Differences in official languages in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia
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The official languages in Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro differ in various aspects as outlined below. The various nuances aren't nearly as linguistically important as is the symbolic value that is assigned to them by their ethnically, religiously, socially and politically diverse group of speakers.
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Writing
Script
Though all could use either, the official language in Croatia and one of the official languages in Bosnia that is called Bosnian language use exclusively the Latin alphabet while the official language in Serbia uses both Cyrillic alphabet and Latin alphabet. [Bosnian administration uses Also Cyrillic]
This is possible because all official languages have the same set of regular phonemes. In some regions of Serbia and Bosnia, the sound "h" does not exist but that is not part of the official languages. In some regions of Croatia and Bosnia, the sounds "č" and "ć" and also "dž" and "đ" are either indistinct or said as ć and đ respectively, but again that is not reflected in the official language.
Orthography
The official language in Croatia alphabetically transcribes (transliterates) foreign names and often words even in children's books, while the official language in Serbia performs a phonetic transcription of them whenever possible, regardless of alphabet. Officially the Bosnian language follows the Croatian example, but many books and newspapers phonetically transcribe foreign names.
Also, when the subject of future tense is omitted, producing reversal of infinitive and auxiliary "ću", only final "i" of the infinitive is elided in Croatian, while in Serbian and Bosnian vernacular the two are merged into single word:
- "Uradit ću to." (Croatian/Bosnian)
- "Uradiću to." (Serbian)
Regardless of the spelling, the pronunciation is the same.
Speaking
Accentuation
Accentuation of the official languages is different.
However, accentuation is different within Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia themselves, see below for full explanation.
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Morphology
There are three variants of the Štokavian dialect that stem from different reflex of proto-Slavic vowel jat. The jat appears in modern dialects in the following way: the Church Slavonic word for child, děte, is:
- dete in Ekavian
- dite in Ikavian
- dijete in Ijekavian
The official language in Serbia and Montenegro recognises ekavian and ijekavian as equal variants while the official language in Croatia uses only ijekavian. In Bosnia and Herzegovina (regardless of the official language) and in Montenegro, ijekavian is used almost exclusively. Ikavian is limited to dialectal use in Dalmatia, Istria, Western Herzegovina and northern Bačka (Vojvodina). So, for example:
| English | ekavian | ijekavian | ikavian |
|---|---|---|---|
| wind | vetar | vjetar | vitar |
| milk | mleko | mlijeko | mliko |
| to want | hteti | htjeti | htiti |
| arrow | strela | strijela | strila |
| But: | |||
| small arrow | strelica | strelica strjelica | strilica |
A few Croatian linguists have tried to explain the following differences in morphological structure for some words with introduction of a new vowel, "jat diphthong". This is not the opinion of most linguists.
| English | Croatian (Ijekavian) | Serbian (Ekavian and Ijekavian) |
|---|---|---|
| add by pouring | dolijevati | dolivati |
| diarrhea | proljev | proliv |
| gulf, bay | zaljev | zaliv |
| to influence | utjecati | uticati |
Sometimes this leads to confusion: Serbian poticati (to stem from) is in Croatian "to encourage". Croatian "to stem from" is potjecati, while Serbian for "encourage" is podsticati.
Bosnian official language allows both variants, and ambiguities are solved by preferring the Croatian variant, which is a general practice for Serbian-Croatian ambiguities.
