Tuone Udaina
Encyclopedia
Tuone Udaina was the last speaker of the Dalmatian language
.
He was the main source of knowledge about his parents' dialect, that of the island of Veglia (Krk
in Croatian
), for the linguist Matteo Bartoli
, who recorded it in 1897. Vegliot Dalmatian
was Udaina's native language
, as he had learned it from listening to his parents' private conversations. Udina had not spoken the Dalmatian language for nearly 20 years at the time he acted as a linguistic informant
. Antonio Udina worked as a barber, and he was called Burbur ('barber' in Dalmatian) because of it.
When Antonio Udina was killed in an industrial explosion on June 10, 1898, the language became extinct.
Dalmatian language
Dalmatian was a Romance language spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro. The name refers to a pre-Roman tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, Dalmatae...
.
He was the main source of knowledge about his parents' dialect, that of the island of Veglia (Krk
Krk
Krk is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county....
in Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
), for the linguist Matteo Bartoli
Matteo Bartoli
Matteo Giulio Bartoli was an Italian linguist from Istria ....
, who recorded it in 1897. Vegliot Dalmatian
Dalmatian language
Dalmatian was a Romance language spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro. The name refers to a pre-Roman tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, Dalmatae...
was Udaina's native language
First language
A first language is the language a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity...
, as he had learned it from listening to his parents' private conversations. Udina had not spoken the Dalmatian language for nearly 20 years at the time he acted as a linguistic informant
Informant (linguistics)
An informant or consultant in linguistics is a native speaker who acts as a linguistic reference for a language being studied. The informant's role is that of a senior interpreter, who demonstrates native pronunciation, provides grammaticality judgments regarding linguistic well-formedness, and may...
. Antonio Udina worked as a barber, and he was called Burbur ('barber' in Dalmatian) because of it.
When Antonio Udina was killed in an industrial explosion on June 10, 1898, the language became extinct.