Slavomolisano, also known as Molise Slavic or Molise Croatian (Croatian: Moliški hrvatski; Italian: croata molisana), is a variety of Shtokavian Croatian spoken by Italian Croats in three villages – Montemitro (Mundimitar), Acquaviva Collecroce (Živavoda Kruč) and San Felice del Molise (Štifilić) – in the province of Campobasso, in the Molise Region of southern Italy. There are fewer than 1,000 active speakers, and fewer than 2,000 passive speakers.^[1]

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (January 2013)

Quick Facts Molise Slavic, Native to ...

Molise Slavic
Molise Croatian, Slavomolisano
na-našu, na-našo
Native to	Italy
Region	Molise
Ethnicity	Molise Croats
Native speakers	< 1,000 (2012)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Balto-Slavic Slavic South Slavic Western South Slavic [ru] Shtokavian Molise Slavic
Writing system	Latin script[2]
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Italy
Language codes
ISO 639-3	svm
Glottolog	slav1254

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It has been preserved since a group of Croats emigrated from Dalmatia due to the advancing Ottoman Turks. The residents of these villages speak a Shtokavian dialect with an Ikavian accent, and a strong Southern Chakavian adstratum. The Molise Croats consider themselves to be Slavic Italians, with South Slavic heritage and who speak a Slavic language, rather than simply ethnic Slavs or Croats.^[1] Some speakers call themselves Zlavi or Harvati and call their language simply na našo ("our language").

According to evidence Croats arrived in Molise in the early 16th century.^[3] The documents from the episcopal archive of Termoli indicate that Molise Croats arrived 1518 in Stifilić (San Felice).^[4] A stone inscription on the church in Palata, destroyed in 1930s, read Hoc Primum Dalmatiae Gentis Incoluere Castrum Ac Fundamentis Erexere Templum Anno 1531 (Residents of Dalmatia first settled the town and founded the church in 1531).^[3] The absence of any Turkish word additionally proves this dating.^[3][5]

The language of Molise Croats is considered to be important because of its archaism, preserved old folk songs and tradition.^[6][7] The basic vocabulary was done by Milan Rešetar (in monography), Agostina Piccoli (along Antonio Sammartino, Snježana Marčec and Mira Menac-Mihalić) in Rječnik moliškohrvatskoga govora Mundimitra (Dizionario dell' idioma croato-molisano di Montemitro), and Dizionario croato molisano di Acquaviva Collecroce, the grammar Gramatika moliškohrvatskoga jezika (Grammatica della lingua croato-molisana), as well work Jezik i porijeklo stanovnika slavenskih naseobina u pokrajini Molise by Anita Sujoldžić, Božidar Finka, Petar Šimunović and Pavao Rudan.^[8][9]

The language of Molise Croats belongs to Western Shtokavian dialect of Ikavian accent,^[10] with many features and lexemes of Southern Chakavian dialect.^[10][11] The lexicon comparison points to the similarity with language of Sumartin on Brač, Sućuraj on Hvar, and Račišće on Korčula,^[8][11] settlements founded almost in the same time as those in Molise,^[8] and together point to the similarity of several settlements in South-Western and Western Istria (see Southwestern Istrian dialect), formed by the population of Makarska hinterland and Western Herzegovina.^[8][9]

Giacomo Scotti noted that the ethnic identity and language was preserved in San Felice, Montemitro and Acquaviva Collecroce only thanks to the geographical and transport distance of the villages from the sea.^[12] Josip Smodlaka noted that during his visit in the early 20th century the residents of Palata still knew the Croatian for basic terms like home and field work, but if the conversation touched more complex concepts they had to use the Italian language.^[13]

The language is taught in primary schools and the signs in villages are bilingual. However, the sociolinguistic status of the language differs among the three villages where it is spoken: in San Felice del Molise, it is spoken only by old people, whereas in Acquaviva Collecroce it is also spoken by young adults and adolescents, and in Montemitro it is spoken even by children, generally alongside Italian.^[14]

