Bosnian is based on the most widespread dialect of Serbo-Croatian,Shtokavian, more specifically onEastern Herzegovinian, which is also the basis of standard Croatian, Serbian andMontenegrin varieties. Therefore, theDeclaration on the Common Language of Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks and Montenegrins was issued in 2017 in Sarajevo.[20][21] Although the common name for the common language remains 'Serbo-Croatian', newer alternatives such as 'Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian' and 'Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian' have been increasingly utilised since the 1990s,[22] especially within diplomatic circles.
Old Bosnian alphabets:bosančica (top line) andarebica (bottom line), compared with contemporarylatinica (middle line)A Bosnian speaker, recorded inKosovoSchool book of Latin and Bosnian, 1827Bosnian Grammar, 1890
Although Bosnians are, at the level ofvernacular idiom,linguistically morehomogeneous than either Serbians or Croatians, unlike those nations they failed tocodify a standard language in the 19th century, with at least two factors being decisive:
The Bosnian elite, as closely intertwined with Ottoman life, wrote predominantly in foreign (Arabic, Persian, Ottoman Turkish) languages.[23]Vernacular literature written in Bosnian with theArebica script was relatively thin and sparse.
The Bosnians' national emancipation lagged behind that of the Serbs and Croats and because denominational rather than cultural or linguistic issues played the pivotal role, a Bosnian language project did not arouse much interest or support amongst the intelligentsia of the time.
The modern Bosnian standard took shape in the 1990s and 2000s. Lexically, Islamic-Oriental loanwords are more frequent; phonetically: the phoneme /x/ (letterh) is reinstated in many words as a distinct feature ofvernacular Bosniak speech and language tradition; also, there are some changes in grammar, morphology and orthography that reflect the Bosniak pre-World War I literary tradition, mainly that of the Bosniak renaissance at the beginning of the 20th century.
Acigarette warning "Smoking seriously harms you and others around you", ostensibly in three languages. The "Bosnian" and "Croatian" versions are identical and the "Serbian" one is a Cyrilictransliteration of the exact same text.
The name "Bosnian language" is a controversial issue for someCroats andSerbs, who also refer to it as the "Bosniak" language (Serbo-Croatian:bošnjački /бошњачки,[bǒʃɲaːtʃkiː]). Bosniak linguists however insist that the only legitimate name is "Bosnian" language (bosanski) and that that is the name that both Croats and Serbs should use. The controversy arises because the name "Bosnian" may seem to imply that it is the language of all Bosnians, whileBosnian Croats andSerbs reject that designation for their idioms.[citation needed]
Most English-speaking language encyclopedias (Routledge,Glottolog,[28]Ethnologue,[29] etc.)[30] register the language solely as "Bosnian" language. TheLibrary of Congress registered the language as "Bosnian" and gave it an ISO-number. The Slavic language institutes in English-speaking countries offer courses in "Bosnian" or "Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian" language, not in "Bosniak" language (e.g. Columbia,[31] Cornell,[32] Chicago,[33] Washington,[34] Kansas).[35] The same is the case in German-speaking countries, where the language is taught under the nameBosnisch, notBosniakisch (e.g. Vienna,[36] Graz,[37] Trier)[38] with very few exceptions.
I began writingThe Legend of Ali Pasha with a specific purpose - to preserve our Bosnian language. Not the language of denominations or peoples of Bosnia, but the language ofBosnia. I also wanted to re-create a historical period of Bosnia.
