Croatian (; ' ) is the
standardized variety of the
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...
pluricentric language
A pluricentric language or polycentric language is a language with several interacting codified standard forms, often corresponding to different countries. Many examples of such languages can be found worldwide among the most-spoken languages, inc ...
used by
Croats
The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, G ...
, principally in
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
,
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
, the
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
n province of
Vojvodina, and other neighboring countries. It is the
official
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...
and literary standard of Croatia and one of the official languages of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
. Croatian is also one of the official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a recognized minority language in Serbia and neighboring countries.
Standard Croatian is based on the most widespread dialect of Serbo-Croatian,
Shtokavian, more specifically on
Eastern Herzegovinian
The Eastern Herzegovinian dialect (, Serbo-Croatian: ''istočnohercegovački'' / источнохерцеговачки) is the most widespread subdialect of the Shtokavian dialect of Serbo-Croatian, both by territory and the number of speakers. ...
, which is also the basis of
Standard Serbian,
Bosnian, and
Montenegrin. In the mid-18th century, the first attempts to provide a Croatian literary standard began on the basis of the Neo-Shtokavian dialect that served as a supraregional ''lingua franca'' pushing back regional Chakavian, Kajkavian, and Shtokavian vernaculars. The decisive role was played by
Croatian Vukovians Croatian Vukovians ( sh, hrvatski vukovci) refers to a group of Croatian linguists that were active at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Their work focused on the standardization of the Croatian variety of Serbo-Croatian la ...
, who cemented the usage of Ijekavian Neo-Shtokavian as the literary standard in the late 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, in addition to designing a phonological orthography. Croatian is written in
Gaj's Latin alphabet.
Besides the Shtokavian dialect, on which Standard Croatian is based, there are two other main dialects spoken on the territory of Croatia,
Chakavian and
Kajkavian. These dialects, and the four national standards, are usually subsumed under the term "Serbo-Croatian" in English, though this term is
controversial for native speakers,
and paraphrases such as "Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian" are therefore sometimes used instead, especially in diplomatic circles.
History
Modern language and standardization
In the late medieval period up to the 17th century, the majority of semi-autonomous Croatia was ruled by two domestic dynasties of princes (''banovi''), the
Zrinski
Zrinski () was a Croatian- Hungarian noble family, a cadet branch of the Croatian noble tribe of Šubić, influential during the period in history marked by the Ottoman wars in Europe in the Kingdom of Croatia's union with the Kingdom of Hungar ...
and the
Frankopan
The House of Frankopan ( hr, Frankopani, Frankapani, it, Frangipani, hu, Frangepán, la, Frangepanus, Francopanus), was a Croatian noble family, whose members were among the great landowner magnates and high officers of the Kingdom of Croati ...
, which were linked by inter-marriage. Toward the 17th century, both of them attempted to unify Croatia both culturally and linguistically, writing in a mixture of all three principal dialects (Chakavian, Kajkavian and Shtokavian), and calling it "Croatian", "Dalmatian", or "Slavonian".
Historically, several other names were used as synonyms for Croatian, in addition to Dalmatian and Slavonian, and these were
Illyrian (ilirski) and Slavic (slovinski). It is still used now in parts of
Istria
Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian, Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the larges ...
, which became a crossroads of various mixtures of Chakavian with Ekavian, Ijekavian and Ikavian
isogloss
An isogloss, also called a heterogloss (see Etymology below), is the geographic boundary of a certain linguistic feature, such as the pronunciation of a vowel, the meaning of a word, or the use of some morphological or syntactic feature. Major d ...
es.
The most standardized form (Kajkavian–Ikavian) became the cultivated language of administration and intellectuals from the Istrian peninsula along the Croatian coast, across central Croatia up into the northern valleys of the Drava and the Mura. The cultural apex of this 17th century idiom is represented by the editions of "''Adrianskoga mora sirena''" ("The Siren of the Adriatic Sea") by
Petar Zrinski and "''
Putni tovaruš
Putni tovaruš (English: ''Travel companion'') is a prayer book written in 1660 by Croatian poet and noblewoman Katarina Zrinska on her estates in Ozalj. It was first published a year later in Venice.
