The beginnings of Montenegrin literacy date back to the 9th century, during theDuklja period, with the establishment of numerous monasteries in the coastal region. While traces of Latin and Greek literacy from the Duklja period are partially preserved, there is only indirect evidence of literacy in the Slavic language. The use ofGlagolitic script in Duklja was influenced by the strong center of Slavic literacy inOhrid, although some argue that Slavic literature in Duklja was written in Latin script. Literary activity flourished aroundLake Skadar during this period, with the Monastery of Prečista Krajinska as a significant center.[17]
TheZeta period begins with the fall of Duklja to Serbian rule and extends through the rule of theBalšić andCrnojević families. While there is no consensus on the dating of Glagolitic and Cyrillic scripts in present-day Montenegro, it is established thatOld Church Slavonic andCyrillic became dominant during the Zeta period, replacingGlagolitic script.[17]
In Zeta was established a printing press byĐurađ Crnojević, starting in Obod and later moving toCetinje. This press produced fiveincunabula, making Montenegro one of the four Slavic nations with incunabula in their language. During this period there was a development of the Zetan (Montenegrin) redaction of Old Church Slavonic, exemplified by theMiroslav Gospel from the 12th century, written inKotor. This redaction adapted Old Church Slavonic to the local language of medieval Zeta, influencing Bosnian and Serbian redactions. Despite being erroneously labeled as Zeta-Hum redaction, it originated in Zeta and then spread to Hum.[17]
The period of written language spans from the late 15th to the 18th century. During this time, written language represents the written realization of the local spoken language. In new socio-historical circumstances in Montenegro, there was a gradual shift towards the reintegration of the Montenegrin language with a popular basis. However, Old Church Slavonic continued to be used in the Orthodox Church for a long time. In this phase, Old Church Slavonic books and Cyrillic script dominated. Yet, in the coastal region, the influence of the Montenegrin type of Old Church Slavonic had little impact on the literature of the period, where Latin andItalian language prevailed.[17]
The written language in secular use continued to follow the development of the Montenegrin spoken language, progressively shedding Church Slavonic elements as time passed. The most significant writers during the period of written language emerged in the late Baroque period -Andrija Zmajević in the coastal partBay of Kotor andDanilo Petrović Njegoš in the continental partCetinje. Both wrote in the Montenegrin vernacular.[17]
From the second half of the 18th century, strengthened by the state and church organization, conditions were created for the establishment of the uncodified Montenegrin literary language as a means of common communication across the territory under the jurisdiction of the state and church. Even before the birth ofVuk Stefanović Karadžić, Ivan-Antun Nenadić fromPerast advocated for the phonetic orthographic principle, emphasizing that writing should reflect how people speak and pronounce. This rule was applied early in Montenegrin literature, making it unsurprising that Vuk Karadžić's linguistic reforms were later accepted without significant issues. In the period of the uncodified Montenegrin literary language, three styles can be observed: literary, business, and scientific, all formed in the process of spontaneous Montenegrin linguistic standardization. Montenegrin literature, both linguistically and thematically, originated from everyday life. In the period in question, the highest achievement of such literary language is seen in the letters ofPetar I Petrović-Njegoš.[17]
As a result of Vuk Karadžić's linguistic reform, during the transitional period of the Montenegrin language (from the 1830s to World War I), significant changes occurred, and some typical Montenegrin linguistic features were officially abolished. Throughout this period, the language in Montenegro was officially referred to asSerbian, and the assimilation of the Montenegrin language toward the general štokavian Karadžić model was primarily implemented through textbooks and external teaching staff that wholeheartedly followed the principles of Vuk Karadžić's linguistic reform.[17]
Vuk's principle of introducing the vernacular into literature encountered little opposition in Montenegro, as it was already present there before Vuk. However, the complete acceptance of all aspects of this reform did not proceed smoothly, leading to divisions among Montenegrin cultural figures.[17] In lengthy debates,Jovan Pavlović (a consistent follower of Vuk) andLazar Tomanović stood out, with Tomanović advocating for the introduction of graphemes ś and ź. Đuro Špadijer, in his Serbian Grammar (intended for 3rd and 4th grades in Montenegrin elementary schools), introduced some characteristics considered by Vuk's model as dialectal and provincial.[17]
However, from the school year 1863/64, Montenegro began the continuous implementation of Karadžić's linguistic reform in Cetinje schools. This reform would ultimately achieve a definitive victory in Montenegro by the end of the 19th century, primarily in administrative, journalistic, and scientific styles.[17]
The literary style, which retained fundamental Montenegrin linguistic features, resisted this process the longest and mostly remained beyond the reach of the mentioned reform, entering the 20th century with preserved foundational Montenegrin language characteristics. The preservation of typical Montenegrin language features in the literary style is evident in the works of three representative figures from that period:Petar II Petrović Njegoš,Stefan Mitrov Ljubiša, andMarko Miljanov Popović.[17]
