For many centuries Romance Latin language called Dalmatian and the old Croatian Chakavian language were the norm on the island. With time these languages started to overlap. By the time the Zuvelas arrived on the island the majority of the population of the island of Korčula (in particularly the west end) spoke ''old Croatian'' <ref>Closely related to Chakavian of the 15th century. " ''..... Chakavian dialects of western Croatia, Istria, the coast of Dalmatia (where a literature in that dialect developed in the 15th century), and some islands in the Adriatic. In those areas...'' " '''taken''' from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/104539/Chakavian</ref> with a mix of the Romance Dalmatian language <ref>Dalmatian-language:''"Dalmatian language, extinct Romance language formerly spoken along the Dalmatian coast from the island of Veglia (modern Krk) to Ragusa (modern Dubrovnik). Ragusan Dalmatian probably disappeared in the 17th century; the Vegliot Dalmatian dialect became extinct in the 19th century"'' '''taken''' from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/150247/Dalmatian-language.</ref> and with heavy influences of Venetian (Lingua Franca of that era). This is in essence is the old Korčula dialect. | For many centuries Romance Latin language called Dalmatian and the old Croatian Chakavian language were the norm on the island. With time these languages started to overlap. By the time the Zuvelas arrived on the island the majority of the population of the island of Korčula (in particularly the west end) spoke ''old Croatian'' <ref>Closely related to Chakavian of the 15th century. " ''..... Chakavian dialects of western Croatia, Istria, the coast of Dalmatia (where a literature in that dialect developed in the 15th century), and some islands in the Adriatic. In those areas...'' " '''taken''' from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/104539/Chakavian</ref> with a mix of the Romance Dalmatian language <ref>Dalmatian-language:''"Dalmatian language, extinct Romance language formerly spoken along the Dalmatian coast from the island of Veglia (modern Krk) to Ragusa (modern Dubrovnik). Ragusan Dalmatian probably disappeared in the 17th century; the Vegliot Dalmatian dialect became extinct in the 19th century"'' '''taken''' from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/150247/Dalmatian-language.</ref> and with heavy influences of Venetian (Lingua Franca of that era). This is in essence is the old Korčula dialect. |