• The analytic do + genitive replaces the synthetic independent genitive. In Italian it is del- + noun, since Italian has lost all its cases.
• do replaced by od.
• Disappearance of the neuter gender for nouns. Most neuter nouns have become masculine instead under the influence of Italian, and their unstressed final vowels have almost universally lowered to /a/.^[14] In the Montemitro dialect, however, all neuter nouns have become masculine, and vowel lowering has not occurred.^[14]
• Some feminine -i- stem nouns have become masculine. Those that have not have instead gained a final -a and joined the -a- stem inflectional paradigm. Thus feminine kost, "bone", has become masculine but retained its form, while feminine stvar, "thing", has become stvarḁ but retained its gender.^[14]
• Simplification of declension classes. All feminine nouns have the same case inflection paradigm, and all masculine nouns have one of two case inflection paradigms (animate or inanimate).^[14]
• Only the nominative, dative, and accusative cases can be used in their bare forms (without prepositions), and even then only when expressing the syntactic roles of subject, direct object, or recipient.^[14]
• Loss of the locative case.^[14]
• Slavic verb aspect is preserved, except in the past tense imperfective verbs are attested only in the Slavic imperfect (bihu, they were), and perfective verbs only in the perfect (je izaša, he has come out). There is no colloquial imperfect in the modern West South Slavic languages. Italian has aspect in the past tense that works in a similar fashion (impf. portava, "he was carrying", versus perf. ha portato, "he has carried", and portò, "he carried").
• Slavic conjunctions replaced by Italian or local ones: ke, "what" (Cr. što, also ke - Cr. da, "that", It. che); e, oš, "and" (Cr i, It. e); ma, "but" (Cr. ali, no, It. ma); se, "if" (Cr. ako, It. se).
• An indefinite article is in regular use: na, often written 'na, possibly derived from earlier jedna, "one", via Italian una.
• Structural changes in genders. Notably, njevog does not agree with the possessor's gender (Cr. njegov or njezin, his or her). Italian suo and its forms likewise does not, but with the object's gender instead.
• As in Italian, the perfective enclitic auxiliary verb is tightly bound to the past participle and always stands before it: je izaša, "is let loose" (Cr. facul. je izašao or izašao je), Italian è rilasciato.
• Devoicing or loss of final short vowels, thus e.g. mlěko > mblikḁ, "milk", more > mor, "sea", nebo > nebḁ, "sky".^[14]

This section needs expansion with: comparison to Standard Croatian and English translation. You can help by adding to it. (March 2012)

A text collected by Milan Rešetar in 1911 (here superscripts indicate voiceless vowels):^[16]

A section of The Little Prince, as translated into Molise Slavic by Walter Breu and Nicola Gliosca:

An anonymous poem (reprinted in Hrvatske Novine: Tajednik Gradišćanskih Hrvatov, winner of a competition in Molise):

SIN MOJ

• From: Josip Lisac: Dva moliškohrvatska rječnika, Mogućnosti 10/12, 2000.
• Walter Breu-Giovanni Piccoli (con aiuto di Snježana Marčec), Dizionario croatomolisano di Acquaviva-Collecroce, 2000, Campobasso 2000
• Ag. Piccoli-Antonio Samartino, Dizionario dell' idioma croato-molisano di Montemitro/Rječnik moliškohrvatskih govora Mundimitra, Matica Hrvatska Mundimitar - Zagreb, 2000.
• Giovanni Piccoli: Lessico del dialetto di Acquaviva-Collecroce, Rome, 1967
• Božidar Vidov: Rječnik ikavsko-štokavskih govora molizanskih Hrvata u srednjoj Italiji, Mundimitar, Štifilić, Kruč, Toronto, 1972.
• Tatjana Crisman: Dall' altra parte del mare. Le colonie croate del Molise, Rome, 1980
• Angelo Genova: Ko jesmo bolje: Ko bihmo, Vasto, 1990.

• Molise Croats
• Chakavian
• Shtokavian
• Southwestern Istrian