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Kajkavian (kajkavski) dialect (proper name: kajkavica) is one of the three main dialects of the Croatian and Serbo-Croatian languages.^[1] The name of the dialect, like those of its correspondents, Shtokavian and Chakavian, is based on the interrogative pronoun kaj ("what"). The dialect is spoken in the northern and northwestern parts of Croatia, including Croatian capital Zagreb, as well as in a few Croatian language islands in Austria, Hungary and Romania.

Kajkavian can be classified as a transitional dialect of the Central South Slavic diasystem, similar to Slovenian language, because it was one of the languages spoken in old Karantania, but it now is a Croatian dialect and fits into this wider group only due to its marginal mixing with Shtokavian and Chakavian. Kajkavian was once the official language standard in Croatia from 16th to mid 19th century.

Contents 1 Characteristics 2 History 3 Area of use 4 Kajkavian literary language 5 Examples 6 Notes 7 References

The Kajkavian dialect area is bordered on the northwest by Slovenian language territory and Kajkavian is transitional to Slovenian, with which it shares various features, including the word kaj for "what". The Kajkavian dialect area is bordered on the east and southeast by Shtokavian dialects roughly along a line that was the former division between Civil Croatia and the Habsburg Military Frontier; in southwest along Kupa and Dobra rivers, it persisted in ancient (medieval) contact with Chakavian dialects.

Some kajkavian words bear a closer resemblance to other Slavic languages (such as Russian) than they do to Štokavian or Čakavian. For instance gda seems (at first glance) to be unrelated to kada, however, when compared to the Russian когда, the relationship becomes more apparent. Kajkavian kak (how) and tak (so) are exactly like their Russian cognates, as compared to Štokavian and Čakavian kako and tako. (This vowel loss occurred in most other Slavic languages; Štokavian is a notable exception, whereas the same feature of Macedonian is probably not a Serbian influence, as the word is preserved in the same form in Bulgarian, to which Macedonian is much closer related than to Serbian.)

Kajkavian further stands out by lacking phonemes such as 'c' (instead using the combination of 'ts' as in Hrvatska), 'č' (instead using 'tš'), 'ć', 'đ', 'dž', 'lj' and 'nj', as well as the characteristic semi-vowel 'r'; this is partly similar as in Chakavian phonetics. Furthermore, Kajkavian includes the vowel 'ə' which is similar to the Scandinavian 'ø'; it missing from Štokavian, and partly from Čakavian (but it occurs in northern Istra and Vis island).

Another distinctive feature of Kajkavian is the preference for the future tense. Instead of Shtokavian "ću", "ćeš", "će", Kajkavian speakers say "bum", "buš" and "bu",. This is again very similar to Slovene forms "bom", "boš", "bo". The near-future tense is far more often used than in the standard Croatian language. For example, the phrase "I'll show you" is "Ti bum pokazal" in Kajkavian whereas in standard Croatian it is "Pokazat ću ti".

Dialectogical investigations of kaykavian dialect have begun at the end of the 19th century: the first comprehensive monograph was written in Russian by Ukrainian philologist A.M.Lukjanenko in 1905 (Kajkavskoe narečie). Kajkavian dialects have been classified along various criteria: Serbian philologist Aleksandar Belić had divided (1927) Kajkavian dialect according the reflexes of Ur-Slavic phonemes /tj/ and /DJ/ into three subdialects: eastern, northwestern and southwestern.

However, later investigations have not corroborated Belić's division. Contemporary Kajkavian dialectology originates mainly from Croatian philologist Stjepan Ivšić's work "Jezik Hrvata kajkavaca"/The Language of Kajkavian Croats, 1936, which is based on accentuation characteristics. Due to great diversity of Kajkavian speech, primarily in phonetics, phonology and morphology — the Kajkavian dialectological atlas is notable for its bewildering proliferation of subdialects: from four identified by Ivšić, via six proposed by Shtokavian linguist Brozović (formerly accepted division) to fifteen, according to a monograph authored by Kajkavian linguist Lončarić (1995).

Kajkavians now include 1/3 or 31% i.e. 1.300.000 of Croatian inhabitants, chiefly in northern and NW Croatia. The towns along the eastern and southern edge of Kajkavian speaking area are Pitomača, Čazma, Kutina, Sunja, Petrinja, Karlovac, Ogulin, Fužine, and Čabar, with included Shtokavian enclaves of Bjelovar, Sisak, Dubrava and Novi Zagreb. All three Croatian dialects collide between Karlovac and Ogulin.

The major cities in northern Croatia with prevailing urban Kajkavians (purgeri) are chiefly Zagreb (old central city + Sesvete and V. Gorica), Koprivnica, Križevci, Varaždin, Čakovec etc. The typical and archaic Kajkavian is today spoken chiefly in Zagorje hills and Medjimurje plain, and in adjacent areas of NW Croatia where other immigrants and Shtokavian standard yet had scarcer influence. The most peculiar Kajkavian archidiom (Baegnunski) is spoken at Bednja in northernmost Croatia.

