Gyakorlati ilir nyelvtan — Praktična ilirska gramatika

Gyakorlati ilir nyelvtan, or Practical Illyrian Grammar, was written by Ivan Mihalović, also known as János Mihálovics. First published in Baja in 1874, it was intended for Hungarian speakers learning Croatian. “Illyrian” in the title reflects historical terminology within the Croatian grammatical tradition.

Mihalović identifies Antun Mažuranić’s Slovnica Hèrvatska as his normative model. His handbook therefore offers evidence of the spread of Croatian language standards and the influence of the Zagreb Philological School beyond the Croatian lands. Its practical teaching purpose connects grammatical description with language learning.

This reprint restores access to a handbook long unfamiliar to much of the Croatian scholarly community. A translation and afterword help place it within the history of Croatian grammar and Croatian–Hungarian cultural relations.

The volume will interest scholars of Croatian and Hungarian studies, language historians and readers exploring Croatian heritage in Bačka and the Hungarian Danube region. Its principal value is documentary: it reveals how Croatian was described and taught in the second half of the nineteenth century.