December 17, 2020 – Continuing our alternative look at the Croatian language with linguisitic colossus Professor Frank John Dubokovich, is the English language actually derived from Hvar dialect?
One of the most popular features in the early years of Total Hvar, the precursor to TCN, was an impromptu language series I recorded with my good friend, Frank John Dubokovich, with whom I would share a late morning cold one each day on the square in Jelsa.
Frankie, of Jelsa stock but born and raised in New Zealand until his family moved back to Hvar when he was 8, is trilingual, although there is a case for saying not all of his language is understandable. He is fluent in English, Croatian and the very unique Hvar dialect. And it was his expertise in Hvar dialect that catapulted him first to a national televsion audience, and then to an international one, as he gave Croatian language lessons – at least his version of Croatia – to participants of a British reality TV show.
Professor Frank John Dubokovich, Guardian of the Hvar Dialects, as he quickly became known, was an Internet hit, with more than 50,000 views on his iconic Dalmatian grunt, before YouTube removed my channel for some reason.
Thankfully, I came across some offline versions of some of the Professor’s teachings recently, and TCN is gradually reintroducing these linguistic treasures to the online world.
Today’s lesson shows the depth of the Professor’s intellect and capacity for detailed research. After toying around with his Hvar dialect, the Professor noted a number of similiarities between Hvar dialect and the English language. He enlisted the assisted of Jelsa Mayor, Niksa Peronja, to present his findings to his faithful audience. You can see the results in the video above – conclusive stuff.
The only thing left to explore is the following conundrum. Were English speakers the first inhabitants of Hvar, or is Hvar dialect actually the birth of the Croatian language?
You can see more of the Professor’s linguistic genious on the TCN Talks YouTube channel.
