Istriot language

Infobox Language
name=Istriot
nativename="bumbaro", "vallese", "rovignese", "sissanese", "fasanese", "gallesanese"
speakers= 1,000-2,000
region=Istria
familycolor=Indo-European
fam2=Italic
fam3=Romance
fam4=Italo-Western
fam5=Italo-Dalmatian
iso2=roa
iso3=ist

Istriot is a Romance language spoken in the Western Region on the coast of the Istrian Peninsula, especially in the towns of Rovinj ( _it. Rovigno) and Vodnjan ( _it. Dignano), on the upper northern part of the Adriatic Sea, in Croatia.

Its classification remains unclear, due to the specificities of the language, which has always had a very limited number of speakers. Istriot can be viewed:

* as an independent Northern Italian dialect, not belonging either to the Venetian dialect nor to the Gallo-Italic group (opinion shared by linguists Tullio De Mauro and Maurizio Dardano);
* as a transition variety between the Northern Italian Venetian dialect and the now extinct Dalmatian language; Who|date=August 2007
* as an independent language of the Italo-Dalmatian group;
* as an independent Romance language.Who|date=August 2007

Its speakers never called it "Istriot". Traditionally, it had six names after the six towns where it was spoken. In Vodnjan it was named "Bumbaro", in Bale "Vallese", in Rovinj "Rovignese", in Šišan "Sissanese", in Fažana "Fasanese" and in Galižana "Gallesanese". The term Istriot was coined by the 19th century Italian linguist Graziadio Isaia Ascoli.

There are currently only about 1,000 speakers left, thus making it an endangered language.

ee also

*Istro-Romanian language, another Romance language spoken in this area, but is not especially related to Istriot;
*Julian March

External links

* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ist Ethnologue report for Istriot]
* [http://www.istrianet.org/istria/linguistics Istria on the Internet — Linguistics]
* [http://www.istrianet.org/istria/maps/other/istria-friuli-languages1.htm Istriot Language Map (distribution)]