Slavomolisano

Molise Slavic
Molise Croatian
Slavomolisano
Native to	Italy
Region	Molise
Ethnicity	2,000 Italian (Molise Croats)
Native speakers	< 1,000 (2012)
Language family	Indo-European Balto-Slavic Slavic South Slavic Western Serbo-Croatian Shtokavian Bosnian–Dalmatian Molise Slavic
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Italy
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottolog	slav1254

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 Italians of South Slavic heritage 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").

The inhabitants of these villages would say that their ancestors came Z onu banu mora ("From the other side of the sea"), and inhabited villages in Molise and Abruzzo, abandoned because of the plague. They arrived in the 15th century, probably coming from the Neretva valley in what is today Bosnia and Herzegovina. Originally the area inhabited by Slavs was much larger than today. Because these people have migrated away from the rest of their kinsmen so long ago, their diaspora language is somewhat distinct from the Ikavian-Shtokavian idioms spoken on the other side of the Adriatic.