Tuone Udaina

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Tuone Udaina (died June 10, 1898; Antonio Udina in Italian) was the last speaker of the Dalmatian language.[1] [2] He was the main source of knowledge about his parents' dialect, that of the island of Veglia (modern Krk), for the linguist Matteo Bartoli, who recorded it in 1897. Vegliot Dalmatian was not Udaina's native language, and he had learned it only from listening to his parents' private conversations. Moreover, he had not spoken the language for 20 years at the time he acted as an informant, and he was deaf and toothless as well. He worked as a barber, and he was called Burbur ('barber' in Dalmatian) because of it.

When he was killed by a land mine on June 10, 1898, the language became extinct.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Roegiest, Eugeen (2006). Vers les sources des langues romanes: un itinéraire linguistique à. ACCO, page 138. ISBN:9033460947. 
  2. ^ Brahms, William B. (2005). Notable Last Facts: A Compendium of Endings, Conclusions, Terminations and Final Events throughout History. Original from the University of Michigan: Reference Desk Press, page 183. 
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