Prekmurje Slovene

Prekmurje Slovene, also known as the Prekmurje dialect, Eastern Slovene, or Wendish (Slovene: prekmurščina, prekmursko narečje, Hungarian: vend nyelv, muravidéki nyelv, Prekmurje Slovene: prekmürski jezik, prekmürščina, prekmörščina, prekmörski jezik, panonska slovenščina), is the language of Prekmurje in Eastern Slovenia, and a variety of the Slovene language. As a part of the Pannonian dialect group, it is spoken in the Prekmurje region of Slovenia and by the Hungarian Slovenes in the Vas County in western Hungary. It is used in private communication, liturgy and publications by authors from Prekmurje as well as in television, radio and newspapers. It is closely related to other Slovene dialects in the neighboring Slovene Styria as well as to Kajkavian with which it is mutually intelligible to a considerable degree, and forms a dialect continuum with other South Slavic languages.
Prekmurje Slovene is part of the Pannonian dialect group (Slovene: panonska narečna skupina), which is also known as the eastern Slovene dialect group (vzhodnoslovenska narečna skupina). Prekmurje Slovene shares many common features with the dialects of Haloze, Slovenske Gorice, and Prlekija, with which it is completely mutually intelligible. It is also closely related to the Kajkavian dialects of Croatian, although mutual comprehension is difficult. Prekmurje Slovene, especially its more traditional version spoken by the Hungarian Slovenes, is not readily understood by speakers from central and western Slovenia, whereas speakers from eastern Slovenia (Lower Styria) have much less difficulty understanding it. The early 20th-century philologist Ágoston Pável stated that Prekmurje Slovene is actually a major, independent dialect of Slovene, from which it differs mostly in the aspects of stress, intonation, the softening of consonants and—as a result of the lack of linguistic reform—in the striking dearth of modern vocabulary and that it has preserved many older features from the Proto-Slavic language.
Prekmurje Slovene is spoken by approximately 110,000 speakers worldwide. of which 80,000 in Prekmurje, 20,000 throughout in Slovenia (especially in Maribor and Ljubljana) and 10,000 in other countries. In Hungary, it is used by the Slovene-speaking minority in the Vas County in and around the town of Szentgotthárd. Other speakers of the dialect live in other Hungarian towns, particularly Budapest, Szombathely, Bakony, and Mosonmagyaróvár. The dialect was also spoken in Somogy (especially in the village of Tarany), but it has nearly disappeared in the last two centuries. There are some speakers in Austria, Germany, the United States, and Argentina.
Prekmurje Slovene has a defined territory and body of literature, and it is one of the few Slovene dialects in Slovenia that are still spoken by all strata of the local population. Some speakers have claimed that it is a separate language. Prominent writers in Prekmurje Slovene, such as Miklós Küzmics, István Küzmics, Ágoston Pável, József Klekl Senior, and József Szakovics, have claimed that it is a language, not simply a dialect. Evald Flisar, a writer, poet, and playwright from Prekmurje (Goričko), states that people from Prekmurje "talk in our own language". It also has a written standard and literary tradition, both of which were largely neglected after World War II. There were attempts to publish in it more broadely in the 1990s, primarily in Hungary, and there has been a revival of literature in Prekmurje Slovene since the late 1990s.
Others consider Prekmurje Slovene a regional language, without denying that it is part of Slovene. The linguist Janko Dular has characterized Prekmurje Slovene as a "local standard language" for historical reasons, followed by the Prekmurje writer Feri Lainšček. However, Prekmurje Slovene is not recognized as a language in Slovenia or Hungary, nor does it enjoy any legal protection under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In 2016, the General Maister Society (Društvo General Maister) proposed that primary schools offer education in the Prekmurje Slovene. Some regional politicians and intellectuals advocate Prekmurje Slovene.
