Glottocode: kara1507

Krashovan (kara1507) or Krasovian is a Torlak variety of New Shtokavian (news1236) spoken by the Krashovans or Krasovians (Romanian: Carașoveni, Serbian/Croatian: Karaševci; rarely Krašovani) in the Romanian Banat. Krashovan predominantly identify their language as karaševski. As Roman Catholics many Krashovan self-identify as Croats, even if their dialect shows most common elements with Torlak dialects spoken in southeastern Serbia. The ancestors of the Krashovans first settled the region of Carașova in the 13th and 14th centuries and were supposed to originate from northwestern Bosnia. In the past, some authors assumed that the Krashovans were of Bulgarian descent. According to the Austrian population census, there were over 10,000 people declared as Krashovans in the 1847 census, in 1896 about 7,500 Krashovans, a number which dropped to 2,775 in 1992. Today, seven villages situated in the Banat mountain region southwest of Reşiţa are inhabited by Krashovans.

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