Filologija, No. 83, 2024.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21857/mzvkptoqd9
Kajkavian Elements in the Memoirs of Adam Mixich from Checea in Romania
Petar Radosavljević
orcid.org/0000-0003-4917-571X
Ivana Olujić
orcid.org/0000-0002-7399-4240
Sandra Požar
orcid.org/0000-0002-8875-651X
Abstract
The Croats who today live in Checea (Keča), Romania, are descendants of Kajkavian Croats who settled in the Banat region coming from Pokuplje at the beginning of the 19th century. According to the latest Romanian census from 2021, there are only about fifteen Croats left in Keča, of whom only a few still speak Kajkavian or any variety of Croatian. One of the Kajkavian Croats from Keča was Adam Mixich (1896–1984), whose memoirs "Tako je bilo / Aşa a fost. Kronika o Hrvatima u Keči / Cronica croaţilor din Checea" [It was like that. Chronicle of the Croats in Keča] were edited, translated, and published as a bilingual Croatian-Romanian edition in Romania in 2014 by his grandson, Francisc Mixich. In these memoirs, the author, relying on scientific research and archival materials, first presents the origin of the Croats from Keča, then the history of his family, and finally his autobiography, which is simultaneously the history of Keča and the Croats from Keča throughout almost the entire 20th century. Although Adam Mixich tried to write his memoirs in standard Croatian, his language is characterized by numerous peculiarities, among which we can certainly highlight the Kajkavian elements of his native idiom, which we address in this paper.
Keywords
Kajkavian dialect, Romania, Adam Mixich, memoirs, Keča / Checea
Hrčak ID:
332785
URI
Publication date:
27.6.2025.
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