The most significant changes in the Montenegrin literary language occurred during the phase marked by the influence of Serbian linguistAleksandar Belić, between the two World Wars. Montenegrin linguistic peculiarities, preserved in the literary style in the first two decades of the 20th century, were assimilated into the common "Serbo-Croatian" linguistic template in the new socio-historical framework. Although Belić's Orthography from 1923 formally allowed the use ofijekavian, he emphasized in that edition and subsequent ones thatjekavian jotization is a dialectal phenomenon. Consequently, Montenegrins were obligated to use atypical non-jotized forms such as "djed" (grandfather), "cjedilo" (strainer), "tjerati" (to drive), "sjesti" (to sit), and so on.[17][18][19]
In subsequent editions, Belić abolished the normative status of the so-called longer endings of pronominal-adjective declension (-ijem, -ijeh) and codified only the short endings. This led Vuk's language model to be gradually abandoned by his followers. Despite the formal acknowledgment of ijekavian in literary language, the interwar period in Montenegro was marked by an increasing use ofekavian. The introduction of ekavian was implemented through education, as textbooks and teaching staff predominantly followed ekavian norms. This is vividly illustrated by writings in the Montenegrin press of that time.[17][20]
The contemporary stage in the development of the Montenegrin literary language encompasses the period after World War II, with the improvement of the country's status, the language's standing also improved. Although Montenegro did not gain the right to name its language with its own name, during this period, institutions promoting the Montenegrin language were substantively developed. Associations and organizations like the Montenegrin PEN Center, Matica crnogorska, Duklja Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Institute for Montenegrin Language and Linguistics, and the Montenegrin Society of Independent Writers played a crucial role in preserving Montenegrin values. The Declaration on the Constitutional Status of the Montenegrin Language by the Montenegrin PEN Center in 1997 was a significant document emphasizing the autonomy of the Montenegrin language.[17]
These efforts culminated in the new Montenegrin Constitution of 2007, where the Montenegrin language gained official status for the first time. The establishment of the Council for the Standardization of the Montenegrin Language in 2008 and the adoption of the Montenegrin Spelling Book in 2009 represent significant steps in the standardization and affirmation of the Montenegrin language.[17]
Petar II Petrović-Njegoš was a Prince-Bishop of Montenegro, poet and philosopher whose works are widely considered some of the most important in Montenegrin literature.
In 2008, thegovernment of Montenegro formed the Board for Standardization of the Montenegrin Language, which aims to standardize the Montenegrin language according to international norms. Proceeding documents will, after verification, become a part of the educational programme in Montenegrin schools.
The first Montenegrin standard was officially proposed in 2009. In addition to the letters prescribed by the Serbo-Croatian standard, the proposal introduced two additional letters,⟨ś⟩ and⟨ź⟩, to replace thedigraphs⟨sj⟩ and⟨zj⟩.[21] The Ministry of Education has accepted neither of the two drafts of the Council for the Standardization of the Montenegrin language, but instead adopted an alternate third one which was not a part of their work. The Council has criticized this act, saying it comes from "a small group" and that it contains an abundance of "methodological, conceptual and linguistic errors".[22] On 21 June 2010, the Council for General Education adopted the firstMontenegrin Grammar.
The first written request for the assignment of an international code was submitted by the Montenegrin authorities to the technical committee ISO 639 in 2008, with complete paperwork forwarded to Washington in 2015. After a long procedure, the request was finally approved on 8 December 2017, andISO 639-2 andISO 639-3 code[cnr] was assigned to the Montenegrin language, effective 21 December 2017.[2][3][23]
Linguistic structure of Montenegro by settlements, 2011 census
Linguistic structure of Montenegro by municipalities, 2011 census
The question of the official language remains a controversial issue in Montenegro.[24]
In thePrincipality/Kingdom of Montenegro, the language in use wasSerbian. Approximately 95% of the population declared Serbian as their mother tongue in the first population census in then Montenegro, in 1909. Serbian was the officially used language inSocialist Republic of Montenegro until after the 1950Novi Sad Agreement,[citation needed] and Serbo-Croatian was introduced into the 1974 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Montenegro. In the census of 1981 and 1991, the vast majority of inhabitants of Montenegro, 510,320 or 83% of the population, declared themselves speakers of theSerbo-Croatian. According to the 1992 Constitution of Montenegro, the official language was 'Serbian language of theijekavian dialect'.[25] Organizations promoting Montenegrin as a distinct language have appeared in early 2000s when the then-rulingDemocratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro introduced usage of the term. The 2007 Constitution of newly independent Montenegro deems Montenegrin to be the official language.
