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Bosnian
Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
Pronunciation
Native to	Bosnia and Herzegovina  Serbia  Montenegro  Croatia  Kosovo and immigrant groups in various countries
Region	Southern Europe
Native speakers	2,700,000
Language family	Indo-European Balto-Slavic Slavic South Slavic Western South Slavic Bosnian
Official status
Official language in	Bosnia and Herzegovina  Montenegro  Serbia Regional or local official language in:  Kosovo
Language codes
ISO 639-1	bs
ISO 639-2	bos
ISO 639-3	bos

The Bosnian language (Template:Lang-bs), sometimes referred as Bosniak/Bosniac language , is a South Slavic language spoken primarily in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the region of Sandzak in Serbia and Montenegro, although there are speakers spread in various places throughout the world, as many had to flee their home country during the Bosnian war.

The Bosnian language belongs to the standard Central South Slavic diasystem which is based on a dialect called the Stokavian dialect. The language itself is based on the Latin alphabet, although the Cyrillic alphabet is accepted (chiefly to accommodate for its usage in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the past, especially in former Yugoslavia), but seldom used in today's practice.

History

The modern Bosnian language uses the Latin alphabet. However, scripts other than Latin were used much earlier, most notably the indigenous Bosnian Cyrillic called Bosančica, which is literally translated as Bosnian script and dates back to the 10th/11th century. The oldest remnant of the languages Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian (the Humac tablet) found is written in this script. The script is of the greatest significance to Bosniak/Bosnian history and linguistics, since it is the one script that is purely native to Bosnia and also links Bosnian medieval monarchy (who used it) with medieval Bosnian religion (who used it first), in fact the script is to be found in many royal state documents and as well on old Bosnian tombs (Stećak). The substantial influence of Bosančica on medieval Bosnia has unfortunately made it a target of controversial debates and propaganda throughout the history of the rivalry between Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats which has led to the tendency of Croats and Serbs to deny it as Bosnian and instead claim it as "theirs" - despite its geographical origin (Bosnia). Other, less important, scripts used include: Begovica (used by Bosniak nobility). Bosniaks have also used an Arabic script adjusted to Bosnian language called Arebica.

In addition, the oldest South Slavic document is the Bosnian statehood charter from 1189, written by Bosnian ruler Kulin Ban (in Bosančica, Bosnian Cyrillic). Some other early mentions include one from July 3, 1436, where, in the region of Kotor, a duke bought a girl that is described as: "Bosnian woman, heretic and in Bosnian language called Djevena".

The irony of the Bosnian language is that its speakers are, on the level of colloquial idiom, more linguistically homogeneous than either Serbs or Croats, but failed, due to historical reasons, to standardize their language in the crucial 19th century. The first Bosnian dictionary, a rhymed Bosnian-Turkish glossary authored by Muhamed Hevaji Uskufi, was composed in 1631 . But unlike e.g. Croatian dictionaries, which were written and published regularly, Uskufi's work remained an isolated foray. At least two factors were decisive:

• The Bosniak elite wrote almost exclusively in foreign (Turkish, Arabic, Persian) languages. Vernacular literature, written in modified Arabic script, was thin and sparse.
• The Bosniaks' national emancipation lagged behind that of the Serbs and Croats, and since denominational rather than cultural or linguistic issues played the pivotal role, a Bosnian language project didn't arouse much interest or support.

Prescriptions for the language of Bosniaks in the 19th and 20th centuries were written outside of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Probably the most authentic Bosniak writers (the so-called "Bosniak revival" at the turn of the century) wrote in an idiom that is closer to the Croatian form than to the Serbian one (western Štokavian-Ijekavian idiom, Latin script), but which possessed unmistakably recognizable Bosniak traits, primarily lexical ones. The main authors of the "Bosniak renaissance" were the polymath, politician and poet Safvet-beg Bašagić, the "poète maudit" Musa Ćazim Ćatić and the storyteller Edhem Mulabdić.

In the days of Communist Yugoslavia the lexis was Serbianized but the Latin script became dominant; the official name was Serbo-Croatian. After the collapse of Yugoslavia Bosnians remained the sole inheritors of the Serbo-Croatian hybrid.

On a formal level, the Bosnian language is beginning to take a distinctive shape: lexically, Islamic-Oriental loan words are becoming more frequent; phonetically and phonologically, the phoneme "h" is reinstated in many words as a distinct feature of 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.

Controversy

The name for the language is a controversial issue for neighboring Croats and Serbs. Croats and Serbs call their languages Croatian and Serbian. The constitution of the Republika Srpska (the Serb entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina, formed as a result of the Bosnian war), did not recognize any language or ethnic group other than Serbian when it was created. Bosniaks were mostly expelled from the territory controlled by the Serbs from 1992, but immediately after the war demanded to restore their civil rights on those territories. As a result of pressure from world heads of state on Serb leaders to give Bosniaks full rights, the language became official in Republika Srpska. However, the constitution of Republika Srpska refers to it as the "Language spoken by Bosniaks" (Језик којим говоре Бошњаци, Jezik kojim govore Bošnjaci) due to the fact that the Serbs had to officially recognize it, but still avoid recognition of its name. On the other hand, the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina recognizes all three languages.