Contents and description
The book was complete ...
''" ("Traveling escort") by
Katarina Zrinska.
However, this first linguistic renaissance in Croatia was halted by the
political execution of Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan by the
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
Leopold I in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
in 1671.
Subsequently, the Croatian elite in the 18th century gradually abandoned this combined Croatian standard.
Illyrian period
The
Illyrian movement
The Illyrian movement ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Ilirski pokret, Илирски покрет; sl, Ilirsko gibanje) was a pan-South-Slavic cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian inte ...
was a 19th-century pan-
South Slavic political and cultural movement in Croatia that had the goal to standardize the regionally differentiated and orthographically inconsistent literary languages in Croatia, and finally merge them into a common South Slavic literary language. Specifically, three major groups of dialects were spoken on Croatian territory, and there had been several
literary languages over four centuries. The leader of the Illyrian movement
Ljudevit Gaj
Ljudevit Gaj (; born Ludwig Gay; hu, Gáj Lajos; 8 August 1809 – 20 April 1872) was a Croatian Linguistics, linguist, politician, journalist and writer. He was one of the central figures of the pan-Slavist Illyrian movement.
Biography
Origi ...
standardized the Latin alphabet in 1830–1850 and worked to bring about a standardized orthography. Although based in Kajkavian-speaking
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
, Gaj supported using the more populous Neo-Shtokavian – a version of Shtokavian that eventually became the predominant dialectal basis of both Croatian and Serbian literary language from the 19th century on. Supported by various South Slavic proponents, Neo-Shtokavian was adopted after an Austrian initiative at the
Vienna Literary Agreement of 1850,
laying the foundation for the unified Serbo-Croatian literary language. The uniform Neo-Shtokavian then became common in the Croatian elite.
In the 1860s, the
Zagreb Philological School Zagreb philological school ( sh, Zagrebačka filološka škola) was a 19th-century philological school that operated in Zagreb, offering a set of solutions for the issues involved in the standardization of Croatian literary language. It was led by A ...
dominated the Croatian cultural life, drawing upon linguistic and ideological conceptions advocated by the members of the Illyrian movement. While it was dominant over the rival
Rijeka Philological School
Rijeka Philological School ( hr, Riječka filološka škola) was a 19th-century philological school that operated in Rijeka, offering a set of solutions for the issues involved in the standardization of Croatian literary language. It was led by . ...
and
Zadar Philological School Zadar Philological School ( hr, Zadarska filološka škola) was a 19th-century philological school that operated in Zadar, offering a set of solutions for the issues involved in the standardization of Croatian literary language. It was led by Ante ...
s, its influence waned with the rise of the
Croatian Vukovians Croatian Vukovians ( sh, hrvatski vukovci) refers to a group of Croatian linguists that were active at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Their work focused on the standardization of the Croatian variety of Serbo-Croatian la ...
(at the end of the 19th century).
Distinguishing features and differences between standards
Croatian is commonly characterized by the ''Ijekavian'' pronunciation (see
an explanation of yat reflexes), the sole use of the Latin alphabet, and a number of
lexical
Lexical may refer to:
Linguistics
* Lexical corpus or lexis, a complete set of all words in a language
* Lexical item, a basic unit of lexicographical classification
* Lexicon, the vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge
* Lexical ...
differences in common words that set it apart from standard Serbian. Some differences are absolute, while some appear mainly in the frequency of use. However, "an examination of all the major 'levels' of language shows that BCS is clearly a single language with a single grammatical system."
Sociopolitical standpoints
![Croatian Language](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Croatian_Language.png)
Croatian, although technically a form of
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...
, is sometimes considered a distinct language by itself.
Purely linguistic considerations of languages based on
mutual intelligibility
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...
