diete -> deteta !) which makes Stokavian distinction ekavian/yekavian inapplicable for Kajkavian language.
    Such distinction shows only that the linguists (mostly from ex-YU area) who use it, are not familiar with Kajkavian language.
• Kajkavian language does not belong to (Neo-)Stokavian group of languages (like Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian). It forms a distinct dialectal group different from Stokavian. More similar to Slovenian & West-Slavic languages, with which it shares its early development.
• Dialects spoken in Slovenia in neighbouring regions Prekmurje, Prlekija, Porabje and Podčetrtek were originaly Kajkavian and are still similar to Kajkavian language, since they developed either in or in close contact with Kajkavian region till the end of 18th century.
• High degree of word borrowing from German and to a lesser degree from Hungarian and Latin.
  • Examples for German loanwords: flaša(Flasche), cukor(Zucker), hamer (Hammer), tancati(tanzen), feringe (Vorhänge), štienge(Stiege), cug(Zug), špancirati(spazieren), vanjkuš(Wangenkissen), štamperlin(Stamperl), kukarlin(Guckerle), kušnuti(küssen), nor(Narr), farof(Pfarrhof), cirkva(Kirche), meša(Messe)
  • Some Hungarian loanwords: harmica, pelda, jezero(1000), kinč/iti, tovariš
  • Latin: cinkuš, plebanuš, petrožil, bažulek(Basil)
• Kajkavian has a huge word pool that we cannot present here in its entirety: najže, pelnica, vre, vezda, komaj, tijam, stopram, za‘ran, zorja, zutra, den, pondéljek, torek, srieda, četertek, petek, subóta, nedélja, ober čudaj cvetja večni okrepi živlenja, pozoj, husta

 

Here are some characteristics that are the same in Kajkavian and Western-Slavic languages like Slovak or Czech.

 

We would to thank from our heart (serdce) to the people who most contributed to the living Kajkavian word: all Bednjanci, Zagorci, Gorani, Turopoljci, Prigorci, Podravci, Medjimorci, Varaždinci, Jaska, Samoborci, Vivodinski kraj, Moslavina, Posavci, Zagrepčanci, Kajkavian over Mura in Hungaryand to all others who work through their talking and writing in everyday life on the progress of Kajkavian here and now – keep it doing!

 