Most other Croatian speakers know of Kajkavian as the metropolitan dialect of Zagreb city, where a half of citizens (nearly 300.000 ones) now widely use the "zagrebečki" speech (a half-kaykavian koine) for their private communication at home and on street (using a shtokavian speech in official sites only). This relative stability of Zagreb kaykavian is due to prevailing local immigration of many surroundung kaykavians from NW Croatia and from kaykavian satellite towns.

Moreover, in the central city of old Zagreb and in satellite towns Sesvete and V. Gorica, up today persist at least 7.000 indigenous kaykavian elders speaking old "Agramer" archidiom; they understand official standard but hardly can speak them. Also the coastal Chakavian immigrants in Zagreb or elsewhere in NW Croatia quickly transform to kaykavians in one generation: their non-standard accentuation is subequal to kaykavian, with many connecting archaisms in vocabulary. The best adaptable are the transitional northern chakavians from NE Istra, Cres, Vinodol and Pokupje accepting well kaykavian in few years.

Other southeastern people who immigrate to Zagreb from shtokavian territories often pick up rare elements of kaykavian in order to assimilate, notably the pronoun "kaj" instead of "što" and the extended use of second future, but they never adapt well because of alien eastern accents and ignoring kaykavian-chakavian archaisms and syntax. In older Serbo-Croatian times, as explained by the Serbian linguist Pavle Ivić (from Srpski narod i njegov jezik): "Not to be able to work Kajkavština means to be considered inferior, to show utterly that you don't come from the capital".

It still holds true that Shtokavian speakers in Zagreb clearly show that they aren't from the capital, but given how Zagreb had been inundated with Yugoslav immigrants, this had partly lost in importance over past years; but now in independent Croatia to speak metropolitan became a new prestige of true citizens, and others unadapted ones there are considered as Balkanites.

Kajkavian is not only a folk dialect, but in the course of history of Croatian language, has been the written public language (along with the corpus written in Chakavian and Shtokavian). Kajkavian was the last to appear on the scene, mainly due to economic and political reasons. While first Croatian truly vernacular Chakavian texts (ie. not mixed with Church Slavonic) go back to the 13th century, Shtokavian to 14th century, the first Kajkavian published work was Pergošić's "Decretum", 1574.

After that, numerous works appeared in Croatian Kajkavian literary language: chronicles by Vramec, liturgical works by Rattkay, Habdelić, Mulih; poetry of Katarina Zrinska, dramatic opus of Tituš Brezovački. Kajkavian-based are important lexicographic works like Jambrešić's "Dictionar", 1670, and monumental (2,000 pages and 50,000 words) inter-dialectal (Čakavian-Štokavian-Kajkavian, but based on Kajkavian idiom) dictionary "Gazophylacium" by Belostenec (posthumously, 1740). Interestingly enough, Miroslav Krleža's visionary poetic masterpiece, "Balade Petrice Kerempuha", 1936, drew heavily on Belostenec's dictionary. Croatian Kajkavian grammars include Kornig's, 1795, Matijević's, 1810 and Đurkovečki's, 1837.

Kajkavian literary language gradually fell into disuse since Croatian National Revival, ca. 1830-1850, when leaders of Croatian National Unification Movement (the majority of them being Kajkavian native speakers themselves) adopted the most widespread and developed Croatian Shtokavian literary language as the idiom for Croatian standard language.

However, after a period of lethargy, the 20th century has witnessed new flourishing of Kajkavian literature- this time as Croatian dialectal poetry, main authors being Antun Gustav Matoš, Miroslav Krleža, Ivan Goran Kovačić, Dragutin Domjanić, Nikola Pavić (uncle of Serbian post-modernist fantasy writer Milorad Pavić) etc.

Kajkavian lexical treasure is being published by the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in "Rječnik hrvatskoga kajkavskoga književnoga jezika"/Dictionary of the Croatian Kajkavian Literary Language, 8 volumes (1999).

• Kak je, tak je; tak je navek bilo, kak bu tak bu, a bu vre nekak kak bu!
• "Nigdar ni tak bilo da ni nekak bilo, pak ni vezda ne bu da nam nekak ne bu." - Miroslav Krleža (quotation from poem "Khevenhiller")
• Kaj buš ti, bum pa ja! (Whatever you do, I'll do it too!)
• Ne bu išlo! (standard Croatian: Ne može tako, Neće ići "It won't work!")
• "Bumo vidli!" (štokavski: "Vidjet ćemo!", English: "We will see!")
• "Dej muči!" or "Muči daj!" (štokavski: "Daj šuti!", English: "Shut up!")
• "Buš pukel?" - "Bum!" (jokingly: "Will you explode?" - "I will!")
• Numerous supplementary examples: A. Negro, "Agramerski štikleci", <http://agramerskistikleci.blog.hr>

1. ^ Corbett, G. (1990) "Serbo-Croat" in Comrie, B. (ed.) The World's Major Languages (Oxford : Oxford University Press)

• Milan Moguš: A History of the Croatian Language, NZ Globus, Zagreb 1995
• Mijo Lončarić: Kajkavsko narječje. Školska knjiga, 198 p.+ 1 map, Zagreb 1996
• Rajko Fureš & Alojz Jembrih: Kajkavski u povijesnom i sadašnjem obzorju, I.-IV. Muži zagorskog srca, 587 p., Zabok-Krapina 2002-2006 (Proceedings of 4 Kajkavian symposia)