The Istriot language () is a

Romance language The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...

of the

Italo-Dalmatian The Italo-Dalmatian languages, or Central Romance languages, are a group of Romance languages spoken in Italy, Corsica (France), and formerly in Dalmatia (Croatia). Italo-Dalmatian can be split into:Hammarström, Harald & Forkel, Robert & Haspe ...

branch spoken by about 400 people in the southwestern part of the

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...

n peninsula in

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, particularly in Rovinj and Vodnjan. It should not be confused with the Istrian dialect of the

Venetian language Venetian, also known as wider Venetian or Venetan ( or ), is a Romance languages, Romance language spoken natively in the northeast of Italy,Ethnologue mostly in Veneto, where most of the five million inhabitants can understand it. It is som ...

or the more distantly related Istro-Romanian, a variety of Eastern Romance.

Classification

Istriot is a Romance language currently only found in

. Its classification has remained mostly unclear, various proposals for its affinity exist: * as being related to the Ladin populations of the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

. According to the Italian linguist Matteo Bartoli, the Ladin area used to extend – until the year 1000 AD – from southern

Friuli Friuli (; ; or ; ; ) is a historical region of northeast Italy. The region is marked by its separate regional and ethnic identity predominantly tied to the Friulians, who speak the Friulian language. It comprises the major part of the autono ...

and eastern

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. * as an independent Northern Italian language, belonging neither to the

nor to the Gallo-Italic group (opinion shared by linguists Tullio De Mauro and Maurizio Dardano); * as a variety of the Rhaeto-Romance languages by the Istriot Antonio Ive * as an independent language of the

group * as an autochthonous

heavily influenced by Venetian, Friulian and Slavic superstrates by Mirko Deanović * In 2017 it was classified by the

Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History The Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology () performs fundamental research into archaeological science. The institute is one of more than 80 research institutes of the Max Planck Society and is located in Jena, Germany. History Max Planc ...

with the

Dalmatian language Dalmatian or Dalmatic (, ) is a group of now-extinct Romance varieties that developed along the coast of Dalmatia. Over the centuries they were increasingly influenced, and then supplanted, by Croatian and Venetian. It has not been demonstr ...

in the Dalmatian Romance subgroup, When

was a region of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

, Istriot was considered by the authorities as a subdialect of Venetian. Historically, its speakers never referred to it as "Istriot"; it had six names after the six towns where it was spoken. In Vodnjan it was named "Bumbaro", in

Bale Bale may refer to: Apps Bale Messenger, an Iranian instant messaging (IM) app owned by the National Bank of Iran Packaging * Cotton bale * Hay or straw bale in farming, bound by a baler * Paper bale, a unit of paper measurement equal t ...

"Valìʃe", in Rovinj "Ruvignìʃ", in

Šišan Šišan ( Italian: Sissano) is a village in the municipality of Ližnjan-Lisignano, in southern Istria in Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of th ...

"Siʃanìʃ", in Fažana "Faʃanìʃ" and in Galižana "Galiʃaneʃ". The term ''Istriot'' was coined by the 19th-century Italian linguist Graziadio Isaia Ascoli. This language is still spoken by some people in the Istriot communities in Fertilia and Maristella, in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

. There are about 400 speakers left, making it an

endangered language An endangered language or moribund language is a language that is at risk of disappearing as its speakers die out or shift to speaking other languages. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers and becomes a " dead langua ...

Vocabulary

Below is a comparison of Istriot with several closely related Romance languages and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

Phonology

The phonology of the Istriot language:

Consonants

* Sounds can also be noted as among different dialects. * occurs as a result of a nasal consonant preceding a velar stop. * can occur as a result of Italian loanwords.

Vowels

Orthography

The Istriot alphabet is the following:

Example

This is a poem called "Grièbani" by in the dialect of Rovinj-Rovigno.

Notes

External links

Istriot Language Map (distribution)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Istriot Language Languages of Croatia Italo-Dalmatian languages Endangered Romance languages Italians of Croatia Subject–verb–object languages