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Serbo-Croatian

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This article is about the language. For other uses, seeSerbo-Croatian (disambiguation).

Serbo-Croatian
  • srpskohrvatski/hrvatskosrpski
  • српскохрватски/хрватскосрпски
Native toSerbia,Croatia,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Montenegro,andKosovo
EthnicityBosniaks
Croats
Montenegrins
Serbs
Native speakers
18 million (2011–2021)[1]
Standard forms
Dialects
Official status
Official language in
Recognised minority
language in
Regulated by
Language codes
ISO 639-1sh(deprecated)
ISO 639-3hbs– inclusive code
Individual codes:
bos–Bosnian
cnr–Montenegrin
hrv–Croatian
srp–Serbian
Related codes:
svm–Slavomolisano
ckm–Chakavian
kjv–Kajkavian
Glottologsout1528
Linguasphere53-AAA-g
IETFsh
Areas where Serbo-Croatian is spoken by a plurality of inhabitants (as of 2005)[needs update]
South Slavic languagesand dialects
Western South Slavic
Eastern South Slavic
Transitional dialects
Alphabets
aIncludesBanat Bulgarian Alpha bet.

Serbo-Croatian(/ˌsɜːrboʊkroʊˈeɪʃən/ⓘ)[10][11]– also calledSerbo-Croat(/ˌsɜːrboʊˈkroʊæt/),[10][11]Serbo-Croat-Bosnian(SCB),[12]Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian(BCS),[13]andBosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian(BCMS)[14]– is aSouth Slavic languageand the primary language ofSerbia,Croatia,Bosnia and Herzegovina,andMontenegro.[15]It is apluricentric languagewith four[16]mutually intelligiblestandard varieties,namelySerbian,Croatian,Bosnian,andMontenegrin.[17][15]

South Slavic languages historically formed adialect continuum.The turbulent history of the area, particularly due to the expansion of theOttoman Empire,resulted in a patchwork of dialectal and religious differences. Due to population migrations,Shtokavianbecame the most widespreadsupradialectin the western Balkans, intruding westwards into the area previously occupied byChakavianandKajkavian(which further blended intoSlovenianin the northwest).Bosniaks,Croats,andSerbsdiffer in religion and were historically often part of different cultural circles, although a large part of the nations have lived side by side under foreign overlords. During that period, the language was referred to under a variety of names, such as "Slavic" in general or "Serbian", "Croatian" or "Bosnian" in particular. In a classicizing manner, it was also referred to as "Illyrian".

The process oflinguistic standardizationof Serbo-Croatian was originally initiated in the mid-19th-centuryVienna Literary Agreementby Croatian and Serbian writers and philologists, decades before a Yugoslav state was established.[18]From the very beginning, there were slightly different literary Serbian and Croatian standards, although both were based on the same dialect of Shtokavian,Eastern Herzegovinian.In the 20th century, Serbo-Croatian served as thelingua francaof the country ofYugoslavia,being the sole official language in theKingdom of Yugoslavia(when it was called "Serbo-Croato-Slovenian" ),[19]and afterwards the official language of four out of six republics of theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.Thebreakup of Yugoslaviaaffected language attitudes, so thatsocial conceptions of the language separatedalong ethnic and political lines. Since the breakup of Yugoslavia, Bosnian has likewise been established as an official standard in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and there is an ongoing movement tocodifya separate Montenegrin standard.

Like other South Slavic languages, Serbo-Croatian has a simplephonology,with the common five-vowel system and twenty-five consonants. Itsgrammarevolved fromCommon Slavic,with complexinflection,preserving sevengrammatical casesin nouns, pronouns, and adjectives. Verbs exhibitimperfectiveorperfective aspect,with a moderately complex tense system. Serbo-Croatian is apro-drop languagewith flexible word order,subject–verb–objectbeing the default. It can be written in either localized variants ofLatin(Gaj's Latin Alpha bet,Montenegrin Latin) orCyrillic(Serbian Cyrillic,Montenegrin Cyrillic), and theorthographyis highlyphonemicin all standards. Despite many linguistical similarities, the traits that separate all standardized varieties are clearly identifiable,[20]although these differences are considered minimal.[21]

Name

Serbo-Croatian is typically referred to by names of its standardized varieties: Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin; it is rarely referred to by names of its sub-dialects, such asBunjevac.[22]

In the language itself, it is typically known assrpskohrvatski/српскохрватски"Serbo-Croatian",hrvatskosrpski/хрватскoсрпски"Croato-Serbian", or informallynaški/нашки"ours".[15]

Throughout the history of the South Slavs, the vernacular, literary, and written languages (e.g. Chakavian, Kajkavian, Shtokavian) of the various regions and ethnicities developed and diverged independently. Prior to the 19th century, they were collectively called "Illyria", "Slavic", "Slavonian", "Bosnian", "Dalmatian", "Serbian" or "Croatian".[23]Since the nineteenth century, the termIllyrianorIllyricwas used quite often (thus creating confusion with theIllyrian language). Althoughthe wordIllyrianwas used on a few occasions before,its widespread usage began afterLjudevit Gajand several other prominent linguists met atLjudevit Vukotinović's house to discuss the issue in 1832.[24]The termSerbo-Croatianwas first used byJacob Grimmin 1824,[25][26]popularized by the Viennese philologistJernej Kopitarin the following decades, and accepted by CroatianZagrebgrammarians in 1854 and 1859.[27]At that time, Serb and Croat lands were still part of theOttomanandAustrian Empires.Officially, the language was called variouslySerbo-Croat, Croato-Serbian, Serbian and Croatian, Croatian and Serbian, Serbian or Croatian, Croatian or Serbian.Unofficially, Serbs and Croats typically called the language "Serbian" or "Croatian", respectively, without implying a distinction between the two,[28]and again in independentBosnia and Herzegovina,"Bosnian", "Croatian", and "Serbian" were considered to be three names of a single official language.[29]Croatian linguistDalibor Brozovićadvocated the termSerbo-Croatianas late as 1988, claiming that in an analogy with Indo-European, Serbo-Croatian does not only name the two components of the same language, but simply charts the limits of the region in which it is spoken and includes everything between the limits ('Bosnian' and 'Montenegrin').[30]Today, use of the term "Serbo-Croatian" is controversial due to the prejudice that nation and language must match.[31][32][33]It is still used for lack of a succinct alternative,[34]though alternative names have emerged, such asBosnian/Croatian/Serbian(BCS),[35]which is often seen in political contexts such as theInternational Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

History

Early development

Hval's Codex,1404

In the9th century,Old Church Slavonicwas adopted as the language of theliturgyin churches serving variousSlavicnations. This language was gradually adapted to non-liturgical purposes and became known as the Croatian version of Old Slavonic. The two variants of the language, liturgical and non-liturgical, continued to be a part of theGlagoliticservice as late as the middle of the 19th century. The earliest known Croatian Church Slavonic Glagolitic manuscripts are theGlagolita Clozianusand theVienna Foliafrom the 11th century.[36]The beginning of written Serbo-Croatian can be traced from the tenth century and on when Serbo-Croatian medieval texts were written in four scripts:Latin,Glagolitic,Early Cyrillic,andBosnian Cyrillic(bosančica/bosanica).[37]Serbo-Croatian competed with the more established literary languages ofLatinand Old Slavonic.[citation needed]Old Slavonic developed into the Serbo-Croatian variant ofChurch Slavonicbetween the 12th and 16th centuries.[citation needed]