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1. Street sings in Kajkavian literary language in Zagreb from times when there was no todays official Stokavian Croatian language in Zagreb and Kajkavian land: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Kajkavian_Croatian_street_signs_in_Zagreb
   Please note that v-in vulicais prothetic v-, as you can see above under characteristics of Kajkavian language. Prothetic v- is typical for Kajkavian language and all of its dialects. Neither todays official Slovene nor Croatian have prothetic v-. Names in Kajkavian language on street-sign were positioned above names in German language, which shows the higher status of Kajkavian language. Obviously Kajkavian langauge had much better status in Austro-Hungarian Empire than in later Yugoslavia and todays Croatia. [↩]
2. Willem Vermeer 2009: The rise and fall of the kaikavian vowel system:“Kajkavian must have become identifiable as separate dialect at a remarkably early moment.” Site’s editor comment: Further correspondence with Mr. Vermeer revealed that the predecessor of todays Kajkavian was distinguishable from the dialects continued by Slovenian, Cakavian and Stokavian around 900 CE +/-50. [↩]
3. Krešimir Filipec 2010: Drvena crkva u Loboru – najstarija franačka misionarska crkva u sjevernoj Hrvatskoj. Site-editor’s comment: Settlement of Pannonian Slavs in todays Kajkavian speaking area in 6th ct. It is archeologically and historically proven that at that time there were no Croats, who appeared in then-Kajkavian state in 10th ct. – only to be soon conquered by Hungarians themselves. Also other sources agree. Željko Tomičić does not speak either anymore about “Croats” in orince Ljudevit’s Pannonia Inferior. Consequently we can not speak of “Pannonian Croatia” before 10th ct. Yet this fantasy-term is taught in Croatian primary and secondary educational system, and still at many academic institutions. After 10th ct. we know that Kajkavian kingdom was called Slovenje or Slovenski orsag – see footnote 12) below [↩]
4. Josip Silić 1998: Hrvatski standardni jezik i hrvatska narječja (translated into Kajkavian language. Original: KOLO, Godište VIII, No 4, zima 1998) [↩]
5. Inoslav Bešker 2015: Kajkavski je književni jezik, a ne dijalekt (Kaikaivan is literary language, and not a dialect [↩]
6. Croatian Parliament, Članak LVIII o narodnom jeziku, 1861: “1. Jezik jugoslavenski trojedne kraljevine izjavljuje se ovim za savkoliki obseg trojedne kraljevine za jedino i izključivo službeni jezik u svih strukah javnoga života”
   English: “Yugoslovene language of the united threepart kingdom is hereby proclaimed for for the whole area of the united threepart kingdom as one and only official language in all disciplines of public life”. In “Hrvatski ban Josip Šokčevič (zbornik radova)” 2000. Zagreb – Vinkovci. p122-123. [↩]
7. Radoslav Katičić 1992: Novi jezikoslovni ogledi, Školska knjiga, 2. dop. izdanje, Zagreb, p. 89: “Područje mu (štokavskomu standardu) nije obuhvačalo sjeverozapadne krajeve u kojima se upotrebljavao kajkavski standardni jezik.”
   in English: “Its area (of Stokavian standard language) did not include the north-western parts, where standard Kajkavian language was used“. [↩]
8. Lewis, Štebih 2004: Nazivi za vrste riječi u hrvatskome kajkavskome Knjževnom jeziku(link & summary in German, full article in Croatian [↩]
9. Willem Vermeer 2009: The rise and fall of the kaikavian vowel system:“Kajkavian must have become identifiable as separate dialect at a remarkably early moment.” Site’s editor comment: Further correspondence with Mr. Vermeer revealed that the predecessor of todays Kajkavian was distinguishable from the dialects continued by Slovenian, Cakavian and Stokavian around 900 CE +/-50 [↩]
10. Stanko Andrić, Croatian Institute of History: Slavonija. About Kajkavian kingdom Sclavonia(Slovenski orsag or Slovenje) as successor of Prince Ljudevit’s state. In Croatian. [↩]
11.  Gerhard Neweklovsky 2006: Die südslawische Region / The South-Slavic area, Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook of the Science of language and society, Vol. 3, 2nd edition, Ed. Ulrich Ammon, 2006. URL: http://books.google.hr/books?id=LMZm0w0k1c4C&pg=PA1824&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false [↩]
12. Josip Hamm 1952: Glose u Radonovoj bibliji, Slovo: časopis Staroslavenskoga instituta, No.1, Septermber 1952; (link & summary in French, full article in Croatian) There is a text about Rado’s Bible on Croatian Wikipedia, but incorrect/inconsistent (which appears to be a common rule for Croatian Wikipedia, not keeping international academic standards), it says that Rado’s Bible would be 1st source of Croatian language. On the other side it implies under Croatian language the standard Croatian Neo-Štokavian language, so this statement negates itself, because glosses are in Kajkavian language as shown by J. Hamm, and knowing that in Zagreb until the mid of 19th century Kajkavian was the common language (1450-1860 Kajkavian literary language), then this statement on Wikipedia is as serious as stating that Rado’s bible was written by Montenegrinian Njegoš. [↩]
13. Vienna Literary agreement 1850: Three representatives from Croatia (aristocrat – Kukuljevič and two representatives of bourgeoisie– Mažuranič and VlachDemeter who actively disliked Kajkavian) signed with representative of Slovenia and Serbia (Vuk Karadžič), ignoring the right of Kajkavians on their own language, an agreement  that the “southern dialect” – Neo-Štokavian dialect from east Herzegovina in Bosnia – will be the new common Croato-Serbian language, and thatin this language no other languages will be mixed(like Kajkavian or Čakavian). Thus in Kajkavian Horvatska – North Croatia today – after Latin and German a new language was introduced, but this time imported from outside of Western European tradition to which Kajkavians belonged for more than 1000 years. This agreement from Vienna was put into reality by declared Serbian nationalist Đuro Daničič, who was invited by Yugoslavian Academy of Science and Arts in Zagreb (JAZU, now HAZU) to create first Croat or Serbian dictionary, which Đuro did.  He did not include Kajkavian words in it. Being ignorant of Kajkavian, he falsely thought that Kajkavian language belongs to Slovene. So-called “Croatian Vukovians”, followers of Vuk Karadžič in Croatia further “refined” the new Croatian or Serbian language (as stated above, basically Montenegrin/East-Herzegovinian vernacular) and brought it closer in tune with Vuk Karadžič’ ideas. Terms that were missing were borrowed from Russian or Czech. The reason for active word-borrowing was because Neo-Štokavian was not yet fully developed language like Kajkavian, and it missed words in many domains like medicine, business, sciences, philosophy and arts because of no such existing tradition in these domains – they simply did not develop in this predominantly rural society.Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Literary_Agreement [↩]
14. Ikaivan dialect of Kajkavian language has reflex of yat in “i” and is spoken around Žumberk and Sutla in Zagorje. It is an authentic Kajkavian dialect and it was Kajkavian or in contact with it before its speakers settled down in the area they inhabit today. If they were not Kajkavian speakers, in their speech we would find at least traces of Štokavian or Čakavian accents. But there are no such traces, as already Ivšič showed, they have only Kajkavian accents (except the newer Štokavian accents which are results of Stokavization in the last 100 years).
    Sources: http://hr.metapedia.org/wiki/Kajkavska_ikavica,
    and Jozič, Virč, 2009: Kajkavski ikavski govor Hrebine i kajkavski ekavski govor Kupljenova – Fonološke usporednice, Filologija, No. 53. link & summary in English, full article in Croatian [↩]