Alongside Resian, Prekmurje Slovene is the only Slovene dialect with a literary standard that has had a different historical development than the rest of the Slovene ethnic territory. For centuries, it has been used as a language of education as well as in the press and liturgy. The historical Hungarian name for the Slovenes living within the borders of the Kingdom of Hungary (as well as for the Slovenes in general) was Vendek, or the Wends. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Prekmurje authors used to designate this language variety as sztári szlovenszki jezik 'old Slovene'. Both then and now, it is also referred to as the "Slovene language between the Mura and Raba" (Slovenščina med Muro in Rabo; Slovenski jezik med Mürov i Rábov).
Prekmurje Slovene is widely used in the regional media (Murski Val Radio, Porabje, Slovenski utrinki), films, literature. The youth write SMS messages and web comments in their local tongue. In Prekmurje and Hungary, several streets, shops, hotels, etc. bear Prekmurje Slovene names. In the 2012 protests in Slovenia in Murska Sobota, the protesters used Prekmurje Slovene banners. It is the liturgical language in the Lutheran and Pentecostal churches and in the Catholic Church of Hungarian Slovenes. Marko Jesenšek, a professor at the University of Maribor, has stated that the functionality of Prekmurje Slovene is limited, but "it lives on in poetry and journalism."
Scholars in modern linguistics, dialectology and other fields consistently use the term prekmurščina, denoting it as a language. The Slovene affix -ščina signifies a language (e.g. nemščina 'German'), dialect (e.g., celjščina 'Celje dialect'), or manner of speaking (e.g. latovščina 'jargon').
In 1988, Slovene English-language specialist Stanko Klinar ascertained that it is grammatically correct to use the name Prekmurian.
The name Prekmurian first appeared in a scientific publication in 1977. Previous scientific texts in the 1990s and 2000s mostly used the terms Prekmurje Slovene, Prekmurje language, Prekmurje dialect etc. (e.g. Greenberg). Nowadays, the most popular term in scientific texts is Prekmurian.
Prekmurje Slovene is used as:
The Prekmurje Slovene developed from the language of the Carantanian Slavs who settled around Balaton in the 9th century. Due to the political and geographical separation from other Slovene dialects (unlike most of the contemporary Slovenia, which was part of the Holy Roman Empire, Prekmurje was under the authority of the Kingdom of Hungary for almost a thousand years), the Prekmurje Slovene acquired many specific features. Separated from the cultural development of the remainder of ethnic Slovene territory, the Slovenes in Hungary gradually forged their own specific culture and also their own literary language.
in the 16th and 17th centuries, a few Slovene Protestant pastors fled from Carniola and Styria to Hungary. They brought along the Bible of Jurij Dalmatin, which was used in Felsőszölnök. and Postil of Primož Trubar, which was used in Gornji Petrovci. The Hungarian Slovenes found it difficult to understand the language of these books.
By the 16th century, a theory linking the Hungarian Slovenes to the ancient Vandals became popular. Accordingly, Prekmurje Slovene was frequently designated in Hungarian Latin documents as the Vandalian language (Latin: lingua vandalica, Hungarian: Vandál nyelv).
For a long time, the circumstances of the two-tier development of the Slovene language was ignored in Slovenian linguistics and science. The current form of the standard Slovene language only developed in the 19th century. Prior to this, the Slovene language norm was twofold: the Central Slovene language (mostly in Carniola) and the Eastern Slovene language (in Styria and Hungary).
For a brief period, there were also two variants of the Eastern Slovene language: the Prekmurje Slovene and the Eastern Styrian Slovene (in the regions of Ormož, Ljutomer and Lenart of Slovene Hills).
The literary traditions of the Prekmurian language developed during the Protestant Reformation: mostly manuscript hymnals with religious hymns, psalms from the 16th and 17th century, and a contract from 1643. The standard language emerged at the beginning of the 18th century and developed slowly. The Prekmurian literary language followed homogeneous grammatical rules and phonetic characteristics. An example of this is the use of the wovels ö or ü and diphthongs in writing.