Speech example
An example of Old Croatian used in Baška tablet.
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Among the earliest attestations of Serbo-Croatian are: theHumac tablet,dating from the 10th or 11th century, written in Bosnian Cyrillic and Glagolitic; thePlomin tablet,dating from the same era, written in Glagolitic; theValun tablet,dated to the 11th century, written in Glagolitic and Latin; and theInscription of Župa Dubrovačka,a Glagolitic tablet dated to the 11th century.[citation needed]TheBaška tabletfrom the late 11th century was written in Glagolitic.[38]It is a large stone tablet found in the smallChurch of St. Lucy, Jurandvoron the Croatian island ofKrkthat contains text written mostly inChakavianin the Croatianangular Glagoliticscript.[citation needed]TheCharter of Ban Kulinof 1189, written byBan Kulinof Bosnia, was an early Shtokavian text, written in Bosnian Cyrillic.[citation needed]

The luxurious and ornate representative texts of Serbo-Croatian Church Slavonic belong to the later era, when they coexisted with the Serbo-Croatian vernacular literature. The most notable are the "Missalof Duke Novak "from the Lika region in northwestern Croatia (1368)," Evangel from Reims "(1395, named after the town of its final destination),Hrvoje's Missalfrom Bosnia and Split in Dalmatia (1404),[39]and the first printed book in Serbo-Croatian, the GlagoliticMissale Romanum Glagolitice(1483).[36]

During the 13th century Serbo-Croatian vernacular texts began to appear, the most important among them being the "Istrian land survey" of 1275 and the "Vinodol Codex"of 1288, both written in the Chakavian dialect.[40][41]TheShtokavian dialectliterature, based almost exclusively[citation needed]on Chakavian original texts of religious provenance (missals,breviaries,prayer books) appeared almost a century later. The most important purely Shtokavian vernacular text is theVatican Croatian Prayer Book(c. 1400).[42]Both the language used in legal texts and that used in Glagolitic literature gradually came under the influence of the vernacular, which considerably affected itsphonological,morphological,andlexicalsystems. From the 14th and the 15th centuries, both secular and religious songs at church festivals were composed in the vernacular.[citation needed]Writers of early Serbo-Croatianreligiouspoetry(začinjavci) gradually introduced the vernacular into their works. Thesezačinjavciwere the forerunners of the rich literary production of the 16th-century literature, which, depending on the area, was Chakavian-, Kajkavian-, or Shtokavian-based.[36]The language of religious poems, translations,miracleandmorality playscontributed to the popular character of medieval Serbo-Croatian literature.[citation needed]

One of the earliest dictionaries, also in the Slavic languages as a whole, was theBosnian–Turkish Dictionaryof 1631 authored byMuhamed Hevaji Uskufiand was written in theArebicascript.[43][44]

Standardization

Đuro Daničić,Rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika(Croatian or Serbian Dictionary), 1882
Gramatika bosanskoga jezika(Grammar of the Bosnian Language), 1890

In the mid-19th century, Serbian (led by self-taught writer and folkloristVuk Stefanović Karadžić) and most Croatian writers and linguists (represented by theIllyrian movementand led byLjudevit GajandĐuro Daničić), proposed the use of the most widespread dialect,Shtokavian,as the base for their common standard language. Karadžić standardised theSerbian Cyrillic Alpha bet,and Gaj and Daničić standardized theCroatian Latin Alpha bet,on the basis of vernacular speech phonemes and the principle of phonological spelling. In 1850 Serbian and Croatian writers and linguists signed theVienna Literary Agreement,declaring their intention to create a unified standard.[45]Thus a complex bi-variant language appeared, which the Serbs officially called "Serbo-Croatian" or "Serbian or Croatian" and the Croats "Croato-Serbian", or "Croatian or Serbian". Yet, in practice, the variants of the conceived common literary language served as different literary variants, chiefly differing in lexical inventory and stylistic devices. The common phrase describing this situation was that Serbo-Croatian or "Croatian or Serbian" was a single language. In 1861, after a long debate, theCroatian Saborput up several proposed names to a vote of the members of the parliament; "Yugoslavian" was opted for by the majority and legislated as the official language of theTriune Kingdom.TheAustrian Empire,suppressing Pan-Slavism at the time, did not confirm this decision and legally rejected the legislation, but in 1867 finally settled on "Croatian or Serbian" instead.[46]During theAustro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,the language of all three nations in this territory was declared "Bosnian" until the death of administratorvon Kállayin 1907, at which point the name was changed to "Serbo-Croatian".[47][48][49]

With unification of the first theKingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes– the approach of Karadžić and the Illyrians became dominant. The official language was called "Serbo-Croato-Slovenian" (srpsko-hrvatsko-slovenački) in the 1921 constitution.[19]In 1929, the constitution was suspended,[50]and the country was renamed theKingdom of Yugoslavia,while the official language of Serbo-Croato-Slovene was reinstated in the 1931 constitution.[19]

In June 1941, the Nazi puppetIndependent State of Croatiabegan to rid the language of "Eastern" (Serbian) words, and shut down Serbian schools.[51]The totalitarian dictatorship introduced a language law that promulgatedCroatian linguistic purismas a policy that tried to implement a complete elimination of Serbisms and internationalisms.[52]

On January 15, 1944, the Anti-Fascist Council of the People's Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ) declared Croatian, Serbian, Slovene, and Macedonian to be equal in the entire territory of Yugoslavia.[53]In 1945 the decision to recognize Croatian and Serbian as separate languages was reversed in favor of a single Serbo-Croatian or Croato-Serbian language.[53]In theCommunist-dominatedsecond Yugoslavia,ethnic issues eased to an extent, but the matter of language remained blurred and unresolved.

In 1954, major Serbian and Croatian writers, linguists and literary critics, backed byMatica srpskaandMatica hrvatskasigned theNovi Sad Agreement,which in itsfirst conclusionstated: "Serbs, Croats and Montenegrins share a single language with two equal variants that have developed around Zagreb (western) and Belgrade (eastern)". The agreement insisted on theequal statusof Cyrillic and Latin scripts, and of Ekavian and Ijekavian pronunciations.[54]It also specified thatSerbo-Croatianshould be the name of the language in official contexts, while in unofficial use the traditionalSerbianandCroatianwere to be retained.[54]Matica hrvatska and Matica srpska were to work together on a dictionary, and a committee of Serbian and Croatian linguists was asked to prepare apravopis.During the sixties both books were published simultaneously in Ijekavian Latin in Zagreb and Ekavian Cyrillic in Novi Sad.[55]Yet Croatian linguists claim that it was an act of unitarianism. The evidence supporting this claim is patchy: Croatian linguist Stjepan Babić complained that the television transmission from Belgrade always used the Latin Alpha bet[56]— which was true, but was not proof of unequal rights, but of frequency of use and prestige. Babić further complained that the Novi Sad Dictionary (1967) listed side by side words from both the Croatian and Serbian variants wherever they differed,[56]which one can view as proof of careful respect for both variants, and not of unitarism. Moreover, Croatian linguists criticized those parts of the Dictionary for being unitaristic that were written by Croatian linguists.[57]And finally, Croatian linguists ignored the fact that the material for thePravopisni rječnikcame from the Croatian Philological Society.[58][59]Regardless of these facts, Croatian intellectuals brought theDeclaration on the Status and Name of the Croatian Literary Languagein 1967. On occasion of the publication's 45th anniversary, the Croatian weekly journalForumpublished the Declaration again in 2012, accompanied by a critical analysis.[60]

