text: According to Josip Lisac, Chakavian dialect would have been the best dialectological basis for the Croatian standard language (Chakavian and Kajkavian nevertheless still had an important active role in the standardization of the Croatian language). The reason it was not chosen for the basis of Croatian standard language in the 19th century is considered to be the significant reduction of dialect area due to previous migrations and change of dialectical contacts, but others disagree and point that such argument initially only hindered scientific research. It certainly was the main, but not only reason, as the "results of convergent Croatian literary and linguistic development" can be traced to literary and sacral works at least since first half of the 16th century. Over time, it was perceived as an archaic, less prestigious dialect.
  The use of Chakavian varies by the region where it was historically spoken. It is now mostly reduced to Croatia along the eastern Adriatic: Adriatic islands, and sporadically in the mainland coast, with rare inland enclaves up to central Croatia, and minor enclaves in Austria and Montenegro. All of those areas were in contact with Italo-Dalmatian and Eastern Romance languages, which heavily influenced the development of Chakavian. It is estimated that the share of Croatian language speakers who spoke a Chakavian dialect fell from 23% to 12% over the course of the 20th century.
  Areas where Chakavian is spoken include:
  The majority of Adriatic islands, except for the easternmost islands (Mljet and Elafiti), the easternmost areas of Hvar and Brač, and the area around the city of Korčula.
  The entire Istria peninsula, and Kvarner littoral and islands; minor coastal enclaves occur sporadically in the Dalmatian mainland around Zadar, Biograd, Split, and on the Pelješac peninsula. It has almost vanished in Šibenik and Omiš.
  Within the Croatian inland, it is  the Gacka valley, and minor enclaves occur in Pokupje valley and Žumberak hills, northwards around Karlovac.