Manuscripts were also written in the Eastern Styrian Slovene language. Printed books in this language were also published. However, there were no homogeneous grammatical or phonologycal forms in this language variant. Styrian Slovene authors had thoroughly different ideas about the standard language. The Styrian Slovene literary language eventually ceased to exist and was replaced by the Central Slovene language.
The first book in the Prekmurje Slovene appeared in 1715 and was written by the Lutheran pastor Ferenc Temlin. The most important authors from this period were the Lutheran pastor István Küzmics and the Roman Catholic priest Miklós Küzmics who set the standard for the Prekmurje regional standard language in the 18th century.
István translated the entire New Testament into Prekmurian (Nouvi Zákon 1771). István was born in Ravensko (lowland) and based his standard language on the Ravensko dialect of Prekmurje Slovene, just like it was used in old regional manuscripts. He also expanded the language with elements from the Goričko (highland) dialect.
Miklós Küzmics was born in Goričko but he followed István's language scheme. He adopted further elements from the Goričko and Dolinsko dialects. Miklós wrote several books, which were reprinted in the 20th century. His prayer book (Kniga molitvena, 1783) became very popular. His text and coursebook (ABC Kni'sicza, 1790) was used for decades in Slovene schools.
Important standardization work in Prekmurian Lutheran literature was also performed by István Szijjártó and Mihály Bakos.
Versus Vandalici, the first literary poem in Prekmurian language, was written in 1774.
In 1823, Mihály Barla wrote a new set of rules for writing the Prekmurje Slovene. He introduced three new characters to denote diphthongs: ô (ou), ê (ej), and â (aj). The new orthography was put forward in two new hymnals, Diktomszke, versuske i molitvene kni'zicze (1820) and Krscsanszke nôve peszmene knige (1823). In 1820, a Lutheran teacher named István Lülik wrote a new textbook Nôvi abeczedár, which was published three times (1853, 1856, 1863). His book used Barla's orthography even though it was only used in the Prekmurian Lutheran literature.
Lülik wrote the first grammar of the Prekmurian language, but it was never printed.
The first secular book in Prekmurian language was a ceremony book for weddings (Sztarisinsztvo i zvacsinsztvo. 1804; the author is probably István Szijjártó).
The Catholic priest József Kossics used the Prekmurian language in new functions. He didn't write religious books but books on history, grammar and etiquette. His stance was in line with the tendency for national encouragement.
The Lutheran pastor Sándor Terplán translated the Psalms (Knige 'zoltárszke. 1848) and wrote new schoolbooks.
János Kardos translated numerous poems of Sándor Petőfi, János Arany and a few Hungarian poets. He drafted new schoolbooks, for ex. Nôve knige cstenyá za vesznícski sôl drügi zlôcs. Kardos approached the language in a conservative manner: he was not open for Slovene or Croatian and stuck to archaic elements. Kárdos' purism was very similar to the purism of Fran Levstik in Carniola.
Unlike Kardos, József Borovnyák was a Catholic priest who adapted the Prekmurian literary language to the Slovene literary language. Borovnyák also contributed to the functional development of the Prekmurian language, e.g. with his political brochure Máli politicsni vodnik (1869).
In 1875, the poet, writer, translator and journalist Imre Augustich established the first Prekmurje Slovene newspaper. Prijátel (The Friend). Then he wrote a new Hungarian–Prekmurje Slovene grammar (Návuk vogrszkoga jezika, 1876) and translated works of Hungarian poets and writers.
Augustich approached the standard Slovene, but at first he retained the Hungarian alphabet. Later he introduced the Gaj alphabet in the Prijátel and in a new coursebook Prirodopis s kepami, the first natural science book in Prekmurian language.