West European scientists judge the Yugoslav language policy as an exemplary one:[61][62]although three-quarters of the population spoke one language, no single language was official on a federal level.[63]Official languages were declared only at the level of constituent republics and provinces,[64][65][66]and very generously: Vojvodina had five (among them Slovak and Romanian, spoken by 0.5 per cent of the population), and Kosovo four (Albanian, Turkish, Romany and Serbo-Croatian).[64][67]Newspapers, radio and television studios used sixteen languages,[68]fourteen were used as languages of tuition in schools, and nine at universities.[64][69]Only theYugoslav People's Armyused Serbo-Croatian as the sole language of command, with all other languages represented in the army's other activities—however, this is not different from other armies of multilingual states,[70]or in other specific institutions, such as international air traffic control where English is used worldwide. All variants of Serbo-Croatian were used in state administration and republican and federal institutions.[64]Both Serbian and Croatian variants were represented in respectively different grammar books, dictionaries, school textbooks and in books known aspravopis(which detail spelling rules).[71]Serbo-Croatian was a kind of soft standardisation.[72]However, legal equality could not dampen the prestige Serbo-Croatian had: since it was the language of three quarters of the population, it functioned as an unofficial lingua franca.[73]And within Serbo-Croatian, the Serbian variant, with twice as many speakers as the Croatian,[74]enjoyed greater prestige, reinforced by the fact that Slovene and Macedonian speakers preferred it to the Croatian variant because their languages are also Ekavian.[75]This is a common situation in other pluricentric languages, e.g. the variants of German differ according to their prestige, the variants of Portuguese too.[76]Moreover, all languages differ in terms of prestige: "the fact is that languages (in terms of prestige, learnability etc.) are not equal, and the law cannot make them equal".[77]

Legal status

  • 1921 constitution of theKingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes,Article 3: "The official language of the Kingdom is Serbo-Croato-Slovene." (Latin script:Službeni jezik Kraljevine je srpsko-hrvatski-slovenački.;Cyrillic script: Службени језик Краљевине је српско-хрватски-словеначки.).[78][19]
  • 1931 constitution of theKingdom of Yugoslavia,Article 3: "The official language of the Kingdom is Serbo-Croato-Slovene".[19]
  • 1963 constitution of theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia:
    • Article 42: "The languages of the peoples of Yugoslavia and their scripts shall be equal. Members of the peoples of Yugoslavia on the territories of republics other than their own shall have the right to school instruction in their own languages, in conformity with republican law. As an exception, in the Yugoslav People's Army, commands, military drill and administration shall be in the Serbo-Croatian language."[79]
    • Article 131: "The federal laws and other general acts of the federal organs shall be made public in the official gazette of the Federation, in the authentic texts in the languages of the peoples of Yugoslavia: in Serbo-Croatian and Croato-Serbian, Slovene and Macedonian. In official communication the organs of the Federation shall abide by the principle of equality of languages of the peoples of Yugoslavia."[79]
  • 1974 constitution of theSocialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo,Article 5: "In the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, the equality of the Albanian, Serbo-Croatian and Turkish languages and their scripts is guaranteed."[80]
  • 1990 constitution of the(Socialist) Republic of Serbia,Article 8: "In the Republic of Serbia, the Serbo-Croatian language and the Cyrillic Alpha bet are in official use, while the Latin Alpha bet is in official use in the manner established by law."[81]
  • 1993 constitution of theRepublic of Bosnia and Herzegovina,Article 4: "In the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbo-Croatian or Croatian-Serbian language with the Ijekavian pronunciation is in official use. Both scripts — Latin and Cyrillic, are equal."[82]

The 1946, 1953, and 1974 constitutions of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia did not name specific official languages at the federal level. The 1992 constitution of theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia,in 2003 renamedSerbia and Montenegro,stated in Article 15: "In the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Serbian language in its ekavian and ijekavian dialects and the Cyrillic script shall be official, while the Latin script shall be in official use as provided for by the Constitution and law."[83]

Modern developments

See also:Language secessionism § In Serbo-Croatian

In 2017, the "Declaration on the Common Language"(Deklaracija o zajedničkom jeziku) was signed by a group of NGOs and linguists fromformer Yugoslavia.It states that all standardized variants belong to a common polycentric language with equal status.[84][85]

Demographics

Countries where a standard form of Serbo-Croatian is an official language
Countries where one or more forms are designated as minority languages

About 18 million people declare their native language as either 'Bosnian', 'Croatian', 'Serbian', 'Montenegrin', or 'Serbo-Croatian'.[1]

Serbian is spoken by 10 million people around the world, mostly in Serbia (7.8 million), Bosnia and Herzegovina (1.2 million), and Montenegro (300,000). Besides these, Serbian minorities are found inKosovo,North Macedoniaand inRomania.[86]In Serbia, there are about 760,000 second-language speakers of Serbian, including Hungarians inVojvodinaand the 400,000 estimated Roma. InKosovo,Serbian is spoken by the members of theSerbian minoritywhich approximates between 70,000 and 100,000.[87][88]Familiarity ofKosovar Albanianswith Serbian varies depending on age and education, and exact numbers are not available.

Croatian is spoken by 6.8 million people in the world, including 4.1 million in Croatia and 600,000 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[89]A small Croatian minority that lives in Italy, known asMolise Croats,have somewhat preserved traces of Croatian. In Croatia, 170,000, mostlyItaliansandHungarians,use it as asecond language.

Bosnian is spoken by 2.7 million people worldwide, chieflyBosniaks,including 2.0 million in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 200,000 in Serbia and 40,000 in Montenegro.[90]

Montenegrin is spoken by 300,000 people globally.[91]The notion of Montenegrin as a separate standard from Serbian is relatively recent. In the 2011 census, around 229,251 Montenegrins, of the country's 620,000, declared Montenegrin as their native language. That figure is likely to increase, due to the country's independence and strong institutional backing of the Montenegrin language.

Serbo-Croatian is also asecond languageof manySlovenians[92]andMacedonians,especially those born during the time of Yugoslavia. According to the 2002 census, Serbo-Croatian and its variants have the largest number of speakers of the minority languages in Slovenia.[93]

Outside the Balkans, there are over two million native speakers of the language(s), especially in countries which are frequent targets of immigration, such as Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Sweden, and the United States.

Grammar

Tomislav Maretić's 1899 Grammar of Croatian or Serbian
Further information:Serbo-Croatian grammar

Serbo-Croatian is a highlyinflected language.Traditional grammars list sevencasesfornounsandadjectives:nominative,genitive,dative,accusative,vocative,locative,andinstrumental,reflecting the original seven cases ofProto-Slavic,and indeed older forms of Serbo-Croatian itself. However, in modernShtokavianthe locative has almost merged into dative (the only difference is based on accent in some cases), and the other cases can be shown declining; namely:

  • For all nouns and adjectives, the instrumental, dative, and locative forms are identical (at least orthographically) in the plural:ženama,ženama,ženama;očima,očima,očima;riječima,riječima,riječima.
  • There is an accentual difference between the genitivesingularand genitivepluralof masculine and neuter nouns, which are otherwise homonyms (seljáka,seljaka) except that on occasion an"a"(which might or might not appear in the singular) is filled between the last letter of the root and the genitive plural ending (kapitalizma,kapitalizama).
  • The old instrumental ending "ju" of the feminine consonant stems and in some cases the "a" of the genitive plural of certain other sorts of feminine nouns is fast yielding to "i":noćiinstead ofnoćju,borbiinstead ofborabaand so forth.
  • Almost every Shtokavian number is indeclinable, and numbers after prepositions have not been declined for a long time.

