The Atlas of Unusual Languages

An exploration of language, people and geography

Zoran Nikolic, Collins Books

• Publisher: Collins
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780008524043
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Ancient Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

We communicate through the spoken and written word and language has evolved over the centuries. Many languages have survived although only in small pockets throughout the world. This book explores a selection of those languages.

Did you know that some people believe that the speakers of Burushaski, the language of a distant valley below the Himalayas, are actually the descendants of the soldiers of Alexander the Great? And that, even though the Venetian language is not official in Venice, it is spoken in several locations in Latin America?

From 'language isolates' such as Basque, spoken in Spain and France, and Ainu in Japan and Russia, to language islands including a Welsh speaking colony in Argentina–discover how geography shapes communication and societies.

What can we learn from the existence of Gutnish, a dialect of the extinct Eastern Germanic Gothic, on several islands of the Baltic Sea? And how widely spoken is Cornish? These and many more intriguing linguistic questions are answered in this absorbing exploration of lesser known languages.

INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGE ISLANDS

SLAVIC LANGUAGE ISLANDS

The Slavic language family is the largest family in Europe. Its languages are spoken in much of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in Southeast Europe, and North and Central Asia. There are approximately twenty Slavic languages which, together with several micro-languages, are generally divided into three groups: East Slavic, West Slavic and South Slavic languages.

BULGARIAN LANGUAGE ISLANDS

Bulgarians belong to the South Slavic ethnic group and inhabit Bulgaria and some of its neighbouring territories, with a large diaspora around the world. The modern Bulgarian nation was created by mixing several completely ethnically unconnected peoples and tribes (Slavic tribes, Thracians and Turkic Bulgars).

BANAT BULGARIANS IN ROMANIA AND SERBIA

Just near the Serbian–Romanian border (or Banat area) is the Romanian municipality of Dudeştii Vechi, or Stár Bišnov as it is known in the language of the majority ethnic community of Banat Bulgarians (Palćene in Banat Bulgarian). According to the 2011 census, the entire Dudeştii Vechi community has about 4,200 inhabitants, of which more than 60 per cent are Banat Bulgarian.

Banat Bulgarians speak a separate dialect of the Bulgarian language, characterized by a large number of loanwords from neighbouring languages (Romanian, Serbian, German and Hungarian). Unlike the Bulgarians from the motherland who write in Cyrillic, Banat Bulgarians use the adapted Serbo-Croatian Latin alphabet. Today, Banat Bulgarians live in Romania (numbering 6,500) and Serbia (about 1,500). Some Banat Bulgarian families have returned to their homeland, where they have settled several villages (Bardarski Geran, Dragomirovo and Asenovo) in the far north along the Danube River, receiving a new name: Banaćani (‘people from Banat’).

The main centres of Banat Bulgarian culture and language in Serbia are the villages of Ivanovo (out of 1,150 inhabitants, fewer than 30 per cent are Banat Bulgarian) and Belo Blato (8.5 per cent of the population). Ivanovo is located near Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.

An example of the difference between standard Bulgarian and Banat Bulgarian can be seen in a passage from the well-known book The Little Prince:

Standard Bulgarian (in Latin alphabet):

Ah, manichak printse, taka postepenno razbrah tvoya malak tazhen zhivot. Dalgo vreme edinstvenoto ti razvlechenie e bilo sladostta na slanchevite zalezi. Nauchih tazi nova podrobnost na chetvartiya den sutrinta, kogato ti mi kaza: Mnogo obicham slanchevite zalezi.

Banat Bulgarian:

O manani princ, léku pu léku iznamervami mananata tajnust na toja žuvot. Za dalgju vreme ni si se predstáveli udvanu na hubusta na zaseždenjétu na slancitu. I idna rabota détu sam ja iznamerili u ćtvartija denj sutirnata katu si mi ubadili: Tvarde mlogu mi harésva zaseždenjétu na slancitu.

BESSARABIAN BULGARIANS IN UKRAINE

The oppression suffered by subjects of the Ottoman Empire caused many to migrate to territories under Christian rule. One such migration took place during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when a large number of Bulgarians and Gagauz¹ left their homes in the eastern part of Bulgaria, crossed the Danube and settled in the area between the Danube Delta and the Dniester river, called Budzhak².