In 1871, József Bagáry wrote the first schoolbook that used the Gaj alphabet (Perve knige – čtenyá za katholičánske vesničke šolê). The Magyarization policy tried to exclude it from school usage but it enjoyed such a popularity in schools that it was reprinted in 1886.
In the last decades of the 19th and 20th centuries, the terms "Wends" and "Wendish language" were promoted mostly by pro-Hungarians to emphasize the difference between the Hungarian Slovenes and other Slovenes, attempting to create a separate ethnic identity for them.
The Prekmurje Slovene language kept up with the changes of the modern era and was able to reinvent itself on its own or by adopting innovations from the (Central) Slovene and Croatian languages. The assertion that the Prekmurje Slovene slowly declined with modernization in the mid-19th century is not credible. It is contradicted by the first science books (by Kossics and Augustich) and the first news publications.
In 1908, Albert Apponyi, the Hungarian minister of education and religion, implemented a new act that demanded the school subjects to be taught in Hungarian language in all schools of the Kingdom of Hungary. The purpose of the act was to magyarize national minorities. School education in Prekmurje Slovene ceased.
In 1914–1918, József Klekl, a politician and later a congressman in Belgrade, reformed the Prekmurje Slovene literary language by using elements of the Croatian and Slovene languages. In 1923, a new prayerbook titled Hodi k oltarskomi svesti (Come on to the Eucharist) was written in the Gaj alphabet.
In 1919, the majority of Prekmurje became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and Slovene and Serbo-Croatian replaced Hungarian as the languages of education and administration. Prekmurje Slovene remained the language of literature, journalism and church service.
Even though education in Prekmurje Slovene did not resume in Yugoslavia (the teaching languages were Serbo-Croatian and standard Slovene), Prekmurje Slovene flourished as a language of news in the 1920s and 1930s. It was used to write articles in the periodicals Novine, Marijin list, Marijin ograček, the calendar Kalendar Srca Jezušovoga, the Lutheran Düševni list and Evangeličanski kalendari. Slovene emigrants from Prekmurje also had their own weekly in the United States between 1921 and 1954 written in the Prekmurje Slovene: Amerikanszki Szlovencov Glász (American Windish Voice).
József Szakovics was actively involved in cultivating the Prekmurje Slovene with his books and articles in newspapers and calendars and with reprints of the oldest book of Miklós Küzmics. The prominent Prekmurje writer Miško Kranjec also wrote in Prekmurje Slovene.
In this period, several works of the world literature were also translated into Prekmurian, e.g. Molière's Le Médecin malgré lui.
János Berke started to collect the vocabulary for the first Prekmurian dictionary, which was then published in part by János Fliszár under the title Vogrszki-vendiski rêcsnik in 1922. The entire dictionary with fifty thousand terms has been preserved in manuscript.
In 1941, the Hungarian Army occupied the area of Prekmurje, and it aimed to eradicate Prekmurje Slovene and standard Slovene by 1945, assisted by the Slovene irredentist Mikola.
After 1945, the Communist Yugoslavia banned the printing of books and newspapers in the Prekmurje Slovene, and only standard Slovene and Serbo-Croatian were used in administration and education. In Hungary, the dictator Mátyás Rákosi banned every minority language and deported the Slovenes to the Hungarian Plain.
There has been a significant uptick of interest in the Prekmurian language and cultural heritage since Slovenia became independent. Several associations, publishers, and self-published prints of both old and new books have appeared in Prekmurian.
In the 21st century, the Prekmurian language has become more visible in Slovenian cultural life. It can be more frequently heard in different interviews on TV channels and radios (Murski val, Slovenski utrinki). Today, Prekmurian is also written on public signs, such as some shop signs, which attests to its growing use in the region.
In 2018, a translation of Exupery's The Little Prince was published in Prekmurje Slovene.
In 2018, the singer and songwriter Nika Zorjan wrote the Prekmurje Slovene version of Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You under the title Fse ka bi za Božič. On an occasion she opined: "The Prekmurje people are often local patriots and sometimes we say with pride: This is the Prekmurian, not Slovene."