Like most Slavic languages, there are mostly threegendersfor nouns: masculine, feminine, and neuter, a distinction which is still present even in the plural (unlikeRussianand, in part, theČakavian dialect). They also have twonumbers:singular and plural. However, some consider there to be three numbers (paucalordual,too), since (still preserved in closely relatedSlovene) after two (dva,dvije/dve), three (tri) and four (četiri), and all numbers ending in them (e.g. twenty-two, ninety-three, one hundred four, but not twelve through fourteen) the genitive singular is used, and after all other numbers five (pet) and up, the genitive plural is used. (The number one [jedan] is treated as an adjective.) Adjectives are placed in front of the noun they modify and must agree in both case and number with it.

There are seventensesfor verbs:past,present,future,exact future,aorist,imperfect,andpluperfect;and threemoods:indicative,imperative,andconditional.However, the latter three tenses are typically used only in Shtokavian writing, and the time sequence of the exact future is more commonly formed through an alternative construction.

In addition, like most Slavic languages, the Shtokavian verb also has one of twoaspects:perfectiveorimperfective.Most verbs come in pairs, with the perfective verb being created out of the imperfective by adding aprefixor making a stem change. The imperfective aspect typically indicates that the action is unfinished, in progress, or repetitive; while the perfective aspect typically denotes that the action was completed, instantaneous, or of limited duration. Some Štokavian tenses (namely, aorist and imperfect) favor a particular aspect (but they are rarer or absent in Čakavian and Kajkavian). Actually, aspects "compensate" for the relative lack of tenses, because verbal aspect determines whether the act is completed or in progress in the referred time.

Phonology

Main article:Serbo-Croatian phonology

Vowels

The Serbo-Croatianvowelsystem is simple, with only five vowels in Shtokavian. All vowels aremonophthongs.The oral vowels are as follows:

Latin script Cyrillic script IPA Description English approximation
a а /a/ open central unrounded father
e е /e/ mid front unrounded den
i и /i/ close front unrounded seek
o о /o/ mid back rounded lord
u у /u/ close back rounded pool

The vowels can be short or long, but the phonetic quality does not change depending on the length. In a word, vowels can be long in the stressed syllable and the syllables following it, never in the ones preceding it.

Consonants

Theconsonantsystem is more complicated, and its characteristic features are series ofaffricateandpalatalconsonants. As in English,voiceisphonemic,butaspirationis not.

Latin script Cyrillic script IPA Description[94] English approximation
trill
r р /r/ alveolar trill rolled (vibrating)ras incarramba
approximants
v в /ʋ/ labiodental approximant roughly betweenvortexandwar
j ј /j/ palatal approximant year
laterals
l л /l/ alveolar lateral approximant light
lj љ /ʎ/ palatal lateral approximant roughlybattalion
nasals
m м /m/ bilabial nasal man
n н /n/ alveolar nasal not
nj њ /ɲ/ palatal nasal Britishnewsor Americancanyon
fricatives
f ф /f/ voiceless labiodental fricative five
z з /z/ voiced dental sibilant zero
s с /s/ voiceless dental sibilant some
ž ж /ʒ/ voiced postalveolar fricative television
š ш /ʃ/ voiceless postalveolar fricative sharp
h х /x/ voiceless velar fricative loch
affricates
c ц /t͡s/ voiceless dental affricate pots
dž џ /d͡ʒ/ voiced postalveolar affricate as Englishjam
č ч /t͡ʃ/ voiceless postalveolar affricate as Englishcheck
đ ђ /d͡ʑ/ voiced alveolo-palatal affricate roughlyjeans
ć ћ /t͡ɕ/ voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate roughlycheese
plosives
b б /b/ voiced bilabial plosive book
p п /p/ voiceless bilabial plosive top
d д /d/ voiced dental plosive dog
t т /t/ voiceless dental plosive stop
g г /ɡ/ voiced velar plosive good
k к /k/ voiceless velar plosive duck

Inconsonant clustersall consonants are either voiced or voiceless. All the consonants are voiced if the last consonant is normally voiced or voiceless if the last consonant is normally voiceless. This rule does not apply toapproximants– a consonant cluster may contain voiced approximants and voiceless consonants; as well as to foreign words (Washingtonwould be transcribed asVašinGton), personal names and when consonants are not inside of one syllable.

/r/can be syllabic, playing the role of the syllable nucleus in certain words (occasionally, it can even have a long accent). For example, thetongue-twisternavrh brda vrba mrdainvolves four words with syllabic/r/.A similar feature exists inCzech,Slovak,andMacedonian.Very rarely other sonorants can be syllabic, like/l/(inbicikl),/ʎ/(surnameŠtarklj),/n/(unitnjutn), as well as/m/and/ɲ/inslang.[citation needed]

Pitch accent

Further information:Pitch accent § Serbo-Croatian,andSerbo-Croatian phonology § Pitch accent

Apart fromSlovene,Serbo-Croatian is the only Slavic language with apitch accent(simpletone) system. This feature is present in some otherIndo-European languages,such asNorwegian,Ancient Greek,andPunjabi.Neo-Shtokavian Serbo-Croatian, which is used as the basis for standard Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian, has four "accents", which involve either arising or falling toneon either long or short vowels, with optional post-tonic lengths:

Serbo-Croatian accent system
Slavicist
symbol		 IPA
symbol		 Description
e [e] non-tonic short vowel
ē [eː] non-tonic long vowel
è [ě] short vowel with rising tone
é [ěː] long vowel with rising tone
ȅ [ê] short vowel with falling tone
ȇ [êː] long vowel with falling tone

The tone stressed vowels can be approximated in English withsetvs.setting?said in isolation for a short tonice,orleavevs.leaving?for a long tonici,due to theprosodyof final stressed syllables in English.

General accent rules in the standard language:

  1. Monosyllabic words may have only a falling tone (or no accent at all –enclitics);
  2. Falling tone may occur only on the first syllable of polysyllabic words;
  3. Accent can never occur on the last syllable of polysyllabic words.

There are no other rules for accent placement, thus the accent of every word must be learned individually; furthermore, in inflection, accent shifts are common, both in type and position (the so-called "mobile paradigms"). The second rule is not strictly obeyed, especially in borrowed words.

Comparative and historical linguistics offers some clues for memorising the accent position: If one compares many standard Serbo-Croatian words to e.g.cognateRussian words, the accent in the Serbo-Croatian word will be one syllable before the one in the Russian word, with the rising tone. Historically, the rising tone appeared when the place of the accent shifted to the preceding syllable (the so-called "Neo-Shtokavian retraction" ), but the quality of this new accent was different – its melody still "gravitated" towards the original syllable. Most Shtokavian (Neo-Shtokavian) dialects underwent this shift, but Chakavian, Kajkavian and the Old-Shtokavian dialects did not.

Accent diacritics are not used in the ordinary orthography, but only in the linguistic or language-learning literature (e.g. dictionaries, orthography and grammar books). However, there are very fewminimal pairswhere an error in accent can lead to misunderstanding.

