In 1897, the scholar Matteo Bartoli, himself a native of nearby Istria, visited postman Tuone Udaina (), nicknamed "burbur" ('barber' in Dalmatian) the last known speaker of any Dalmatian dialect, to study his language. Bartoli wrote down approximately 2,800 words, stories, and accounts of his life, which were published in a book in German ("") in 1906. That book has provided much information on the vocabulary, phonology, and grammar of the language. 