The popular Slovenian singer-songwriter Vlado Kreslin also sings in Prekmurian. His website is fully available in Prekmurian.
The vowel ö occurs only in a few words as a variant of closed e or ö. It has plain a in long stressed syllables and rounded a in short stressed and unstressed syllables in the Goričko (upland) and Ravensko (lowland) dialects. The relationship is reversed in the lower Dolinsko dialect where the long stressed a is rounded.
Long vowels and most diphthongs occur only stressed in syllables. If the stress shifts the vowel shortens and the diphthong usually loses its glide, e.g.: Nom. Boug; Gen. Bogá.
The diphthong ej (ei) is a short, closed e followed by a shorter, less fully articulated i, e.g.: dejte (child), bejžati (run), pejnezi (money), mlejko (milk), bejli (white).
The diphthong ou consists of a short o and a short, less fully articulated u, e.g.: rouka (hand), nouga (foot), goloub (dove), rour (chimney), gospoud (lord).
Prekmurje Slovene is very rich in the diphthongs ej and ou. Various Slovene dialects feature these diphthongs, but they differ phonetically from the diphthongs of Prekmurje Slovene. The diphthongs ou and ej were written in the old Prekmurian literary language with separate signs ê and ô, but they were only used in the books and newspapers of the Lutheran Slovenes.
The diphthong ou in the northern Goričko subdialects (mostly near the Rába) and in the settlements along the Hungarian-Slovene border is reduced to au. The Ravensko dialect and some Goričko subdialects have diphthongs üj or öj.
Diphthongs in open syllables, when part of polysyllabic words, separate into their components, e.g. nominative sou (salt), genitive soli or nominative krau (king) and genitive krala.
a>e Unstressed a and a in a diphthong with i or j often sound like an open e. This system is most typical of the lower Lowland (Dolinsko) dialect, e.g. eli (or) (Ravensko, Goričko, Standard Slovene: ali), nezaj (back) (Ravensko, Goričko, Standard Slovene: nazaj), dele (forward) (Ravensko, Goričko: dale, Standard Slovene: dalje).
o>i This is a sporadic dissimilation and assimilation. e.g.: visiki (high, Standard Slovene visok).
o>e In inflected forms, a soft consonant (c, č, š, ž, j) is usually followed by o instead of e in Standard Slovene. For example: z noužicon (Standard Slovene z nožem 'with knife'), s konjon (Standard Slovene s konjem 'with horse'). In neuter nominative singular and accusative o is also heard instead of e, e.g.: mojo delo, našo delo, (Standard Slovene moje delo, naše delo 'my work', 'our work'). Innovative e may be only heard in the eastern subdialects of the Dolinsko dialect, mostly along the Slovene-Croatian border (near the Međimurje).
o>u The diactric ŭ refers to the non-frontedness of the vowel. For ex. un, una Standard Slovene on, ona (he, she). The diactric u occurs even more frequently in the Dolinsko dialect, e.g. kunj (horse) (Ravensko, Goričko, Standard Slovene: konj), Marku (Mark) (Ravensko, Goričko, Standard Slovene Marko).
a>o For example zakoj (why) (Standard Slovene zakaj).
u>ü The historical u is pronounced almost without exception as ü and it is also spelled this way. For example küp (mound) (Standard Slovene kup), küpiti (purchase) (Standard Slovene kupiti), düša (soul) (Standard Slovene duša), lüknja (slit) (Standard Slovene luknja), brüsiti (facet) (Standard Slovene brusiti).
In words starting with a v, there are mixed forms, whereas Standard Slovene retains u, for example vüjo (ear) (Standard Slovene uho), vujti (escapes) (Standard Slovene uiti).
