Serbo-Croatian language on the
Balkan peninsula, in 2005
Street sign in Dalj, Croatia, showing road names in Croatian and Serbian
Serbo-Croatian is the name of a Slavic language, which is spoken in modern-day Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. Between 1954 and 1992, it was one of the official languages of Yugoslavia (the others were Slovenian and Macedonian). The term Serbo-Croatian was first used in the 1830s. Today, people often speak about Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian and Montenegrin languages. Research has also shown that what is called Serbo-Croatian language, is in fact a number of slightly different dialects or languages, and that a "Serbo-Croatian language" does not exist. People speaking one of the dialects easily understand other people speaking a different dialect. Also, people in Serbia use the Cyrillic alphabet to write the language, while people in other parts use the Roman alphabet.
Images for kids
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Đuro Daničić, Rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika (Croatian or Serbian Dictionary), 1882
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Gramatika bosanskoga jezika (Grammar of the Bosnian Language), 1890
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Tomislav Maretić's 1899 Grammar of Croatian or Serbian.
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A "trilingual" warning sign in Latin and Cyrillic script on the pack of Drina cigarettes: all three inscriptions are identical.
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Ethno-political variants of Serbo-Croatian as of 2006.
See also
In Spanish: Idioma serbocroata para niños