The 2011 Days of the Vlaški and Žejanski Language

On August 6th and 7th, the Days of the Vlaški and Žejanski Language took place in Žejane and Šušnjevica for the third time. The rich and varied program included workshops, a round table and several presentations.

On the first day, in the old school in Žejane, two workshops were held—for the first time this year, in the Žejanski language—by Robert Doričić and Adrijana Gabriš, the members of the „Žejane“ Association. Through the fun and lively interaction with the native speakers, medical terminology related to the body and illnesses, as well as to old-fashioned children's games was collected. In the continuation of the program, Rosana Zuljani, also a member of the  „Žejane“ Association, gave a talk in Žejanski on the topic of the Žejane-related toponyms included in the book „Onomastički podatci po naseljima Općine Matulji (Onomastic Data by Location in the Municipality of Matulji)“. Also included in the program was a showing of the latest documentary film about Žejane, filmed this year.                                                                                             

Dr. Zvjezdana Vrzić, director of the multiyear „Preservation of the Vlaški and Žejanski Language“ project, in the scope of which this event took place for the third time, talked about the project's results and discussed the next steps on it and the ways in which even more speakers and local community members can get involved with the documentation and preservation of their language. Following that, Dr. Vrzić and Viviana Brkarić, a member of the „Spod Učke“ Association from Šušnjevice, talked about their experiences related to the development of the heritage language program for children from Šušnjevica and the surrounding area; this extracurricular language program for elemtary school children took place in the course of the academic year 2010/2011 in the temporary space of the Heritage Center „Šušnjevica.“                                                                                                                                                                                              

These two presentations were repeated the next day, on August 7, when the event, as in the earlier years, „moved“ to Šušnjevica. Here, an art and language workshop for children took place, under the theme of „Stvårurle la betâra ognjište (Objects around an old Hearth)“, which was lead by Viviana Brkarić.    

The 2011 Days of the Vlaški and Žejanski Language ended with the showing of new documentary materials about Šušnjevica and about the Vlaški and Žejanski language.