The u derived from the earlier ol preceding a consonant does not convert into ü, for ex. pun (full) (Standard Slovene poln), dugi (long) (Standard Slovene dolg), vuna (wool) (Standard Slovene volna), vuk (wolf) (Standard Slovene volk).
Z prior to nj often sounds like ž, for example ž njin (with him) (Standard Slovene z njim).
k>c For example tenko, natenci (thin, thinly) (Standard Slovene tanko, natanko). This type of alternation was even more frequent in the old Prekmurje Slovene, for example vuk, vucke, vuci (wolf, wolves) (Standard Slovene volk, volki, Croatian vuk, vuci). Today it is preserved in the speech of the elderly in Goričko and the subdialect of Hungarian Slovenes.
m>n The final m in Prekmurje Slovene almost always sounds like n (just like in other Pannonian Slovene dialects or in the Chakavian). For example znan (I know) (Standard Slovene znam), man (I have) (Standard Slovene imam), tan (there) (Standard Slovene tam), vüzen (Easter) (Standard Slovene vuzem z zlaton (with gold) (Standard Slovene z zlatom), ran (building) (Standard Slovene hram). Exceptions: grm (bush), doum (home), tram (strut) etc.
The change of m>n can also occur in a middle position, preceding consonants; for example: Nom. vüzen, Gen. vüzma.
nj>n The n has developed from an nj in final or medial positions, for example ogen (fire) (Standard Slovene ogenj), kniga (book) (Standard Slovene knjiga). Nj reappears in declined forms, for example ognja (Genitive).
lj>l The hard lj (ł) has totally disappeared from Prekmurje Slovene, for example: klüč (key) (Standard Slovene ključ), lübiti, lübezen (love) (Standard Slovene ljubiti, ljubezen), grable (rake) (Standard Slovene grablje).
h>j or ∅ In certain regions and in certain positions it is still present as h.
There are a few exceptions: shajati (to go along with something), zahtejvati (demand) etc.
bn>vn For example drouvno (tiny) (Standard Slovene drobno).
p>f For example ftic, ftič, ftica (bird) (Standard Slovene ptic, ptič, ptica).
j>d For example žeden (thirsty) (Standard Slovene žejen).
hč>šč For example nišče (nobody) (Standard Slovene nihče).
kt>št For example što (who) (Standard Slovene: kdo).
ljš>kš For example boukši (better, right) (Standard Slovene boljši).
dn (dnj)>gn (gnj) For example gnes, gnjes (today) (Standard Slovene danes). Nom. škegen (barn), Gen. škegnja.
t>k Mainly preceding an l.
Historically, Prekmurje Slovene was not written in the Bohorič alphabet used by Slovenes in Inner Austria, but in the Hungarian alphabet. János Murkovics's textbook (1871) was the first book to use Gaj's latin alphabet.
Before 1914: Aa, Áá, Bb, Cc, Cscs, Dd, Ee, Éé, Êê, Ff, Gg, Gygy, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Lyly, Mm, Nn, Nyny, Oo, Ôô, Öö, Őő, Pp, Rr, Szsz, Ss, Tt, Uu, Üü, Űű, Vv, Zz, Zszs.
After 1914: Aa, Áá, Bb, Cc, Čč, Dd, Ee, Éé, Êê, Ff, Gg, Gjgj, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Ljlj, Mm, Nn, Njnj, Oo, Ôô, Öö, Pp, Rr, Ss, Šš, Tt, Uu, Üü, Vv, Zz, Žž.
Nouns in Prekmurje Slovene can be masculine, feminine or neuter, like in Standard Slovene. Nouns, adjectives and pronouns have three numbers: singular, dual, and plural, just like in Standard Slovene.
Feminine nouns ending in a.
Feminine nouns ending with a consonant.
Declension of feminine adjectives.
Masculine nouns ending in a consonant. The singular accusative of masculine nouns designating animate things is the same as their genitive. The singular accusative of nouns designating inanimate things is the same as their nominative.
Masculines nouns ending in a.