Some Croatian linguists (Zvonko Kovač,Ivo Pranjković,Josip Silić) support the name "Bosnian" language, whereas others (Radoslav Katičić,Dalibor Brozović,Tomislav Ladan) hold that the termBosnian language is the only one appropriate[clarification needed] and that accordingly the terms Bosnian language and Bosniak language refer to two different things.[clarification needed] The Croatian state institutions, such as the Central Bureau of Statistics, use both terms: "Bosniak" language was used in the 2001 census,[40] while the census in 2011 used the term "Bosnian" language.[41]
The constitution ofRepublika Srpska, the Serb-dominated entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina, did not recognize any language or ethnic group other than Serbian.[47] Bosniaks were mostly expelled from the territory controlled by the Serbs from 1992, but immediately after the war they demanded the restoration of their civil rights in those territories. The Bosnian Serbs refused to make reference to the Bosnian language in their constitution and as a result had constitutional amendments imposed byHigh RepresentativeWolfgang Petritsch. However, the constitution ofRepublika Srpska refers to it as theLanguage spoken by Bosniaks,[48] because the Serbs were required to recognise the language officially, but wished to avoid recognition of its name.[49]
Serbia includes the Bosnian language as an elective subject in primary schools.[50]Montenegro officially recognizes the Bosnian language: its2007 Constitution specifically states that althoughMontenegrin is the official language, Serbian, Bosnian, Albanian and Croatian are also in official use.[15][51]
In the workSkazanie izjavljenno o pismeneh that was written between 1423 and 1426, the Bulgarian chroniclerConstantine the Philosopher, in parallel with the Bulgarian, Serbian, Slovenian, Czech and Croatian, he also mentions the Bosnian language.[52]
The notary book of the town of Kotor from July 3, 1436, recounts a duke buying a girl that is described as a: "Bosnian woman, heretic and in the Bosnian language called Djevena".[52][53]
The workThesaurus Polyglottus, published inFrankfurt am Main in 1603 by the German historian and linguistHieronymus Megiser, mentions the Bosnian dialect alongside the Dalmatian, Croatian and Serbian one.[54][55]
The Bosnian FranciscanMatija Divković, regarded as the founder of the modern literature of Bosnia and Herzegovina,[56][57] asserts in his workNauk krstjanski za narod slovinski ("The Christian doctrine for the Slavic peoples") from 1611 his "translation from Latin to the real and true Bosnian language" (A privideh iz dijačkog u pravi i istinit jezik bosanski)[58]
One of the first grammarians, the Jesuit clergymanBartol Kašić calls the language used in his work from 1640Ritual rimski ('Roman Rite') asnaški ('our language') orbosanski ('Bosnian'). He used the term "Bosnian" even though he was born in aChakavian region: instead he decided to adopt a "common language" (lingua communis) based on a version ofShtokavianIkavian.[60][61]
The Croatian linguistJakov Mikalja (1601–1654) who states in his dictionaryBlagu jezika slovinskoga (Thesaurus lingue Illyricae) from 1649 that he wants to include "the most beautiful words" adding that "of allIllyrian languages the Bosnian is the most beautiful", and that all Illyrian writers should try to write in that language.[60][61]
18th century Bosniak chroniclerMula Mustafa Bašeskija who argues in his yearbook of collected Bosnian poems that the "Bosnian language" is much richer than the Arabic, because there are 45 words for the verb "to go" in Bosnian.[58]
The Venetian writer, naturalist and cartographerAlberto Fortis (1741–1803) calls in his workViaggio in Dalmazia ("Journey to Dalmatia") the language ofMorlachs as Illyrian, Morlach and Bosnian.[62]
The Croatian writer and lexicographerMatija Petar Katančić published six volumes of biblical translations in 1831 described as being "transferred from Slavo-Illyrian to the pronunciation of the Bosnian language".[63]
Croatian writerMatija Mažuranić refers in the workPogled u Bosnu (1842) to the language of Bosnians as Illyrian (a 19th-centurysynonym toSouth Slavic languages) mixed with Turkish words, with a further statement that they are the speakers of the Bosniak language.[64]
The Bosnian FranciscanIvan Franjo Jukić states in his workZemljopis i Poviestnica Bosne (1851) that Bosnia was the only Turkish land (i.e. under the control of the Ottoman Empire) that remained entirely pure without Turkish speakers, both in the villages and so on the highlands. Further he states "[...] a language other than the Bosnian is not spoken [in Bosnia], the greatest Turkish [i.e. Muslim] gentlemen only speak Turkish when they are at theVizier".[65]
Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski, a 19th-century Croatian writer and historian, stated in his workPutovanje po Bosni(Travels into Bosnia) from 1858, how the 'Turkish' (i.e. Muslim) Bosniaks, despite converting to the Muslim faith, preserved their traditions and the Slavic mood, and that they speak the purest variant of the Bosnian language, by refusing to add Turkish words to their vocabulary.[66]
The differences between the Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian literary standards are minimal. Although Bosnian employs moreTurkish, Persian, and Arabic loanwords—commonly called orientalisms—mainly in its spoken variety due to the fact that most Bosnian speakers are Muslims, it is still very similar to both Serbian and Croatian in its written and spoken form.[67] "Lexical differences between the ethnic variants are extremely limited, even when compared with those between closely related Slavic languages (such as standard Czech and Slovak, Bulgarian and Macedonian), and grammatical differences are even less pronounced. More importantly, complete understanding between the ethnic variants of the standard language makes translation and second language teaching impossible."[68]
The Bosnian language, as a new normative register of the Shtokavian dialect, was officially introduced in 1996 with the publication ofPravopis bosanskog jezika in Sarajevo. According to that work, Bosnian differed from Serbian and Croatian on some main linguistic characteristics, such as: sound formats in some words, especially "h" (kahva versus Serbiankafa); substantial and deliberate usage of Oriental ("Turkish") words; spelling of future tense (kupit ću) as in Croatian but not Serbian (kupiću) (both forms have the same pronunciation).[69] 2018, in the new issue ofPravopis bosanskog jezika, words without "h" are accepted due to their prevalence in language practice.[70]
Сва људска бића рађају се слободна и једнака у достојанству и правима. Она су обдарена разумом и свијешћу и треба да једно према другоме поступају у духу братства.code: bos promoted to code: bs
Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights in Bosnian, written in theLatin alphabet:[72]
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 theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights in English:[73]
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.