According to data from the 2023census, some 215,299 people or 34.5% of the total population declared that their native language was Montenegrin, while 269,307 or 43.2% of the total population declared Serbian as their mother tongue.[26]
Shtokavian dialect, which is aprestigesupradialect of thepluricentric Serbo-Croatian, serves as a basis for the Montenegrin language.[27] Some of the dialects are shared with the neighbouring Slavic languages, such as theEastern Herzegovinian dialect and theZeta–Raška dialect. The Eastern Herzegovinian dialect is spoken in the majority of Montenegro andBosnia and Herzegovina, as well as areas inCroatia and Serbia, with Montenegro only partially codifying the dialect. The Zeta–Raška dialect is prevalent in mostly southern Montenegro and parts of the historical region ofRaška in Serbia.[28] It is mainly spoken by local ethnicSerbs, Montenegrins, Bosniaks and Muslims.[29]
The proponents of the separate Montenegrin language prefer usingGaj's Latin alphabet over theSerbian Cyrillic. In both scripts, the Montenegrin alphabets have two additional letters (bold), which are easier to render indigital typography in the Latin alphabet due to their existence inPolish, but which must be createdad hoc usingcombining characters when typesetting Cyrillic.
Many literary works of authors fromMontenegro provide examples of the local Montenegrin vernacular. The medieval literature was mostly written inOld Church Slavonic and itsrecensions, but most of the 19th century works were written in some of the dialects of Montenegro. They include the folk literature collected byVuk Stefanović Karadžić and other authors, as well as the books of writers from Montenegro such asPetar Petrović Njegoš'sThe Mountain Wreath (Gorski vijenac),Marko Miljanov'sThe Examples of Humanity and Bravery (Primjeri čojstva i junaštva), etc. In the second half of the 19th century and later, theEastern Herzegovinian dialect, which served as a basis for the standardSerbo-Croatian language, was often used instead of theZeta–South Raška dialect characteristic of most dialects of Montenegro. Petar Petrović Njegoš, one of the most respectable Montenegrin authors, changed many characteristics of the Zeta–South Raška dialect from the manuscript of hisGorski vijenac to those proposed by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić as a standard for theSerbian language.
For example, most of theaccusatives of place used in the Zeta–South Raška dialect were changed by Njegoš to thelocatives used in the Serbian standard. Thus the stanzas"U dobro je lako dobar biti, / na muku se poznaju junaci" from the manuscript were changed to"U dobru je lako dobar biti, / na muci se poznaju junaci" in the printed version. Other works of later Montenegrin authors were also often modified to the East Herzegovinian forms in order to follow the Serbian language literary norm. However, some characteristics of the traditional Montenegrin Zeta–South Raška dialect sometimes appeared. For example, the poemOnamo namo byNikola I Petrović Njegoš, although it was written in the East Herzegovinian Serbian standard, contains several Zeta–South Raška forms:"Onamo namo, za brda ona" (accusative, instead ofinstrumental caseza brdima onim), and"Onamo namo, da viđu (instead ofvidim)Prizren", and so on.
A proposed Montenegrin alphabet which contains three more letters than the Serbian counterpart — Ś, З and Ź
Most mainstream politicians and other proponents of the Montenegrin language state that the issue is chiefly one of self-determination and the people's right to call the language what they want, rather than an attempt to artificially create a new language when there is none. The Declaration of theMontenegrin PEN Center[30] states that the "Montenegrin language does not mean a systemically separate language, but just one of four names (Montenegrin, Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian) by which Montenegrins name their part of [the] Shtokavian system, commonly inherited withMuslims, Serbs and Croats". Therefore, in 2017, numerous prominent writers, scientists, journalists, activists and other public figures from Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Serbia signed theDeclaration on the Common Language, which states that in Montenegro, Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina a commonpolycentric standard language is used, consisting of several standard varieties, similar to the situation of languages likeGerman,English orSpanish.[31][32][33][34]
The introduction of the Montenegrin language has been supported byMatica crnogorska, among other important institutions, but met opposition from theMontenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts. The chief proponent of Montenegrin wasZagreb-educatedVojislav Nikčević, professor at the Department of Language and Literature at theUniversity of Montenegro and the head of the Institute for Montenegrin Language in Podgorica. His dictionaries and grammars were printed by Croatian publishers since the major Montenegrin publishing houses such as Obod inCetinje opted for the official nomenclature specified in the Constitution (Serbian until 1974, Serbo-Croatian from 1974 to 1992, Serbian again from 1992 to 2007).[35] Nikčević advocates amending the Latin alphabet with three letters Ś, Ź, and З and corresponding Cyrillic letters С́, З́ and Ѕ (representing IPA[ɕ],[ʑ] and[dz] respectively).[36]
Opponents acknowledge that these sounds can be heard by many Montenegrin speakers, however, they do not form a language system and thus areallophones rather than phonemes.[37] In addition, there are speakers in Montenegro who do not utter them and speakers of Serbian and Croatian outside of Montenegro (notably in Herzegovina and Bosanska Krajina) who do. In addition, introduction of those letters could pose significant technical difficulties (the Eastern European character encodingISO/IEC 8859-2 does not contain the letter З, for example, and the corresponding letters were not proposed for Cyrillic).