Another example for phonetical differences is words which have h in Croatian and Bosnian, but v in Serbian:
| English | Serbian | Croatian and Bosnian |
|---|---|---|
| tobacco | duvan | duhan |
| to cook | kuvati | kuhati |
As ijekavian is the common dialect of all official languages, it will be used for examples on this page. Other than this, examples of different morphology are:
| English | Serbian (ijekavian) | Croatian | Bosnian |
|---|---|---|---|
| point | tačka | točka | tačka |
| correct | tačno | točno | tačno točno |
| municipality | opština | općina | općina |
| priest | sveštenik | svećenik | svećenik |
| male student | student | student | student |
| female student | studentkinja | studentica | studentica (studentkinja) |
| male professor | profesor | profesor | profesor |
| female professor | profesorka | profesorica | profesorica profesorka |
| translator | prevodilac | prevoditelj | prevodilac |
| reader | čitalac | čitatelj | čitalac |
| But: | |||
| assembly | skupština | skupština | skupština |
| male president | predsjednik | predsjednik | predsjednik |
| female president | predsjednica | predsjednica | predsjednica |
| male Black | crnac | crnac | crnac |
| female Black | crnkinja | crnkinja | crnkinja |
| thinker | mislilac | mislilac | mislilac |
| teacher | učitelj | učitelj | učitelj |
Also many internationalisms are different:
| English | Serbian | Croatian | Bosnian |
|---|---|---|---|
| to organise | organizovati | organizirati | organizovati organizirati |
| to realise | realizovati | realizirati | realizirati |
| But: | |||
| to analyse | analizirati | analizirati | analizirati |
This is because, historically, internationalisms entered Croatian mostly through German, while Serbian received them through French and Russian, so different localization patterns were established based on those languages.
Notes: the term "ostvariti" is preferred over "realizovati/realizirati"; here the word has been used as it is an internationalism. In the Bosnian language, the variant in braces is also allowed, but the other variant is preferred.
Some other imported words are of masculine gender in Serbian and Bosnian, but feminine gender in Croatian:
| English | Serbian and Bosnian | Croatian | |
|---|---|---|---|
| minute | minut | minuta | |
| But: | |||
| planet | planeta | planet | |
Syntax
With modal verbs such as ht(j)eti (want) or moći (can), infinitive is prescribed in Croatian, while construction da (that/to) + present tense is preferred in Serbian. Again, both alternatives are present and allowed in Bosnian.
The sentence "I want to do that" could be translated with any of
- "Hoću to da uradim"
- "Hoću to uraditi"
This difference partly extends to future tense, which in Serbo-Croatian is formed in a similar manner as in English, using (elided) present of verb "ht(j)eti" -> "hoću"/"hoćeš"/... -> "ću"/"ćeš"/... as auxiliary verb. Here, the infinitive is formally required in both variants:
- "Da li ćeš to uraditi?" (Will/shall you do that?)
However, when da+present is used instead, it can additionally express the subject's will or intention to perform the action:
- "Da li ćeš to da uradiš?" (Will you/do you want to do that?)
This form is more frequently used in Serbia and Bosnia, while it can be found only occasionally in Croatian. In Croatia, the first method is preferred and the second is frowned upon although it is fairly common in the vernacular, but hyper-correctness sometimes produces awkward sentences. It is instead recommended that a different form is used: "Hoćeš li to uraditi?".
The nuances in meaning between two constructs can be slight or even lost (especially in Serbian dialects), in similar manner as the shall/will distinction varies across English dialects. Overuse of da+present is regarded as Germanism in Serbian linguistic circles, and it can occasionally lead to awkward sentences, for example, "I want to know whether I'll start working" would be:
- "Želim da znam da li ću da počnem da radim." (spoken Serbian)
- "Želim znati da li ću početi raditi" (spoken Croatian)
In Croatian it is again recommended that a different form is used: "Želim znati hoću li početi raditi".
