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Bosnian language

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Bosnian
[bosanski/босански] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
Pronunciation[bɔ̌sanskiː]
Native toBosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Slovenia, Kosovo and the Bosnian diaspora
Native speakers
2.5–3.5 million (2008)[1]
(number is ambiguous)
Latin (Gaj's alphabet)
Cyrillic (Serbian alphabet)[Note 1]
Yugoslav Braille
Official status
Official language in
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Recognised minority
language in

 Serbia
 Montenegro
 North Macedonia
 Croatia
 Kosovo[a]
Language codes
ISO 639-1bs
ISO 639-2bos
ISO 639-3bos
Glottologbosn1245
Linguaspherepart of 53-AAA-g
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
South Slavic languages and dialects
Western South Slavic
Eastern South Slavic
Transitional dialects
Alphabets
a Includes Banat Bulgarian alphabet.

Bosnian /ˈbɒzniən/ ⓘ (bosanski/босански; [bɔ̌sanskiː]) is the standardized variety of Serbo-Croatian mainly used by Bosniaks.[3][4][5] Bosnian is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina,[6] along with Croatian and Serbian, and also an officially recognized minority or regional language in Serbia,[7] Montenegro,[8] and the Republic of Kosovo.[9]

Bosnian uses both Latin and Cyrillic alphabet,[Note 1] with Latin in everyday use.[10] It is notable among the varieties of Serbo-Croatian for a number of Arabic, Ottoman Turkish and Persian loanwords, largely due to the language's interaction with those cultures through Islamic ties.[11][12][13]

Bosnian is based on the most widespread dialect of Serbo-Croatian, Shtokavian, more specifically on Eastern Herzegovinian, which is also the basis of Croatian, Serbian, and Montenegrin. Until the dissolution of SFR Yugoslavia, they were treated as a unitary Serbo-Croatian language, and that term is still used in English to subsume the common base (vocabulary, grammar and syntax) of what are today officially four national standards, although this term is controversial for native speakers,[14] and paraphrases such as "Serbo-Croato-Bosnian" (SCB) or "Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian" (BCS) are therefore sometimes used instead, especially in diplomatic circles.

History

School book of Latin and Bosnian, 1827
Bosnian Grammar, 1890
See also: Early development of Serbo-Croatian

Standardization

Old Bosnian alphabets: bosančica (up) and arebica (down), compared with contemporary latinica

Although Bosnians are, on the level of colloquial idiom, linguistically more homogeneous than either Serbians or Croatians, unlike those nations they failed to codify 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 (Turkish, Arabic, Persian) languages.[15] Vernacular literature written in Bosnian with the Arebica 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 literature of the so-called "Bosnian revival" at the start of the 20th century was written in an idiom that was closer to the Croatian standard than to the Serbian one: it was a western Shtokavian dialect with an Ijekavian accent and used a Latin script, but had recognizable Bosnian lexical traits. The main authors were the polymath, politician and poet Safvet-beg Bašagić and the storyteller Edhem Mulabdić.

The modern Bosnian standard took shape in the 1990s and 2000s. Lexically, Islamic-Oriental loanwords are becoming more frequent; phonetically: the phoneme /x/ (letter h) is reinstated in many words as a distinct feature of vernacular 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.

  • Nauk krstjanski za narod slovinski, by Matija Divković, the first Bosnian printed book. Published in Venice, 1611
    Nauk krstjanski za narod slovinski, by Matija Divković, the first Bosnian printed book. Published in Venice, 1611
  • Bosnian dictionary by Muhamed Hevaji Uskufi Bosnevi, 1631
    Bosnian dictionary by Muhamed Hevaji Uskufi Bosnevi, 1631
  • The Free Will and Acts of Faith , manuscript from the early XIX century
    The Free Will and Acts of Faith , manuscript from the early XIX century
  • The Bosnian Book of the Science of Conduct by 'Abdulwahāb b.' Abdulwahāb Žepčewī, 1831
    The Bosnian Book of the Science of Conduct by 'Abdulwahāb b.' Abdulwahāb Žepčewī, 1831
  • Bosnian Grammar, 1890
    Bosnian Grammar, 1890

Controversy and recognition

A cigarette warning "Smoking seriously harms you and others around you", ostensibly in three languages. The "Bosnian" and "Croatian" versions are identical and the "Serbian" is a transliteration of the same.

The name "Bosnian language" is a controversial issue for some Croats and Serbs, who also refer to it as the "Bosniak" language (Template:Lang-sh; [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, while Bosnian Croats and Serbs reject that designation for their idioms.

The language is called Bosnian language in the 1995 Dayton Accords[16] and is concluded by observers to have received legitimacy and international recognition at the time.[17]

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO),[18] United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN), and the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (PCGN) recognize the Bosnian language. Furthermore, the status of the Bosnian language is also recognized by bodies such as the United Nations, UNESCO, and translation and interpreting accreditation agencies,[19] including internet translation services.

Most English-speaking language encyclopaedias (Routledge, Glottolog,[20] Ethnologue,[21] etc.[22]) register the language solely as "Bosnian" language. The Library 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,[23] Cornell,[24] Chicago,[25] Washington,[26] Kansas[27]). The same thing in German-speaking countries, where the language is taught under the name Bosnisch, not Bosniakisch (e.g. Vienna,[28] Graz,[29] Trier[30]) with very few exceptions.

