Determination of dialect affiliation of the local dialect of Stari Laz in Gorski Kotar

Already in the earliest published dialect research Gorski Kotar was recognized as a tri-dialectal area and the local dialect of Stari Laz was frequently showcased as an outstanding example of linguistic diversity. It is precisely this established view of Stari Laz as a meeting point of all three dialect groups that has motivated this paper. In the studies published so far, the local dialect of Stari Laz has only been mentioned in the context of local Cakavian dialects in Gorski Kotar, and the same studies have shown that in the central part of the village the dialect that is predominantly spoken is the Cakavian Ikavian-Ekavian dialect of the "the Slavica dialect type", i.e., this dialect's littoral subdialect. This local Cakavian dialect continues the littoral branch of the Cakavian Ikavian-Ekavian local dialects from Zlobin via Benkovac Fuzinski, Sleme, Slavica, and Brestova Draga, merging with the continental subdialect of the Ikavian-Ekavian dialect in Jablan, Presika, and Vrbovsko. On the eastern side of the village, toward Ravna Gora, the local dialect of Stari Laz is Kajkavian, closer to the local dialect of Ravna Gora, which belongs to the western subdialect of the Kajkavian dialect of Gorski Kotar, whereas on the western side of the village, neighboring the Stokavian settlements within the Mrkopalj municipality, it is closer to the Neo-Stokavian Ikavian dialect type as found in Mrkopalj. As very little has been written on this topic, and on local Cakavian dialects in Gorski Kotar more generally, we have felt additionally motivated to study the speech of native speakers of the local dialect of Stari Laz. This paper aims to either confirm or disprove the claim about the tri-dialectal nature of Stari Laz, and to present a more modern dialectal representation of this area through an analysis of the collected material.