^Benjamin W. Fortson IV (2010).Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction (2nd ed.). Blackwell. p. 431.Because of their mutual intelligibility, Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian are usually thought of as constituting one language called Serbo-Croatian.
^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.
^ab"Vlada Crne Gore". Archived fromthe original on 2009-06-17. Retrieved2009-03-18. See Art. 13 of the Constitution of the Republic of Montenegro, adopted on 19 October 2007, available at the website of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Montenegro
^Algar, Hamid (2 July 1994).Persian Literature in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Oxford. pp. 254–68.{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Balić, Smail (1978).Die Kultur der Bosniaken, Supplement I: Inventar des bosnischen literarischen Erbes in orientalischen Sprachen. Vienna: Adolf Holzhausens, Vienna. p. 111.
^Balić, Smail (1992).Das unbekannte Bosnien: Europas Brücke zur islamischen Welt. Cologne, Weimar and Vienna: Bohlau. p. 526.
^Zanelli, Aldo (2018).Eine Analyse der Metaphern in der kroatischen Linguistikfachzeitschrift Jezik von 1991 bis 1997 [Analysis of Metaphors in Croatian Linguistic JournalLanguage from 1991 to 1997]. Studien zur Slavistik; 41 (in German). Hamburg: Kovač. pp. 21, 83.ISBN978-3-8300-9773-0.OCLC1023608613.(NSK).(FFZG)
^Svein Mønnesland, »Language Policy in Bosnia-Herzegovina« (pp 135–155). In:Language : Competence–Change–Contact = Sprache : Kompetenz – Kontakt – Wandel, edited by: Annikki Koskensalo, John Smeds, Rudolf de Cillia, Ángel Huguet; Berlin; Münster : Lit Verlag, 2012,ISBN978-3-643-10801-2, p. 143. "Already in 1990 the Committee for the Serbian language decided that only the term 'Bosniac language' should be used officially in Serbia, and this was confirmed in 1998."
Gröschel, Bernhard (2001). "Bosnisch oder Bosniakisch?" [Bosnian or Bosniak?]. In Waßner, Ulrich Hermann (ed.).Lingua et linguae. Festschrift für Clemens-Peter Herbermann zum 60. Geburtstag. Bochumer Beitraäge zur Semiotik, n.F., 6 (in German). Aachen: Shaker. pp. 159–188.ISBN978-3-8265-8497-8.OCLC47992691.
—— (2011)."Jezična politika: prosvjećivati ili zamagljivati?" [Language policy: to clarify or to obscure?](PDF). In Gavrić, Saša (ed.).Jezička/e politika/e u Bosni i Hercegovini i njemačkom govornom području: zbornik radova predstavljenih na istoimenoj konferenciji održanoj 22. marta 2011. godine u Sarajevu (in Serbo-Croatian). Sarajevo: Goethe-Institut Bosnien und Herzegowina; Ambasada Republike Austrije; Ambasada Švicarske konfederacije. pp. 60–66.ISBN978-9958-1959-0-7.OCLC918205883.SSRN3434489.CROSBI 565627.Archived(PDF) from the original on 25 September 2013.(ÖNB).
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