IL CONTATTO LINGUISTICO SLAVO-ROMANZO ATTRAVERSO IL LESSICO CULINARIO ISTRIANO

Abstract

The article presents the Slavic-Romanesque linguistic contact on the example of selected Istrian terms in the field of culinary used by speakers of the Slovene-Istrian dialect. The centuries-long contact of the Romance and Slavic language traditions in Istria has resulted in numerous interferences that enrich Istrian dialect speeches and languages, among which the culinary field, influenced by many nations, especially the presence of the Venetian Republic and the constant contacts of country people from Istrian villages with the city's Istrian-Venetian speaking population. In Istria, two different cultural, social and economic circles were formed – in the cities, based on the monopolistic influence of Venice and its policy, the Italian language prevailed, and in the patriarchal peasant environment, the Slavic population - closed and isolated - preserved its language and traditions. In addition to the aforementioned Istrian-Slovenian and Istrian-Venetian dialect, which is still preserved by rare autochthonous Romance natives and immigrants from other Croatian Istrian coastal towns, today's inhabitants of Slovenian Istria also speak literary or standard Slovenian and Italian and several languages - e.g., Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Albanian, etc. - or their dialect variants, which have been brought here by many immigrants since the middle of the last century. New languages and cultures are constantly influencing colloquial Slovenian and Italian, but so far, they have not changed the dialect of this part of Istria, where at least since the 7ᵗʰ century only the dialect of Romance origin in towns and the dialect of Slavic origin in the countryside on the other side have kept the authenticity.