Orthography

Serbo-Croatian orthography is almost entirely phonetic. Thus, most words should be spelled as they are pronounced. In practice, the writing system does not take into accountallophoneswhich occur as a result of interaction between words:

  • bit će – pronouncedbiće(and only written separately in Bosnian and Croatian)
  • od toga – pronouncedotoga(in many vernaculars)
  • iz čega – pronouncediščega(in many vernaculars)

Also, there are some exceptions, mostly applied to foreign words and compounds, that favor morphological/etymological over phonetic spelling:

One systemic exception is that the consonant clustersdsanddšare not respelled astsandtš(althoughdtends to be unvoiced in normal speech in such clusters):

Only a few words are intentionally "misspelled", mostly in order to resolve ambiguity:

  • šeststo[ʃêːsto](six hundred) – pronouncedšesto(to avoid confusion with "šesto" [sixth], pronounced the same)
  • prstni[př̩sniː](adj., finger) – pronouncedprsni(to avoid confusion with "prsni"[pr̩̂sniː][adj., chest]), differentiated by tone in some areas (where the short rising tone contrasts with the short falling tone).

Writing systems

Main articles:Gaj's Latin Alpha bet,Serbian Cyrillic Alpha bet,andYugoslav Braille

Through history, this language has been written in a number of writing systems:

The oldest texts since the 11th century are inGlagolitic,and the oldest preserved text written completely in the Latin Alpha bet isRed i zakon sestara reda Svetog Dominika,from 1345. The Arabic Alpha bet had been used byBosniaks;Greek writing is out of use there, and Arabic and Glagolitic persisted so far partly in religious liturgies.

The Serbian Cyrillic Alpha bet was revised byVuk Stefanović Karadžićin the 19th century.

The Croatian Latin Alpha bet (Gajica) followed suit shortly afterwards, whenLjudevit Gajdefined it as standardLatinwith five extra letters that haddiacritics,apparently borrowing much fromCzech,but also fromPolish,and inventing the uniquedigraphs⟨lj⟩,⟨nj⟩and⟨dž⟩.These digraphs are represented as⟨ļ⟩,⟨ń⟩and⟨ǵ⟩respectively in theRječnik hrvatskog ili srpskog jezika,published by the formerYugoslav Academy of Sciences and ArtsinZagreb.[95]The latter digraphs, however, are unused in the literary standard of the language. All in all, this makes Serbo-Croatian the only Slavic language to officially use both the Latin and Cyrillic scripts, albeit the Latin version is more commonly used.

In both cases, spelling is phonetic and spellings in the two Alpha bets map to each other one-to-one:

Latin to Cyrillic
A a B b C c Č č Ć ć D d Dž dž Đ đ E e F f G g H h I i J j K k
А а Б б Ц ц Ч ч Ћ ћ Д д Џ џ Ђ ђ Е е Ф ф Г г Х х И и Ј ј К к
L l Lj lj M m N n Nj nj O o P p R r S s Š š T t U u V v Z z Ž ž
Л л Љ љ М м Н н Њ њ О о П п Р р С с Ш ш Т т У у В в З з Ж ж
Cyrillic to Latin
А а Б б В в Г г Д д Ђ ђ Е е Ж ж З з И и Ј ј К к Л л Љ љ М м
A a B b V v G g D d Đ đ E e Ž ž Z z I i J j K k L l Lj lj M m
Н н Њ њ О о П п Р р С с Т т Ћ ћ У у Ф ф Х х Ц ц Ч ч Џ џ Ш ш
N n Nj nj O o P p R r S s T t Ć ć U u F f H h C c Č č Dž dž Š š
Sample collation
Latin collation order Cyrillic
collation
order
Latin Cyrillic
equivalent
Ina Ина Ина
Injekcija Инјекција Инјекција
Inverzija Инверзија Инверзија
Inje Иње Иње

ThedigraphsLj,NjandDžrepresent distinctphonemesand are considered to be single letters. In crosswords, they are put into a single square, and insorting,lj follows l and nj follows n, except in a few words where the individual letters are pronounced separately. For instance,nadživ(j)eti"to outlive" is composed of the prefixnad-"out, over" and the verbživ(j)eti"to live". The Cyrillic Alpha bet avoids such ambiguity by providing a single letter for each phoneme:наджив(ј)ети.

Đused to be commonly written asDjon typewriters, but that practice led to too many ambiguities. It is also used on carlicense plates.TodayDjis often used again in place ofĐon the Internet as a replacement due to the lack of installed Serbo-Croat keyboard layouts.

Serbian, Bosnian and Montenegrin standards officially use both Alpha bets, while Croatian uses the Latin only.

Latin script has beenrising in popularityin Serbia with the advent of thedigital ageandInternet in Serbia,[96]whether due to restraints (Cyrillic letters use up twice the space and therefore cost onSMS[97]), accessibility (intention to be readable internationally, as Latin is taught in all four countries speaking the language) or ease of use. This has been perceived by Serbian government officials as a suppression and threat for existence of the national script that is Cyrillic, with theMinistry of Culture and Informationof Serbia pushing for more tight language laws on top of those stipulated by the existingConstitution.[96]

Montenegrin Alpha bet,adopted in 2009, provides replacements ofsjandzjwith an addition ofacute accentonsandz,forming⟨ś⟩and⟨ź⟩in both Latin and Cyrillic, but they remain largely unused, even by theParliament of Montenegrowhich introduced them.[98]

An experimental Alpha bet called 'Slavica[sh]' fusing Latin and Cyrillic was devised by linguistic amateurRajko Igićin 1986 and published in his 1987 bookNova slovaricain a quixotic attempt to mend the linguistic differences and ambiguities between the two Alpha bets, carefully avoidinggraphemesthat look alike and following the principle of 'onesound,oneletter' already accomplished by the Cyrillic Alpha bet.[99][100]

Unicodehas separate characters for the digraphs lj (LJ, Lj, lj), nj (NJ, Nj, nj) and dž (DŽ, Dž, dž).

Dialects

Main article:Dialects of Serbo-Croatian
See also:South Slavic dialect continuum

South Slavic historically formed adialect continuum,i.e. each dialect has some similarities with the neighboring one, and differences grow with distance. However, migrations from the 16th to 18th centuries resulting from the spread ofOttoman Empireon the Balkans have caused large-scale population displacement that broke the dialect continuum into many geographical pockets. Migrations in the 20th century, primarily caused byurbanizationand wars, also contributed to the reduction of dialectal differences.

The primary dialects are named after the most common question word forwhat:Shtokavianuses the pronounštooršta,Chakavianusesčaorca,Kajkavian (kajkavski),kajorkej.In native terminology they are referred to asnar(j)ečje,which would be equivalent of "group of dialects", whereas their many subdialects are referred to asdijalekti"dialects" orgovori"speeches".

The pluricentric Serbo-Croatian standard language and all four contemporary standard variantsare basedon theEastern Herzegoviniansubdialect of Neo-Shtokavian. Other dialects are not taught in schools or used by the state media. TheTorlakian dialectis often added to the list, though sources usually note that it is a transitional dialect between Shtokavian and the Bulgaro-Macedonian dialects.

Likely distribution of major dialects prior to the 16th-century migrations
Shtokavian subdialects (Pavle Ivić, 1988). Yellow is the widespread Eastern Herzegovinian subdialect that forms the basis of all national standards, though it is not spoken natively in any of the capital cities.
Mid-20th-century distribution of dialects in Croatia

The Serbo-Croatian dialects differ not only in the question word they are named after, but also heavily in phonology, accentuation and intonation, case endings and tense system (morphology) and basic vocabulary. In the past, Chakavian and Kajkavian dialects were spoken on a much larger territory, but have been replaced by Štokavian during the period of migrations caused by Ottoman Turkish conquest of the Balkans in the 15th and the 16th centuries. These migrations caused the koinéisation of the Shtokavian dialects, that used to form the West Shtokavian (more closer and transitional towards the neighbouring Chakavian and Kajkavian dialects) and East Shtokavian (transitional towards the Torlakian and the whole Bulgaro-Macedonian area) dialect bundles, and their subsequent spread at the expense of Chakavian and Kajkavian. As a result, Štokavian now covers an area larger than all the other dialects combined, and continues to make its progress in the enclaves where non-literary dialects are still being spoken.[101]

The differences among the dialects can be illustrated on the example ofSchleicher's fable.Diacritic signs are used to show the difference in accents and prosody, which are often quite significant, but which are not reflected in the usual orthography.