Bosniak language (bošnjački jezik) is the prescribed name of the language in Serbian, but the Serbian Ministry of Education recognizes it as Bosnian. Serbia includes the Bosnian language as an elective subject in primary schools. Some Croatian linguists (Radoslav Katičić, Dalibor Brozović and Tomislav Ladan) consider the appropriate name to be "Bosniak" rather than "Bosnian". In their opinion, the appellation "Bosnian" refers to the whole country, therefore implying that "Bosnian" is the national standard language of all Bosnians, not only Bosniaks. According to Croatian participant Radoslav Dodig, the renaming of "Bosniak" into "Bosnian" was not a process, but a semi-hidden manoeuvre. Some other Croatian linguists (Zvonko Kovač, Ivo Pranjković) recognize it as Bosnian. Croatian official institutions use term Bosniak language . Bosniak linguists and intellectuals (for instance Muhamed Filipović) consider interpretation of some Croatian and Serbian linguists as nationalistic actions against Bosniaks and their identity in the light of Karađorđevo meeting and genocide committed on Bosniaks during Bosnian war. Montenegro officially recognizes the Bosnian language, as its 2007 Constitution specifically states that while Montenegrin is the "official language," also "in official use are Serbian, Bosnian, Albanian and Croatian languages."

The Dayton Peace Accord recognized Bosnian as a distinct language spoken in Bosnia and Herzegovina by Bosniaks. This distinction and official recognition of the Bosnian language is further acknowledged by signatures of the former presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Alija Izetbegović), Croatia (Franjo Tuđman) and Serbia (Slobodan Milošević). As such the Bosnian language is officially recognized by constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well.

Although the Bosnian language is spoken mostly by Bosniaks, there are also Bosnian Croats and Serbs in Sarajevo, Zenica and Tuzla regions who claim to speak Bosnian. For instance, Željko Komšić, a Croat member of Bosnian Presidency calls his mother tongue, the Bosnian language.

Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian standard languages are examples of ausbauspraches, since they are largely mutually intelligible and have been, due to the conjunction of historical circumstances, all codified on essentially the same dialect, and many people say that they are all one entity otherwise known as Serbo-Croatian.

Phonology

Vowels

The Bosnian vowel system is simple, with only five vowels. All vowels are monophthongs. The oral vowels are as follows:

It should also be mentioned the that letter "R" stands as both a consonant and a vowel. It is considered a vowel when surrounded by two other consonants. For example in the words: brzo (quick), trn (thorn), mrk (dark), vrlo (very).

Consonants

The consonant system is more complicated, and its characteristic features are series of affricate and palatal consonants. As in English and most other Indo-European languages west of India, voicedness is phonemic, but aspiration is not.

In consonant clusters all consonants are either voiced or voiceless. All the consonants are voiced (if the last consonant is normally voiced) or voiceless (if the last consonant is normally voiceless). This rule does not apply to approximants — a consonant cluster may contain voiced approximants and voiceless consonants; as well as to foreign words (Washington would be transcribed as VašinGton/ВашинГтон), personal names and when consonants are not inside of one syllable.

R can be syllabic, playing the role of a vowel in certain words (occasionally, it can even have a long accent). For example, the tongue-twister na vrh brda vrba mrda involves four words with syllabic r. A similar feature exists in Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene, Czech, and Slovak. Very rarely, l can be syllabic (in the name for the river "Vltava", 'l' is syllabic) as well as lj, m, n and nj in jargon.

In consonant clusters all consonants are either voiced or voiceless. All the consonants are voiced (if the last consonant is normally voiced) or voiceless (if the last consonant is normally voiceless). This rule does not apply to approximants — a consonant cluster may contain voiced approximants and voiceless consonants; as well as to foreign words (Washington would be transcribed as VašinGton/ВашинГтон), personal names and when consonants are not inside of one syllable.

R can be syllabic, playing the role of a vowel in certain words (occasionally, it can even have a long accent). For example, the tongue-twister na vrh brda vrba mrda involves four words with syllabic r. A similar feature exists in Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene, Czech, and Slovak. Very rarely, l can be syllabic (in the name for the river "Vltava", 'l' is syllabic) as well as lj, m, n and nj in jargon.

Differences among similar languages

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2008)

External links

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• rjecnik.ba English-Bosnian, German-Bosnian and Latin-Bosnian On-line Dictionary Template:Bs icon/Template:En icon/Template:De icon
• Bosnian, English, German, Italian online dictionary
• Ethnologue report for Bosnian Template:En icon
• Bosnian language Template:Bs icon/Template:En icon
• Learn Bosnian language: Basic phrases Template:En icon
• The Oslo Corpus of Bosnian Texts Template:En icon
• Grammar of Bosnian language issued 1890 Template:Bs icon
• English-Bosnian-English On-line Dictionary
• Bosnian bilingual dictionaries
• A short English-Bosnian-Japanese phrasebook (Renewal) incl. sound file

References

1. http://www.communicaid.com/language-courses/bosnian/index.php
2. http://www.ohr.int/print/?content_id=5907
3. http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Bosnian:language.htm
4. http://www.birn.eu.com/en/100/10/3895/
5. Board for Standardisation of Serbian Language (1998). "1". Три питања и три одговора. Decision No. 1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
6. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=BBAB&d_place=BBAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=1074525FCDC50C97&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
7. Sanoptikum
8. http://www.dzs.hr/
9. http://www.pravda.gov.me/vijesti.php?akcija=rubrika&rubrika=121 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

• Bosnian language
• South Slavic languages
• Languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Languages of Serbia
• Languages of Montenegro
• Languages of Kosovo