(''
abstand and ausbau languages'') are frequently incompatible with political conceptions of language so that varieties that are mutually intelligible can not be considered separate languages. "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."
Differences between various
standard forms of Serbo-Croatian are often exaggerated for political reasons. Most Croatian linguists regard Croatian as a separate language that is considered key to national identity. The issue is sensitive in Croatia as the notion of a separate language being the most important characteristic of a nation is widely accepted, stemming from the 19th-century history of Europe. The 1967
, in which a group of Croatian authors and linguists demanded greater autonomy for Croatian, is viewed in Croatia as a linguistic policy milestone that was also a general milestone in national politics. At the 50th
anniversary
An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saints ...
of the Declaration, at the beginning of 2017, a two-day
meeting
A meeting is when two or more people come together to discuss one or more topics, often in a formal or business setting, but meetings also occur in a variety of other environments. Meetings can be used as form of group decision making.
Defini ...
of
expert
An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable s ...
s from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro was organized in Zagreb, at which the text of the
Declaration on the Common Language of Croats, Bosniaks, Serbs and Montenegrins was drafted. The new Declaration has received more than ten thousand
signature
A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a ...
s. It states that in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro a common
polycentric standard language is used, consisting of several standard varieties, similar to the existing varieties of
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
,
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
or
Spanish. The aim of the new Declaration is to stimulate discussion on language without the nationalistic baggage and to counter nationalistic divisions.
The terms "Serbo-Croatian" or "Serbo-Croat" are still used as a cover term for all these forms by foreign scholars, even though the speakers themselves largely do not use it. Within ex-Yugoslavia, the term has largely been replaced by the ethnic terms Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian.
The use of the name "Croatian" for a language names has been historically attested to, though not always distinctively; the
Croatian–Hungarian Agreement, for example, designated "Croatian" as one of its official languages, and Croatian became an official
EU language upon accession of Croatia to the EU on 1 July 2013. In 2013, the EU started publishing a Croatian-language version of its official gazette.
Official status
![Serbo croatian languages2006 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Serbo_croatian_languages2006_02.png)
Standard Croatian is the official language of the Republic of
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
and, along with Standard
Bosnian and Standard
Serbian
Serbian may refer to:
* someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe
* someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people
* Serbian language
* Serbian names
See also
*
*
* Old Serbian (disambiguat ...
, one of three official languages of
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
. It is also official in the regions of
Burgenland (Austria),
Molise
Molise (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Neapolitan, Mulise) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise, alongside the region of Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effe ...
(Italy) and
Vojvodina (Serbia). Additionally, it has co-official status alongside
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
**Romanian cuisine, traditional ...
in the communes of
Carașova and
Lupac
Lupac (Romanian: ''Lupac''; Croatian: ''Lupak''; hu, Kiskrassó) is a commune in Caraș-Severin County, Banat, Romania. In 2002, its population numbered 3,023 people and was mostly made up of Krashovani Croats. It is composed of four villages: C ...
,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
. In these localities,
Croats
The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, G ...
or
Krashovani make up the majority of the population, and education, signage and access to public administration and the justice system are provided in Croatian, alongside Romanian.
Croatian is officially used and taught at all the
universities in Croatia
This is a list of universities and colleges in Croatia.
Public universities
* Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek
*Juraj Dobrila University of Pula
*University of Dubrovnik
* University North
*University of Rijeka
* University of Slavonsk ...
, and at the
University of Mostar
The University of Mostar ( hr, Sveučilište u Mostaru; la, Universitas Studiorum Mostariensis) is the largest public university located in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Previously it was called the University Džemal Bijedić of Mostar, n ...
in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
There is no regulatory body that determines the proper usage of Croatian. The current standard language is generally laid out in the grammar books and dictionaries used in education, such as the school curriculum prescribed by the Ministry of Education and the university programmes of the Faculty of Philosophy at the
four main universities. In 2013, a ''Hrvatski pravopis'' by the
Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics received an official sole seal of approval from the Ministry of Education.