Vocabulary
Vocabulary is different to some extent. Examples:
| English | in Serbia | in Croatia | in Bosnia |
|---|---|---|---|
| one thousand | hiljada | tisuća | hiljada tisuća |
| January 1 | januar | siječanj | januar siječanj |
| table | sto astal trpeza | stol trpeza | sto hastal |
| factory | fabrika | tvornica | fabrika tvornica |
| rice | pirinač | riža | riža |
| carrot | šargarepa | mrkva | mrkva |
| oil | ulje zejtin | ulje | ulje |
| spinach | spanać | špinat | špinat |
| ladder | merdevine lotre lojtre | ljestve skale (colloq.) | merdevine ljestve lotre |
| football | fudbal | nogomet | fudbal nogomet |
| train | voz | vlak | voz |
| wave | talas | val | talas |
| uncivil | nevaspitan | neodgojen | neodgojen |
| one's own | sopstveno | vlastito | vlastito |
| road 2 | put cesta drum džada | put cesta | put cesta džada |
| But: | |||
| passport | pasoš | putovnica | pasoš |
| tomato | paradajz | rajčica | paradajz |
1) All month names are different. See below for full table
2) This is an excellent example of foreign influences. "Put" and "cesta" are Slavic, "drum" is Greek and "džada" is Turkish. Moreover, the central difference lies in the fact that Croatian is, unlike Serbian or Bosnian, a purist language.
Note that there are a few differences that can cause confusion, for example the verb "ličiti" means "to look like" in Serbian and Bosnian, but in Croatian it is "sličiti"; "ličiti" means "to paint". The word "bilo" means "white" in ikavian, "pulse" in official Croatian and "was" in all official languages, although it's not so confusing when pronounced because of different accentuation.
Also note that in most cases Bosnian officially allows all of the listed variants in the name of "language richness" (or lack thereof), and ambiguities are resolved by preferring the Croatian variant. Generally, no rule for the vocabulary treatment in Bosnian language can be deduced. Bosnian vocabulary writers based their decisions on usage of certain words in literary works by Bosnian authors.
In Croatian language months have Slavic names, while Serbian and Bosnian use the same set of international Latin-derived names as English.
| English | Croatian | Serbian | Bosnian |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | Siječanj | Januar | Januar Siječanj |
| February | Veljača | Februar | Februar Veljača |
| March | Ožujak | Mart | Mart Ožujak |
| April | Travanj | April | April Travanj |
| May | Svibanj | Maj | Maj Svibanj |
| June | Lipanj | Jun | Jun Lipanj |
| July | Srpanj | Jul | Jul Srpanj |
| August | Kolovoz | Avgust | August Kolovoz |
| September | Rujan | Septembar | Septembar Rujan |
| October | Listopad | Oktobar | Oktobar Listopad |
| November | Studeni | Novembar | Novembar Studeni |
| December | Prosinac | Decembar | Decembar Prosinac |
International names of months are well understood in Croatian and several names of internationally important events are still commonly known using the international name of the month: "1. maj", "1. april", "oktobarska revolucija".
Important notes on understanding
It is important to notice a few issues:
- Pronunciation and vocabulary differs among dialects spoken within Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia themselves. Each larger region has its own pronunciation and it is reasonably easy to guess where a speaker is from by their accent and/or vocabulary. Colloquial vocabulary can be particularly different from the official standards.
This is one of the arguments for claiming it is all one and the same language: there are more differences within the official languages themselves then there are between them.
- Serbs, Bosnians and Croats will each talk among themselves in a manner that may or may not be easy to understand completely to the others. But, when communicating with each other, in the interest of easier understanding, they will use terms that are even easier to understand to all.
For example, to avoid confusion with month names, they can be referred to as the "first month", "second month" and so on which makes it perfectly understandable for others. In Serbia, month names are international ones so again understandable for anyone who knows e.g. English.
- Entire books and movies have been "translated" from one language to another. However, the translation of Serbian movie Rane (Wounds) into Croatian for example turned it from a tragedy into a comedy, as the whole audience was laughing at the "translation." On the other hand: probably the most bizarre case is Swiss psychologist Jung's masterwork “Psychology and Alchemy,” translated into Croatian in 1986, and retranslated, in late 1990s, into Serbian not from the original German, but from Croatian. A translation and “translation's translation” differ on virtually every page—orthographically, lexically, syntactically and semantically.