Declension of masculine adjective.
Neuter nouns ending in o and e.
In declension, nouns such as tejlo (body, Standard Slovene: telo) or drejvo (three, Standard Slovene: drevo) do not lengthen as in the Standard Slovene with the syllable –es (Prekmurian: nominative tejlo, drejvo, genitive tejla, drejva; Standard Slovene: nominative telo, drevo, genitive telesa, drevesa).
Declension of neuter adjective.
The names for numerals in Prekmurje Slovene follow a similar way to that found in Standard Slovene or other Slavic languages. Then again, the archaic way of forming two-digit numbers has been preserved. The ten comes first, followed by the singular digit number. A conjuction is not needed. In Standard Slovene, the numerals from 21 to 99 are formed by placing the singular in front of the ten ("four-and-twenty"), like in German language.
The verb ending in Prekmurje Slovene is most frequently üvati or avati, more rarely ovati (the ending ovati is the most frequent in Standard Slovene). In conjugation, the endings are also dissimilar in Prekmurian and Slovene. Example: Prekmurje Slovene: nategüvati, obrezavati, conj. nategüvlen/nategüjen, obrezavlen, Standard Slovene: nategovati, obrezovati, conj. nategujem, obrezujem.
In the Goričko dialect and some western subdialects of Ravensko, the infinitive ending is -niti (zdigniti),, as it is in Standard Slovene (dvigniti), or rarely -nouti (Prekmurje Slovene obrnouti, Standard Slovene obrniti). In the Dolinsko dialect and other Ravensko subdialects, the infinitive ending is -noti (zdignoti),, as it is in Croatian (and Kajkavian).
The Prekmurje Slovene vocabulary is very rich and differs significantly from the Standard Slovene vocabulary. The dialect includes many archaic words that have disappeared from modern Slovene. Along with the three dialects spoken in Venetian Slovenia and the Slovene dialects of eastern Carinthia, Prekmurje Slovene is considered the most conservative of all Slovene dialects in regard to the vocabulary.
The Prekmurje Slovene has exapnded its vocabulary to a large degree with words from other Slavic languages (mainly from Kajkavian Croatian, Standard Slovene, Styrian Slovene, Serbo-Croatian, partly from the Czech and Slovak) and non-Slavic languages (mainly from Hungarian and German, partly from Latin and Italian). More recent and less assimilated words are typically from English.
Prekmurje Slovene also contains many words of mostly German and Hungarian origin. The German loanwoards mostly originate from the Austro-Bavarian dialect. There is still a strong German influence in the Goričko dialect.
We also find Latin loanwords: bauta, bunta (storage, Latin voluta, Standard Slovene trgovina), cintor (cemetery, Latin coementerium, Standard Slovene pokopališče), kanta (can, Latin canna, Standard Slovene ročka), oštarija (inn, Italian osteria, Standard Slovene gostilna), upkaš (hoopoe, Latin upupa, Standard Slovene smrdokavra) etc.
Loanwords adopted from Serbo-Croatian in the period of Yugoslavia: dosaden (tedious, Serbo-Croatian dosadan, Standard Slovene dolgočasen), novine (newspaper, Serbo-Croatian novine, Standard Slovene časopis), život (live, Serbo-Croatian život, Standard Slovene življenje).
There are many theories on how Prekmurje Slovene emerged as a language. The oldest theory from the 16th century argued that the Slovenes east of the Mura were descendants of the Vandals.
In 1627, a notable event was the Protestant visitation in the Tótság or Slovene District (this is the historical name of the Prekmurje and Raba March, Prekmurje Slovene: Slovenska okroglina).
According to Hungarian dissenters, the Wendish (Prekmurje Slovene) language was of Danish, Sorbian, Germanic, Celtic, Eastern Romance or West Slavic extraction. These were false political or exaggerated claims.