Then-prime ministerMilo Đukanović declared his open support for the formalization of the Montenegrin language by declaring himself as a speaker of Montenegrin in 2004 interview with Belgrade dailyPolitika. Official Montenegrin government communiqués started to be given inEnglish and Montenegrin on the government's webpage.[38]
In 2004, the government of Montenegro changed the school curriculum so that the name of the mandatory classes teaching the language was changed from "Serbian language" to "Mother tongue (Serbian, Montenegrin, Croatian, Bosnian)". This change was made, according to the government, in order to better reflect the diversity of languages spoken among citizens and to protect human rights of non-Serb citizens in Montenegro who declare themselves as speakers of other languages.[39]
This decision resulted in a number of teachers declaring astrike and parents refusing to send their children to schools.[40] The towns affected by the strike includedNikšić,Podgorica,Berane,Pljevlja, andHerceg Novi. The new letters had been used for official documents since 2009, but in 2017, theAssembly of Montenegro removed them from the official webpage.[citation needed]
"Sva ljudska bića rađaju se slobodna i jednaka u dostojanstvu i pravima. Ona su obdarena razumom i savješću i jedni prema drugima treba da postupaju u duhu bratstva."
Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights in Montenegrin, written inMontenegrin Cyrillic alphabet:
"Сва људска бића рађају се слободна и једнака у достојанству и правима. Она су обдарена разумом и савјешћу и једни према другима треба да поступају у духу братства."
Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights in English:[42]
"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."
^Mader Skender, Mia (2022). "Schlussbemerkung" [Summary].Die kroatische Standardsprache auf dem Weg zur Ausbausprache [The Croatian standard language on the way to ausbau language](PDF) (Dissertation). UZH Dissertations (in German). Zurich: University of Zurich, Faculty of Arts, Institute of Slavonic Studies. pp. 196–197.doi:10.5167/uzh-215815. Retrieved8 June 2022.Serben, Kroaten, Bosnier und Montenegriner immer noch auf ihren jeweiligen Nationalsprachen unterhalten und problemlos verständigen. Nur schon diese Tatsache zeigt, dass es sich immer noch um eine polyzentrische Sprache mit verschiedenen Varietäten handelt.
^"Reprint: A speech in the Assembly gathering on the 16th of February, 1898. made during the respective discussion by the representative of Ante Trumbić".Kolo Matice Hrvatske.1, 2:200–201. 1991.
^Nenadović, Ljubomir (1889)."O Crnogorcima: Pisma sa Cetinja 1878. godine". Novi Sad: Чигоја штампа.ISBN86-7558-383-4.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^Bourchier, James David (1911)."Montenegro" . InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 766–773, see page 771, third para.Language and Literature.—The Montenegrin language is practically identical with the Serbo-Croatian: it exhibits certain dialectical variations, and has borrowed to some extent from the Turkish and Italian....
^De Bajza, Giuseppe (1928).La questione Montenegrina. Budapest, Hungary: Casa editrice Franklin.
Arsenić, Violeta (4 March 2000),"Govorite li crnogorski?" [Do you speak Montenegrin?],Vreme (in Serbo-Croatian), no. 478, archived fromthe original on Jul 28, 2013, retrieved4 September 2012
Lajović, Vuk (24 July 2012)."Političari prodaju maglu" [Politicians are blowing smoke](PDF).Vijesti (in Serbo-Croatian). Podgorica.ISSN1450-6181.Archived(PDF) from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved3 February 2014.