Division byjatreflex

Main article:yat

A series ofisoglossescrosscuts the main dialects. The modern reflexes of the longCommon Slavicvoweljat,usually transcribed *ě, vary by location as /i/, /e/, and /ije/ or /je/. Local varieties of the dialects are labeled Ikavian, Ekavian, and Ijekavian, respectively, depending on the reflex. The long and shortjatis reflected as long or short */i/ and /e/ in Ikavian and Ekavian, but Ijekavian dialects introduce aije/jealternation to retain a distinction.

Standard Croatian and Bosnian are based on Ijekavian, whereas Serbian uses both Ekavian and Ijekavian forms (Ijekavian for Bosnian Serbs, Ekavian for most of Serbia). Influence of standard language through state media and education has caused non-standard varieties to lose ground to the literary forms.

The jat-reflex rules are not without exception. For example, when shortjatis preceded byr,in most Ijekavian dialects developed into /re/ or, occasionally, /ri/. The prefixprě-( "trans-, over-" ) when long becamepre-in eastern Ijekavian dialects but toprije-in western dialects; in Ikavian pronunciation, it also evolved intopre-orprije-due to potential ambiguity withpri-( "approach, come close to" ). For verbs that had-ětiin their infinitive, the past participle ending-ělevolved into-ioin Ijekavian Neo-Štokavian.

The following are some examples:

English Predecessor Ekavian Ikavian Ijekavian Ijekavian development
beautiful *lěp lep lip lijep longě→ije
time *vrěme vreme vrime vrijeme
faith *věra vera vira vjera shortě→je
crossing *prělaz prelaz prеlazor
prijelaz 		prеlazor
prijelaz 		pr+ longě→prije
times *vrěmena vremena vrimena vremena r+ shortě→re
need *trěbati trebati tribat(i) trebati
heat *grějati grejati grijati grijati r+ shortě→ri
saw *viděl video vidio vidio ěl→io
village *selo selo selo selo ein root, notě

Present sociolinguistic situation

A"trilingual"warning sign in Latin and Cyrillic script on the pack of Drina cigarettes: all three inscriptions are identical.

The nature and classification of Serbo-Croatian has been the subject of long-standing sociolinguistic debate.[102]The question is whether Serbo-Croatian should be called a single language or a cluster of closely related languages.[103][13][104][105]

Comparison with other pluricentric languages

See also:Declaration on the Common Language

Linguist Enisa Kafadar argues that there is only one Serbo-Croatian language with several varieties.[106]This has made it possible to include all four varieties in new grammars of the language.[14][107]Daniel Bunčić concludes that it is a pluricentric language, with four standard variants spoken in Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.[108]The mutual intelligibility between their speakers "exceeds that between the standard variants of English, French, German, or Spanish".[109]"There is no doubt of the near 100% mutual intelligibility of (standard) Croatian and (standard) Serbian, as is obvious from the ability of all groups to enjoy each others' films, TV and sports broadcasts, newspapers, rock lyrics etc."[110]Other linguists have argued that the differences between the variants of Serbo-Croatian are less significant than those between the variants of English,[111]German,[112]Dutch,[113]andHindustani.[114]

Among pluricentric languages,[115][116]Serbo-Croatian was the only one with a pluricentric standardisation within one state.[117][118]The dissolution of Yugoslavia has made Serbo-Croatian even more of a typical pluricentric language, since the variants of other pluricentric languages are also spoken in different states.[119][120]

As in other pluricentric languages, all Serbo-Croatian standard varieties are based on the same dialect (theEastern Herzegovinian subdialectof theShtokaviandialect) and consequently, according to the sociolinguistic definitions, constitute a single pluricentric language (and not, for example, severalAusbau languages[121]).[122]According to linguist John Bailyn, "An examination of all the major 'levels' of language shows that BCS is clearly a single language with a single grammatical system."[110]

In 2017, numerous prominent writers, scientists, journalists, activists and other public figures from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia signed theDeclaration on the Common Language,which states that in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro a commonpolycentric standard languageis used, consisting of several standard varieties, such as German, English or Spanish.[123][124][125][126]

Contemporary names

Ethno-political variants of Serbo-Croatian as of 2006

The use ofSerbo-Croatianas a linguistic label has been the subject of long-standing controversy. LinguistWayles Brownecalls it a "term of convenience" and notes the difference of opinion as to whether it comprises a single language or a cluster of languages.[105]Ronelle Alexander refers to the national standards as three separate languages, but also notes that the reasons for this are complex and generally non-linguistic. She calls BCS (her term for Serbo-Croatian) a single language for communicative linguistic purposes, but three separate languages for symbolic non-linguistic purposes.[127][104]

The current Serbian constitution of 2006 refers to the official language asSerbian,[128]while the Montenegrin constitution of 2007 proclaimedMontenegrinas the primary official language, but also grants other languages and dialects the right of official use.[129]

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has specified differentUniversal Decimal Classification(UDC) numbers for Croatian(UDC 862,abbreviationhr) and Serbian(UDC 861,abbreviationsr), while the cover termSerbo-Croatianis used to refer to the combination of original signs (UDC 861/862,abbreviationsh). Furthermore, theISO 639standard designates the Bosnian language with the abbreviationsbosandbs.

While it operated, theInternational Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia,which had English and French as official languages, translated court proceedings and documents into what it referred to as "Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian", usually abbreviated as BCS. Translators were employed from all regions of the former Yugoslavia and all national and regional variations were accepted, regardless of the nationality of the person on trial (sometimes against a defendant's objections), on the grounds of mutual intelligibility.[130]

For utilitarian purposes, Serbo-Croatian is often called "naš jezik"( "our language" ) or "naški"(sic. "ourish" or "ourian" ) by native speakers. This term is frequently used to describe Serbo-Croatian by those who wish to avoid nationalistic and linguistic discussions.[131][132]Native speakers traditionally describe their language as "jedan ali ne jedinstven"— "one but not uniform".[133]

Views of linguists in the former Yugoslavia

Serbian linguists

In 2021, theBoard for Standardization of the Serbian Languageissued an opinion that Serbo-Croatian is one language, and that it should be referred to as "Serbian language", while "Croatian", "Bosnian" and "Montenegrin" are to be considered merely local names for Serbian language. This opinion was widely criticized byCroatian governmentand representatives of theCroatian minority in Serbia.[134]Serbian linguistRanko Bugarskicalled this opinion "absurd" and "legacy of the 19th century linguistics". He said that Serbo-Croatian should be considered one language in a scientific sense under the "Serbo-Croatian" label, but four different languages in an administrative sense.[135]Legally, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin are all officially recognized minority languages in Serbia.[135]theSerbian Governmentalso officially recognizedBunjevac languageas a standard minority language in 2018[136]and was approved by theSerbian Ministry of Educationfor learning in schools.[137]

