HRVATSKI Family: Indo-European, Slavic
Croat is spoken as a
lesser used language in
Web links about Croatian
Region: The Croatian
ethnic group in Burgenland lives in six (Neusiedl/Niuzalj, Eisenstadt/_eljezno,
Mattersburg/Matrštof, Oberpullendorf/Gornja
Pulja, Oberwart/Borta, Güssing/Novi Grad) of the state`s
seven districts. The Croats do not make up the majority population in any of these districts. They are strongest
in relative terms in the Oberpullendorf district, and
are strongest in absolute terms in the Eisenstadt
district. Compact Croatian regions that are now increasingly becoming bilingual
exist only in the Oberpullendorf and Eisenstadt districts.
A substantial segment
of the Croatian ethnic group has moved to
Numerical Strength:
25,713 according to 1991 census. Surveys carried out by the churches in Burgenland show that approximately 35,000 parishioners
would prefer to have Sunday church services conducted in Croatian. The Croatian
Voluntary Cultural Association of Vienna estimates that 15,000 Burgenland Croats live in the capital.This
discrepancy illustrates the difficulties that census taking has in dealing with
ethnic reality.
Status: Article 7/Z.3
of the constitutional Vienna State Treaty of
The Ethnic Groups Act
of
Public Service: Burgenland Croats have the following constitutional rights
under Article 7/Z.3 of the constitutional Vienna State Treaty:
*to use Croatian with
the authorities;
granted in 25 communities,
*to use Croatian
before courts of justice; granted only before 6 district law courts,
*to bilingual printed
forms; granted
only sporadically,
*to use Croatian in
official publications;
not granted in Burgenland,
*to bilingual place
and road signs, not
respected in Burgenland. To date not one single official bilingual
topographical sign has been posted.
Because of the 25%
barrier introduced by the Ethnic Groups Act, limiting the protection of minorities as guaranteed
under Article 7/Z.3 of the constitutional Vienna State Treaty (1955), an
amendment to this law according to the Ethnic Group Basic Act (October 24, 1995
Draft) is needed.
Education: The Burgenland state Kindergarten Act (LBGl.35/1995) provides
for the establishment of bilingual kindergartens. Croatian can be declared an
"official kindergarten language" if the native Austrian parents and
guardians of over 25% of the children formally request it. Parents must
register their children. If a bilingual kindergarten does not have at least one
staff member at its disposal who is fluent in the
language of the ethnic group then the government is required to appoint an
assistant kindergarten teacher. The language of the ethnic group must be
adequately taught, at the very least for six hours a week, preferably at least
for one hour each day. The use and affectiveness of
native language training in kindergarten is almost exclusively dependent on the
skills and
dedication of the kindergarten teachers.
Since 1994 a child
attending a traditional bilingual school can be unregistered from bilingual
education. Children attending bilingual schools who have been unregistered must
then be taught according to the „normal" teaching plan, i.e. in German. Teachers
are no longer permitted to speak Croatian to them. The three hours usually
reserved for Croatian class are then replaced with an hour each of German,
physical education and handicrafts. The term "bilingual" has not been
precisely defined. It remains up to the teacher and the proficiency of the
pupils to determine to what extent Croatian is used and to what degree the
children should be challenged to improve their skills. An optimal model for the
preservation of the native language would be the introduction of mandatory
bilingual education in the traditionally bilingual regions.
At secondary level (Hauptschule) teaching for ethnic groups may only be organized on a monolingual
basis i.e. in either Croatian or Hungarian.
German in these schools is taught for up to six hours a week as a
foreign language. The Minority Schools Act provides for the establishment of
one secondary school in Oberwart/Borta.
Media: Several
Croatian language
journals and periodicals are published catering mainly for Burgenland Croats. The regional service of the Austrian
Public Broadcasting (ORF) provides 40
minutes of programmes a day, except on Sundays. The
only television program that can be currently picked up in Burgenland
in Croatian is the weekly 30 minute programme
directed at ethnic groups.
The Burgenland Croats recently founded a private radio station,
RadioMora, which will transmit in the minority
languages.
Region: Croatian is
spoken in three communities in the
Numerical strength:
Croatian is spoken by about 2,000/2,400 people.
Status: No legal
status.
Public services: No
public presence for the language, except for some bilingual road signs.
Education: The
language is not used as a medium of instruction in the schools, nor is it
taught as a subject.
Media: No radio or
television services, nor newspapers nor periodicals exist in the language