Present-day tendencies in the morpho-syntax of Istró-Romanian dialect

As compared to the idiom spoken by the southern Istro-Romanians who people several small villages and hamlets in the south of mount Učka, and speak a language subject to constant changes the idiom spoken by the inhabitants of Žejane (Yugos­ lavia) has preserved to a higher degree the archaic structures and elements inherited from proto-Romanian. The Istro-Romanians of Žejane have lived compactly to our days (102 house numbers, about 400 speakers),being more isolated from the massi­ ve influence, of Croatian (i.e., the literary variant of the Ceacavian dialect), and of­ fering us, through their language, a pattern of Romance idiom (of the Romanian ty­ pe) that has long opposed, especially phonologically and morpho-syntactically a po­ werful alloglotic influence (Croatian, Slovenian, Italian). The restrictive use of Istro-Romanian, especially in the last five decades (since it is hardly an instrument of communication, especially for the young commuters employed in the factories of Rieka, Opatia and the neighbourhood, or for those who, through mixed marriages, moved to other Yugoslavian towns of villages) is a process in full development even nowadays