Croatian linguists

The opinion of the majority of Croatian linguists[citation needed]is that there has never been a Serbo-Croatian language, but two different standard languages that overlapped sometime in the course of history. However, Croatian linguistSnježana Kordićhas been leading an academic discussion on this issue in the Croatian journalKnjiževna republika[138]from 2001 to 2010.[139][140]In the discussion, she shows that linguistic criteria such as mutual intelligibility, the huge overlap in the linguistic system, and the same dialect basis of the standard language are evidence that Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian and Montenegrin are four national variants of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language.[141][142]Igor Mandić states: "During the last ten years, it has been the longest, the most serious and most acrid discussion (…) in 21st-century Croatian culture".[143]Inspired by that discussion, amonograph on language and nationalismhas been published.[144]

The view of the majority of Croatian linguists that there is no single Serbo-Croatian language but several different standard languages has been sharply criticized by German linguistBernhard Gröschelin his monograph[145]Serbo-Croatian Between Linguistics and Politics.[146]

A more detailed overview, incorporating arguments from Croatian philology and contemporary linguistics, would be as follows:

Serbo-Croatian is a language
One still finds many references to Serbo-Croatian, and proponents of Serbo-Croatian who deny that Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks and Montenegrins speak different languages. The usual argument generally goes along the following lines:
  • Standard Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin are completely mutually intelligible.[147][148]In addition, they use two Alpha bets that perfectly match each other (LatinandCyrillic), thanks to Ljudevit Gaj and Vuk Karadžić. Croats exclusively use Latin script and Serbs equally use both Cyrillic and Latin. Although Cyrillic is taught in Bosnia, mostBosnians,especially non-Serbs(BosniaksandCroats), favor Latin.
  • The list of 100 words of the basic Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin vocabulary, as set out by Morris Swadesh, shows that all 100 words are identical.[149]According to Swadesh, 81 per cent are sufficient to be considered as a single language.[150]
  • Typologically and structurally, these standard variants have virtually the same grammar, i.e. morphology and syntax.[151][152]
  • Serbo-Croatian was standardised in the mid-19th century, and all subsequent attempts to dissolve its basic unity have not succeeded.
  • The affirmation of distinctCroatian,Serbian,Bosnian,andMontenegrinlanguages ispoliticallymotivated.
  • According tophonology,morphologyandsyntax,these standard variants are essentially one language because they are based on the same,Štokavian dialect.[153]
Serbo-Croatian is not a language
Similar arguments are made for other official standards which are drawn from identical or nearly identical material bases and which therefore constitute pluricentric languages, such asMalaysian(Malaysian Malay), andIndonesian(together calledMalay),[154]orStandard HindiandUrdu(together calledHindustani or Hindi-Urdu).[155]However, some argue that these arguments have flaws:
  • Phonology, morphology, and syntax are not the only dimensions of a language: other fields (semantics, pragmatics, stylistics,lexicology,etc.) also differ slightly. However, it is the case with other pluricentric languages.[156]A comparison is made to the closely relatedNorth Germanic languages(or dialects, if one prefers), though these are not fully mutually intelligible[157]as the Serbo-Croatian standards are. A closer comparison may beGeneral AmericanandReceived Pronunciationin English, which are closer to each other than the latter is to other dialects which are subsumed under "British English".
  • Since the Croatian as recorded inDržićandGundulić's works (16th and 17th centuries) is virtually the same as the contemporary standard Croatian (understandable archaisms apart), it is evident that the 19th-century formal standardization was just the final touch in the process that, as far as Croatian is concerned, had lasted more than three centuries. The radical break with the past, characteristic of modern Serbian (whose vernacular was likely not as similar to Croatian as it is today), is a trait completely at variance with Croatian linguistic history. In short, formal standardization processes for Croatian and Serbian had coincided chronologically (and, one could add, ideologically), but they have not produced a unified standard language. Gundulić did not write in "Serbo-Croatian", nor didAugust Šenoa.Marko MarulićandMarin Držićwrote in a sophisticated idiom of Croatian some 300–350 years before "Serbo-Croatian ideology" appeared. Marulić explicitly called his Čakavian-writtenJuditaasu uerish haruacchi slosena( "arranged in Croatian stanzas" ) in 1501, and the Štokavian grammar and dictionary ofBartol Kašićwritten in 1604 unambiguously identifies the ethnonymsSlavicandIllyrianwithCroatian.

The linguistic debate in this region is more about politics than about linguistics per se.

The topic of language for writers fromDalmatiaandDubrovnikprior to the 19th century made a distinction only between speakers ofItalianorSlavic,since those were the two main groups that inhabited Dalmatian city-states at that time. Whether someone spoke Croatian or Serbian was not an important distinction then, as the two languages were not distinguished by most speakers.

However, most intellectuals and writers from Dalmatia who used the Štokavian dialect and practiced the Catholic faith saw themselves as part of a Croatian nation as far back as the mid-16th to 17th centuries, some 300 years before Serbo-Croatian ideology appeared. Their loyalty was first and foremost to Catholic Christendom, but when they professed an ethnic identity, they referred to themselves as "Slovin" and "Illyrian" (a sort of forerunner of Catholic baroquepan-Slavism)andCroat– these 30-odd writers over the span of c. 350 years always saw themselves as Croats first and never as part of a Serbian nation. In the pre-national era, Catholic religious orientation did not necessarily equate with Croat ethnic identity in Dalmatia. A Croatian follower of Vuk Karadžić,Ivan Broz,noted that for a Dalmatian to identify oneself as a Serb was seen as foreign as identifying oneself as Macedonian or Greek.Vatroslav Jagićpointed out in 1864:

As I have mentioned in the preface, history knows only two national names in these parts—Croatian and Serbian. As far as Dubrovnik is concerned, the Serbian name was never in use; on the contrary, the Croatian name was frequently used and gladly referred to...

At the end of the 15th century [in Dubrovnik and Dalmatia], sermons and poems were exquisitely crafted in Croatian by those men whose names are widely renowned by deep learning and piety.

— The History of the Croatian Language,Zagreb,1864.

On the other hand, the opinion of Jagić from 1864 is argued not to have firm grounds. When Jagić says "Croatian", he refers to a few cases referring to the Dubrovnik vernacular asilirski(Illyrian). This was a common name for all Slavic vernaculars in Dalmatian cities among the Roman inhabitants. In the meantime, other written monuments are found that mentionsrpski,lingua serviana(= Serbian), and some that mention Croatian.[158]By far the most competent Serbian scientist[editorializing]on the Dubrovnik language issue,Milan Rešetar,who was born in Dubrovnik himself, wrote behalf of language characteristics: "The one who thinks that Croatian and Serbian are two separate languages must confess that Dubrovnik always (linguistically) used to be Serbian."[158]

Finally, the formermedievaltexts from Dubrovnik and Montenegro dating before the 16th century were neither true Štokavian nor Serbian, but mostly specific a Jekavian-Čakavianthat was nearer to actualAdriaticislanders in Croatia.[159]

Political connotations

Nationalists have conflicting views. The nationalists among the Croats conflictingly claim either that they speak an entirely separate language from Serbs and Bosniaks or that these two peoples have, due to the longer lexicographic tradition among Croats, somehow "borrowed" their standard languages from them.[citation needed]Bosniak nationalists claim that both Croats and Serbs have "appropriated" theBosnian language,sinceLjudevit GajandVuk Karadžićpreferred the Neo-Štokavian Ijekavian dialect, widely spoken inBosnia and Herzegovina,as the basis for language standardization, whereas the nationalists among the Serbs claim either that any divergence in the language is artificial, or claim that theŠtokavian dialectis theirs and theČakavianCroats'— in more extreme formulations Croats have "taken" or "stolen" their language from the Serbs.[citation needed]

Proponents of unity among Southern Slavs claim that there is a single language with normal dialectal variations. The term "Serbo-Croatian" (or synonyms) is not officially used in any of the successor countries of former Yugoslavia.