Attempts are being made to revive Croatian literature in Italy.
The most prominent recent editions describing the Croatian standard language are:
* ''Hrvatski pravopis'' by the
Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics, availabl
online* ''Hrvatski jezični portal'' by
University Computing Centre
The University Computing Centre in Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilišni računski centar, abbreviated SRCE, which also means "heart") has a long tradition in the area of information and communication technologies. It was founded in 1971 within the University ...
(Srce) and
Znanje, availabl
online
* ''Rječnik hrvatskoga jezika'' by
Anić
* ''Rječnik hrvatskoga jezika'' by
Šonje et al.
* ''Hrvatski enciklopedijski rječnik'', by a group of authors
* ''Hrvatska gramatika'' by
Barić et al.
Also notable are the recommendations of
Matica hrvatska
Matica hrvatska ( la, Matrix Croatica) is the oldest independent, non-profit and non-governmental Croatian national institution. It was founded on February 2, 1842 by the Croatian Count Janko Drašković and other prominent members of the Illyri ...
, the national publisher and promoter of Croatian heritage, and the Lexicographical institute Miroslav Krleža, as well as the
Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Numerous representative Croatian linguistic works were published since the independence of Croatia, among them three voluminous monolingual dictionaries of contemporary Croatian.
Sample text
Article 1 of the ''
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal De ...
'' in Croatian:
:''Sva ljudska bića rađaju se slobodna i jednaka u dostojanstvu i pravima. Ona su obdarena razumom i sviješću i treba da jedno prema drugome postupaju u duhu bratstva.''
Article 1 of the ''Universal Declaration of Human Rights'' in English:
:''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
*
Bunjevac dialect
*
Croatian Language Corpus The Croatian Language Corpus (CLC) ( hr, Hrvatski jezični korpus, HJK) is a corpus of Croatian compiled at the Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics ( IHJJ).
Background
The CLC was initially funded as a sub-project of the research prog ...
*
Croatian Language Days Croatian Language Days ( hr, Dani hrvatskoga jezika) is an annual week-long cultural event established by Matica hrvatska which celebrates the Croatian language. It is held from March 11 to March 17.
It was first held upon Croatian independence in ...
*
Declaration on the Common Language 2017
*
Dialects of Serbo-Croatian
The dialects of Serbo-Croatian include the vernacular forms of Serbo-Croatian as a whole or as part of its standard varieties: Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian. They are part of the dialect continuum of South Slavic languages that ...
*
Gaj's Latin alphabet
*
Language secessionism in Serbo-Croatian
*
Mutual intelligibility
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...
*
Pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
* Banac, Ivo: ''Main Trends in the Croatian Language Question'', YUP 1984
*
(CROLIB)
/small>.
* Franolić, Branko: ''A Historical Survey of Literary Croatian'', Nouvelles Editions Latines, 1984
*
*
*
* (reprinted in 2008 as )
*
Inhaltsverzeichnis
.
* Kačić, Miro: ''Croatian and Serbian: Delusions and Distortions'', Novi Most, Zagreb 1997
*
* Moguš, Milan: ''A History of the Croatian Language'', NZ Globus, 1995
* Težak, Stjepko: "Hrvatski naš (ne)zaboravljeni" roatian, our (un)forgotten language 301 p., knjižnica Hrvatski naš svagdašnji (knj. 1), Tipex, Zagreb, 1999, ''(Croatian)''
* (NSK)
(FFZG)
External links
* Croatian Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (Wiktionary)
Croatian Language Corpus
Croatian Old Dictionary Portal
Most similar languages to Croatian (similarity measure)
Language history
a lecture given by dr. Branko Franolić
History of Croatian Dictionaries and Grammar books at Yale University Library – Slavic and East European Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Croatian Language
Languages of Croatia
Languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Languages of Serbia
Languages of Vojvodina
Languages of Austria
Languages of Hungary
Languages of Molise
Languages of Italy
Languages of Slovenia
Slavic languages written in Latin script