Serbo-croat

Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian

Serbian (српски), Croatian (Hrvatski)
and Bosnian (Bosanski) are different national literary and official registers
of the Serbo-Croatian language, they are mutually intelligible and belong to
the southern branch of the Slavic language family. They are spoken by about
18.5 million people, mainly in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and
Montenegro. Related languages include Slovenian, Macedonian and Bulgarian.

Serbo-Croatian is or was also known as Serbo-Croat,
Croato-Serbian, Serbian and Croatian, Croatian and Serbian, Serbian
or Croatian, Croatian or Serbian, or Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (BCS).

The oldest texts in these languages date back to the 11th century
and were written in the Glagolitic alphabet, mainly in Croatia. The
earliest text in the Latin alphabet dates from 1345. The Arabic alphabet
was used to some extent by Bosnian Muslims. The Glagolitic alphabet
was eventually replaced by the Latin alphabet in Croatia and by the
Cyrillic alphabet in Serbia.

Up to the mid 19th century there was no standard written form
of these languages, but there was extensive literature in different
dialects. In 1850 a group of Serbian and Croatian writers and linguists
decided to create a standard written form based on the widely-used
Štokavian dialect.

There three different modern literary standards for these languages:
Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian, and there is a movement to create a
separate Montenegrin standard. All these standards developed from the
19th century unified literary language. After Yugoslavia broke up in
the 1990s separate written and spoken languages began to emerge.

Today Croatian is written with the Latin alphabet, Serbian is written mainly
with the Cyrillic alphabet, though the Latin alphabet is sometimes used, and
Bosnian uses both alphabets.

Serbian contains many loan words from Greek and Turkish and continues
to borrow new words from various languages. Croatian contains many words
of Latin and German origin but many new Croatian words are created by
combining and adapting existing ones.

Latin and Cyrillic alphabets in Croatian alphabetic order

Croatian and Serbian alphabets with Croatian alphabetic order

Cyrillic and Latin alphabets in Serbian alphabetic order

Cyrillic alphabet as used for Serbian with Latin transliteration as used for Croatian

Arabic alphabet for Bosnian (Arabica/Alhamijado/Adzamijski)

The version of the Arabic alphabet shown below used to be used
to write Bosnian sometimes.

Arabic alphabet for Bosnian

Croatian sample text

Sva ljudska bića rađaju se slobodna i jednaka u dostojanstvu i pravima.
Ona su obdarena razumom i sviješću i trebaju jedna prema drugima postupati
u duhu bratstva.

Serbian sample text

Cвa људскa бићa
рaђajу сe слoбoднa
и jeднaкa у дoстojaнству
и прaвимa. Oнa су
oбдaрeнa рaзумoм и
свeшћу и трeбa jeдни
прeмa другимa дa
пoступajу у духу
брaтствa.

Transliteration

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

A recording of this text by Robert Todorić

Bosnian sample text in the Cyrillic alphabet

Cвa љyдскa бићa paђajy
сe слoбoднa и jeднaкa
y дoстojaнствy и пpaвимa.
Oнa сy oбдapeнa paзyмoм и
свиjeшћy и тpeбa дa jeднo
пpeмa дpyгoмe пoстyпajy y
дyхy бpaтствa.

Bosnian sample text in the Latin alphabet

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.

Bosnian sample text in the Arabic alphabet

Bosnian sample text in the Arabic alphabet

Translation

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.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

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