Slavomolisano dialect

Slavomolisano, also known as Molise Slavic or Molise Croatian, is a variety of Shtokavian Serbo-Croatian spoken by Italian Croats in the province of Campobasso, in the Molise Region of southern Italy, in the villages of Montemitro ("Mundimitar"), Acquaviva Collecroce ("Živavoda Kruč") and San Felice del Molise ("Štifilić"). There are fewer than 1,000 active speakers, and fewer than 2,000 passive speakers.
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. Some speakers call themselves "Zlavi" or "Harvati" and call their language simply "na našo" ("our language").
History.
According to evidence Molise Croats arrived in the early 16th century. The documents from the episcopal archive of Termoli indicate that Molise Croats arrived 1518 in "Stifilić" (San Felice). 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). The absence of any Turkish word additionally proves this dating.
The language of Molise Croats is considered to be important because of its archaism, preserved old folk songs and tradition. 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.
The language of Molise Croats belongs to Western Shtokavian dialect of Ikavian accent, with many features and lexemes of Southern Chakavian dialect. The lexicon comparison points to the similarity with language of Sumartin on Brač, Sućuraj on Hvar, and Račišće on Korčula, settlements founded almost in the same time as those in Molise, 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.
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. 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.
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.
Phonology.
Consonants.
The consonant system of Molise Slavic is as follows, with parenthesized consonants indicating sounds that appear only as allophones:
Vowels.
The vocalic system of Molise Slavic has seven distinct vowel qualities, as follows:
Samples.
A text collected by Milan Rešetar in 1911 (here superscripts indicate voiceless vowels):
An anonymous poem (reprinted in "Hrvatske Novine: Tajednik Gradišćanskih Hrvatov", winner of a competition in Molise):
<poem>
 Mo prosič solite saki dan
 ma što činiš, ne govoreš maj
 je funia dan, je počela noča,
 maneštra se mrzli za te čeka.
 Letu vlase e tvoja mat
 gleda vane za te vit.
 Boli život za sta zgoro,
 ma samo mat te hoče dobro.
 Sin moj!
 Nimam već suze za još plaka
 nimam već riče za govorat.
 Srce se guli za te misli
 što ti prodava, oni ke sve te išće!
 Palako govoru, čelkadi saki dan,
 ke je dola droga na vi grad.
 Sin moj!
 Tvoje oč, bihu toko lipe,
 sada jesu mrtve,
 Boga ja molim, da ti živiš
 droga ja hočem da ti zabiš,
 doma te čekam, ke se vrniš,
 Solite ke mi prosiš,
 kupiš paradis, ma smrtu platiš.
</poem>
A section of The Little Prince, as translated into Molise Slavic by Walter Breu and Nicola Gliosca: