Burgenland Croats (Croatian: Gradišćanski Hrvati, German: Burgenlandkroaten, Hungarian: Burgenlandi horvátok, Slovak: Burgendlandskí Chorváti) are ethnic Croats in the Austrian state of Burgenland, along with Croats in neighboring Hungary and Slovakia.
Around 320,000 residents of Austria identify as of Croat heritage; 56,785 have, as sole or multiple nationality, Croatian citizenship as at 2017. Between 87,000 and 130,000 of them are Burgenland Croats.
Chakavian or Čakavian (/tʃæˈkɑːviən/, /tʃə-/, /-ˈkæv-/, Croatian: čakavski [tʃǎːkaʋskiː]; proper name: čakavica or čakavština [tʃakǎːʋʃtina]; endonym: čokovski, čakavski, čekavski) is a South Slavic supradialect or language spoken along the eastern Adriatic coast in the historical regions of Dalmatia, Istria, and the Croatian Littoral; and in parts of coastal and southern Central Croatia. It is also spoken by the Burgenland Croats as Burgenland Croatian in southeastern Austria, northwestern Hungary, and southwestern Slovakia, as well as in a few municipalities in southern Slovenia on the border with Croatia.
Due to the centuries-long rule of the Republic of Venice over Dalmatia and Istria, the vocabulary and prosody of Chakavian are heavily influenced by the Venetian language and to some extent by standard Italian, although its grammar is functionally Slavic and is similar to Croatian grammar.
Burgenland Croatian is a regional variety of the Chakavian dialect of Croatian spoken in Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Burgenland Croatian is recognized as a minority language in the Austrian state of Burgenland, where it is spoken by 19,412 people according to official reports (2001). Many of the Burgenland Croatian speakers in Austria also live in Vienna and Graz, due to the process of urbanization, which is mostly driven by the poor economic situation of large parts of Burgenland.
Smaller Croatian minorities in western Hungary, southwestern Slovakia, and southern Czech Republic are often also called Burgenland Croats. They use the Burgenland Croatian written language and are historically and culturally closely connected to the Austrian Croats. The representatives of the Burgenland Croats estimate their total number in all three countries and emigration at around 70,000.
Chakavian or Čakavian (/tʃæˈkɑːviən/, /tʃə-/, /-ˈkæv-/, Croatian: čakavski [tʃǎːkaʋskiː] proper name: čakavica or čakavština [tʃakǎːʋʃtina] own name: čokovski, čakavski, čekavski) is a South Slavic supradialect or language spoken by Croats along the Adriatic coast, in the historical regions of Dalmatia, Istria, Croatian Littoral and parts of coastal and southern Central Croatia (now collectively referred to as Adriatic Croatia or Littoral Croatia), as well as by the Burgenland Croats as Burgenland Croatian in southeastern Austria, northwestern Hungary and southwestern Slovakia as well as few municipalities in southern Slovenia on the border with Croatia.
Chakavian represents the basis for early literary standards in Croatia, and until the modern age was simply known and understood, along with the Kajkavian and Shtokavian idioms in Croatia, as the Croatian language (hrvatski jezik). Legal and liturgical to literary texts until the 16th century, including literary work by "the father of Croatian literature" Marko Marulić and the first Croatian dictionary authored by Faust Vrančić, among others, are mostly Chakavian in their form. The term Chakavian and definition of the dialect date from the mid-19th century.