These Bessarabian Bulgarians represent a significant national minority in Ukraine, with a population of about 205,000, of which almost 130,000 live in the Budzhak region. There are also 65,000 living in neighbouring Moldova.

The city of Bolhrad and the region around it represent the centre of the Bessarabian Bulgarians, who make up over 70 per cent of about 15,000 inhabitants. Bolhrad High School, founded in 1858, is considered one of the oldest Bulgarian high schools. The most important centre of the Bessarabian Bulgarians in Moldova is undoubtedly the southern city of Taraclia, where 78 per cent of the population is of Bulgarian origin. Bulgarians do not have any political autonomy within Moldova, unlike their Gagauz neighbours within the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia.

Despite the large number of Bessarabian Bulgarians and other ethnic and linguistic minorities in Budzhak, the main language used in everyday communication is Russian.

SERBIAN AND MONTENEGRIN LANGUAGE ISLANDS

The historical, religious and linguistic ties of Serbs and Montenegrins are extremely strong, and Serbian and Montenegrin languages are completely mutually intelligible. Serbs inhabit Slovenia (several villages in the region of Bela Krajina, known as White Carniola) and North Macedonia (the villages of Marvinci, Crničani, Selemli – Selemlija in Serbian – and Nikoliḱ), but here we will visit their settlements in Hungary, Albania and Romania.

SERBS IN HUNGARY

The migrations of Serbs during the Ottoman conquests led to the formation of Serbian language islands within Hungarian territory. Serbs in Hungary are a recognized national minority, officially numbering just over 7,000 people. Today, in Hungary, there is only one place with a majority Serb population, the village of Lórév (Lovra in Serbian), located about 50 kilometres south of Budapest, making it the northernmost Serbian settlement. Of the approximately 310 inhabitants, almost 60 per cent are Orthodox Serb and the rest are Hungarian.

There are a few other settlements near Lórév where a small number of Serbs live. The town of Ráckeve (Srpski Kovin in Serbian) has 10,000 inhabitants, of which several hundred are Serb. This town is characterized by the fact that it has probably the only Serbian church built in the Gothic style, dating from 1448.

The interior of the Serbian monastery in Ráckeve (Srpski Kovin)

MONTENEGRINS IN CROATIA

Peroj is a small place in the south of Istria, the largest Croatian peninsula. The story of the Montenegrins and Peroj begins in the middle of the sixteenth century. When the population of Istria was decimated by the plague and malaria, the authorities of the Republic of Venice resettled Peroj in 1657 with twenty-five Eastern Orthodox families from near Lake Skadar (also known as Lake Scutari) – which lies on what is now the border of Montenegro and Albania – who were fleeing Turkish oppression. Descendants of these families have remained in Peroj to this day, preserving their faith, customs and language throughout the centuries, including through some extremely difficult periods.

SERBS IN ALBANIA

Serbs in Albania have lived in the territory for centuries, as evidenced by the numerous Slavic names of geographical features. They are concentrated primarily in the northern part, near Lake Skadar and the border with Montenegro. However, 150 kilometres southwest of the capital Tirana are the villages of Hamil and Libofshë, inhabited by large numbers of Serbs (unofficial figures put the number between 100 and 2,000). These Serbs originate from the north of Albania, from where they moved to the vicinity of Fier, the second largest Albanian city, at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The life of these Serbian immigrants was very difficult during the rule of Enver Hoxha, with a complete ban on the use of language and any national symbols. Today, the situation is somewhat better: a Serbian school teaching Serbian language, culture and history recently opened in Hamil and is attended by sixty children.

It is interesting to note that in the nineteenth century, a Serb from Albania, Đorđe Berović (George Berovich in English, Beroviç Paşa in Turkish), reached high positions within the Ottoman Empire, being governor of Crete for some time, and then ruler of the semi-independent state of the Principality of Samos.

SERBS IN ROMANIA

Northeast of today’s Serbia, in the area of Romanian Banat, there a...