In Serbia, the Serbian standard has an official status countrywide, while both Serbian and Croatian are official in the province ofVojvodina.A large Bosniak minority is present in the southwest region ofSandžak,but the "official recognition" of Bosnian is moot.[160]Bosnian is an optional course in first and second grade of the elementary school, while it is also in official use in the municipality ofNovi Pazar.[161]However, its nomenclature is controversial, as there is incentive that it is referred to as "Bosniak" (bošnjački) rather than "Bosnian" (bosanski) (seeBosnian language#Controversy and recognitionfor details).

Croatian is the official language of Croatia, while Serbian is also official in municipalities with significant Serb population.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, all three standard languages are recorded as official. Confrontations have on occasion been absurd. The academicMuhamed Filipović,in an interview to Slovenian television, told of a local court in a Croatian district requesting a paid translator to translate from Bosnian to Croatian before the trial could proceed.[citation needed]

TheInternational Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslaviareferred to the language as "Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian", usually abbreviated as BCS. Translators were employed from all regions of the former Yugoslavia and all national and regional variations were accepted, regardless of the nationality of the person on trial (sometimes against a defendant's objections), on the grounds of mutual intelligibility.[130]

ISO classification

Since the year 2000,ISO 639classification recognizesSerbo-Croatianonly as a 'macrolanguage', having removed its original codes fromISO 639-1andISO 639-2standards.[162]That left theISO 639-3'macrolanguage' (a book-keeping device in the ISO 639-3 standard to keep track of which ISO 639-3 codes correspond with which ISO 639-2 codes)[163]stranded without a corresponding ISO 639-2 code.

Words of Serbo-Croatian origin

Wiktionaryhas a category onEnglish terms derived from Serbo-Croatian.
  • Cravat,from Frenchcravate"Croat", by analogy with FlemishKrawaatand GermanKrabate,from Serbo-CroatianHrvat,[164]as cravats were characteristic of Croatian dress
  • Polje,from Serbo-Croatianpolje"field"[165]
  • Slivovitz,from GermanSlibowitz,from Bulgarianslivovitzaor Serbo-Croatianšljivovica"plum brandy", from Old Slavic *sliva "plum" (cognate with Englishsloe)[166]
  • Tamburitza,Serbo-Croatian diminutive oftambura,from Turkish, from Persianṭambūr"tanbur"[167]
  • Uvala,from Serbo-Croatianuvala"hollow"[168]
  • Vampire,from Serbo-Croatianvampirvia GermanVampiror FrenchVampire[169]

Sample text

Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rightsin Serbo-Croatian, written in theLatin Alpha bet:[170][171]

Sva ljudska bića rađaju se slobodna i jednaka u dostojanstvu i pravima. Ona su obdarena razumom i sv(ij)ešću i treba jedni prema drugima da postupaju u duhu bratstva.

Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rightsin Serbo-Croatian, written in theCyrillic script:[172]

Сва људска бића рађају се слободна и једнака у достојанству и правима. Она су обдарена разумом и св(иј)ешћу и треба једни према другима да поступају у духу братства.

Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rightsin English:[173]

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

See also

References

Citations

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Sources

Further reading

  • Banac, Ivo:Main Trends in the Croatian Language Question.Yale University Press, 1984.
  • Bunčić, D., 2016. Serbo-Croatian/Serbian: Cyrillic and Latin. Biscriptality: A Sociolinguistic Typology, pp. 231–246.
  • Franolić, Branko:A Historical Survey of Literary Croatian.Nouvelles éditions Latines, Paris, 1984.
  • Franolić, B., 1983. The development of literary Croatian and Serbian. Buske Verlag.
  • Franolić, Branko (1988).Language Policy in Yugoslavia with special reference to Croatian.Paris: Nouvelles Editions Latines.
  • Franolić, Branko; Žagar, Mateo (2008).A Historical Outline of Literary Croatian & The Glagolitic Heritage of Croatian Culture.London & Zagreb: Erasmus & CSYPN.ISBN978-953-6132-80-5.
  • Greenberg, Robert D. (1999). "In the Aftermath of Yugoslavia's Collapse: The Politics of Language Death and Language Birth".International Politics.36(2): 141–158.
  • Greenberg, Robert D. (2013). "Language, Religion, and Nationalism: The Case of the Former Serbo-Croatian".Typen slavischer Standardsprachen: Theoretische, methodische und empirische Zugaenge.Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 217–231.ISBN9783447100281.
  • Ivić, Pavle:Die serbokroatischen Dialekte.the Hague, 1958.
  • Jakobsen, Per (2008). "O strukturalno-lingvističkim konstantama srpskohrvatskog jezika (inventar fonema i fonotaktička struktura)" [Serbocroatian structural-linguistic constants (inventory of phonemes and phonotactic structure)]. In Ostojić, Branislav (ed.).Jezička situacija u Crnoj Gori – norma i standardizacija(in Serbo-Croatian). Podgorica: Crnogorska akademija nauka i umjetnosti. pp. 25–34.ISBN978-86-7215-207-4.(COBISS-CG)Archived2018-10-05 at theWayback Machine.
  • Kristophson, Jürgen (2000). "Vom Widersinn der Dialektologie: Gedanken zum Štokavischen" [Dialectological Nonsense: Thoughts on Shtokavian].Zeitschrift für Balkanologie(in German).36(2): 178–186.ISSN0044-2356.ZDB-ID201058-6.
  • Magner, Thomas F.:Zagreb Kajkavian dialect.Pennsylvania State University, 1966.
  • Magner, Thomas F. (1991).Introduction to the Croatian and Serbian Language(Revised ed.). Pennsylvania State University.
  • Merk, Hening (2008). "Neka pragmatična zapažanja o postojanju srpskohrvatskog jezika". In Ostojić, Branislav (ed.).Jezička situacija u Crnoj Gori – norma i standardizacija(in Serbo-Croatian). Podgorica: Crnogorska akademija nauka i umjetnosti. pp. 295–299.ISBN978-86-7215-207-4.(COBISS-CG)Archived2018-10-05 at theWayback Machine.
  • Murray Despalatović, Elinor:Ljudevit Gaj and the Illyrian Movement.Columbia University Press, 1975.
  • Spalatin, C., 1966. Serbo-Croatian or Serbian and Croatian?: Considerations on the Croatian Declaration and Serbian Proposal of March 1967. Journal of Croatian Studies, 7, pp. 3–13.
  • Scando-Slavica, Volume 68, 2022 - Issue 1. 2022. Scando-Slavica, Volume 68, 2022 - Issue 1
  • Vergunova, Ludmila:The geographic distribution of Proto-Slavic dialectisms and the genesis of the South Slavic languages.1996. (UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LIBRARY)
  • Vukotić, Vuk:On the Discursive Construction of Dialectal Varieties: The Case of Central South Slavic ‘Supradialects’.Scando-Slavica, Volume 68, 2022 - Issue 1
  • Zekovic, Sreten & Cimeša, Boro:Elementa montenegrina,Chrestomatia 1/90. CIP, Zagreb 1991.

External links

Serbo-Croatian editionofWikipedia,the free encyclopedia
Wikiquote has quotations related toSerbo-Croatian.
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