According to Hungarian nationalist groups, the Wends were captured by Turkish and Croatian troops who later became part of the Hungarian society. Another popular theory created by some Hungarian nationalists was that the speakers of the Wendish language were actually Magyar peoples and that some had merged into the Slavic population of Slovenia over the last 800 years.
In 1920, Hungarian physicist Sándor Mikola [sl] wrote a number of books about Slovene inhabitants of Hungary and the Wendish language: the Wendish-Celtic theory. Accordingly, the Wends (Slovenens in Hungary) were of Celtic descent, not Slavic. Mikola later also adopted the belief that the Wends were actually Slavic-speaking Hungarians. This theories were supported by the Hungarian ethnonationalistic state programme. Mikola also thought the Wends, Slovenes and Croatians, were all descendants of the Pannonian Romans, therefore they have their Latin blood and culture.
During the Hungarian revolution when Hungarians rebelled against Habsburg rule, the Catholic Slovenes sided with the Catholic Habsburgs. The Lutheran Slovenes, however, supported the rebel Lajos Kossuth siding with Hungary and they pleaded for the separation of Hungary from Habsburg Austria which had its anti-Protestant policy. At that time, the reasoning that the inhabitants of the Rába Region were not Slovenes but Wends and "Wendish-Slovenes" respectively and that, as a consequence, their ancestral Slavic-Wendish language was not to be equated with the other Slovenes living in the Austro-Hungarian Empire was established. In the opinion of the Lutheran-Slovene priest of Hodoš, the only option for the Lutheran Slovenes emerging from the Catholic Slovenian population was to support Kossuth and his Hungarian culture. Thereafter, the Lutheran Slovenes used their language in churches and schools in the most traditional way in order to distinguish themselves from the Catholic Slovenes and the Slovene language (i.e., pro-Hungarian or pan-Slavic Slovene literature). Lutheran priests and believers remained convicted that they could only adhere to their Lutheran faith when following the wish of the Hungarians (or the Austrians) and considering themselves "Wendish Slovenes". If they did not conform to this, they would be in danger of being assimilated into Hungarian culture.
In the years preceding World War I, the Hungarian Slovenes were swept into the ideology of Panslavism, the national unity of all Slavic-speaking peoples of Eastern Europe. The issue was volatile in the fragmented Austro-Hungarian empire, which was defeated in the war. In the 1921 Treaty of Trianon, the southern half (not the whole) of the Prekmurje region was ceded to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
After 1867, the Hungarian government in Budapest tried to assimilate the Prekmurje Slovenes. In the 19th century, there was still a ban on using Prekmurje Slovene In Somogy. József Borovnyák, Ferenc Ivanóczy, and other Slovene politicians and writers helped safeguard the Prekmurje Slovene and identity.
In the late 20th century and today, the new notion for Prekmurje Slovenes is to conceive Prekmurian as actually a Slovene language, but not dialect. Prekmurians and other Slovenes have common national and ethnic identity but Prekmurians have also their special separate language identity, literature, grammar and spelling. Literature in Prekmurje Slovene is linguistically clearly distinguished from the literature in standard Slovene or other Slovene dialectical traditions. Prekmurian literature is always variegated, multifarious and not only a repository of religious books, as Slovene linguistics and literary history once claimed.
In the Communist Yugoslavia, Prekmurje Slovene was looked down upon because numerous writers, such as József Klekl, were anti-communists.
A comparison of the Lord's Prayer in Standard Slovene, Old Prekmurje Slovene, new Prekmurje Slovene, Kajkavian Croatian, and Standard Croatian. The Prekmurje Slovene versions is taken from a 1942 prayer book (Zálozso János Zvér, Molitvena Kniga, Odobrena od cérkvene oblászti, Murska Sobota, 1942, third edition) and from a 2022 prayer book Jezuš tovariš moj. For easier comparison, the original Hungarian alphabet has been transliterated into Gaj's Latin alphabet, as used in other versions.