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 term Bosnian 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,[31] while the census in 2011 used the term "Bosnian" language.[32]

The majority of Serbian linguists hold that the term Bosniak language is the only one appropriate,[33] which was agreed as early as 1990.[34]

The original form of The Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina called the language "Bosniac language",[35] until 2002 when it was changed in Amendment XXIX of the Constitution of the Federation by Wolfgang Petritsch.[36] The original text of the Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was agreed in Vienna, and was signed by Krešimir Zubak and Haris Silajdžić on March 18, 1994.[37]

The constitution of Republika Srpska, the Serb-dominated entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina, did not recognize any language or ethnic group other than Serbian.[38] 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 by High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch. However, the constitution of Republika Srpska refers to it as the Language spoken by Bosniaks,[39] because the Serbs were required to recognise the language officially, but wished to avoid recognition of its name.[40]

Serbia includes the Bosnian language as an elective subject in primary schools.[41] Montenegro officially recognizes the Bosnian language: its 2007 Constitution specifically states that although Montenegrin is the official language, Serbian, Bosnian, Albanian and Croatian are also in official use.[8][42]

Differences between Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian

Main article: Comparison of standard Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian
See also: Serbo-Croatian phonology and Serbo-Croatian grammar

The differences between the Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian literary standards are minimal. Although Bosnian employs more Turkish, Persian, and Arabic loanwords—commonly called orientalisms—it is very similar to both Serbian and Croatian in its written and spoken form.[43]

See also

Notes

a. ^ Template:Kosovo-note
  1. ^ a b Cyrillic is an officially used alphabet, but in practice it is mainly used in Republika Srpska, whereas in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina mainly Latin is used.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Accredited Language Services: An Outline of Bosnian Language History". Accredited Language Services. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  2. ^ Alexander 2006, pp. 1–2. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFAlexander2006 (help)
  3. ^ David Dalby, Linguasphere (1999/2000, Linguasphere Observatory), pg. 445, 53-AAA-g, "Srpski+Hrvatski, Serbo-Croatian".
  4. ^ Benjamin V. Fortson, IV, Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction, 2nd ed. (2010, Blackwell), pg. 431, "Because of their mutual intelligibility, Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian are usually thought of as constituting one language called Serbo-Croatian."
  5. ^ Václav Blažek, "On the Internal Classification of Indo-European Languages: Survey" retrieved 20 Oct 2010, pp. 15–16.
  6. ^ See Art. 6 of the Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, available at the official website of Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina
  7. ^ "European charter for regional or minority languages: Application of the charter in Serbia" (PDF). Council of Europe. 2009.
  8. ^ a b 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
  9. ^ Driton Muharremi and Samedin Mehmeti (2013). Handbook on Policing in Central and Eastern Europe. Springer. p. 129.
  10. ^ Tomasz Kamusella (15 January 2009). The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-55070-4. In addition, today, neither Bosniaks nor Croats, but only Serbs use Cyrillic in Bosnia.
  11. ^ Algar, Hamid (2 July 1994). Persian Literature in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Oxford: Journal of Islamic Studies (Oxford). pp. 254–68. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  12. ^ Balić, Smail (1978). Die Kultur der Bosniaken, Supplement I: Inventar des bosnischen literarischen Erbes in orientalischen Sprachen. Vienna: Adolf Holzhausens, Vienna. p. 111. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  13. ^ Balić, Smail (1992). Das unbekannte Bosnien: Europas Brücke zur islamischen Welt. Cologne, Weimar and Vienna: Bohlau. p. 526. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  14. ^ Radio Free Europe – Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Or Montenegrin? Or Just 'Our Language'? Živko Bjelanović: Similar, But Different, Feb 21, 2009, accessed Oct 8, 2010
  15. ^ "Collection of printed books in Arabic, Turkish and Persian". Gazi Husrev-begova biblioteka. 2014-05-16. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  16. ^ Alexander, Ronelle (2006). Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, a Grammar: With Sociolinguistic Commentary. Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 409.
  17. ^ Greenberg, Robert D. (2004). Language and Identity in the Balkans: Serbo-Croatian and Its Disintegration. Oxford University Press. p. 136.
  18. ^ "ISO 639-2 Registration Authority - Library of Congress". loc.gov.
  19. ^ Sussex, Roland (2006). The Slavic Languages. Cambridge University Press. p. 76. ISBN 0-521-22315-6.
  20. ^ "Glottolog 2.5 - Bosnian". glottolog.org.
  21. ^ "Bosnian". Ethnologue.
  22. ^ Bernard Comrie (ed.): The World's Major Languages. Second Edition. Routledge, New York/London, 2009
  23. ^ columbia.edu http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/subj/BCRS/W1202-20161-001/. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  24. ^ "BCS 1133 - Continuing Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian I - Acalog ACMS™". cornell.edu.
  25. ^ "Courses". uchicago.edu.
  26. ^ "Bosnian Croatian Serbian". washington.edu.
  27. ^ "Why Study Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian (BCS) with the KU Slavic Department?". ku.edu.
  28. ^ "Institut für Slawistik » Curricula". univie.ac.at.
  29. ^ "Bosnisch/Kroatisch/Serbisch". uni-graz.at.
  30. ^ "Universität Trier: Slavistik - Bosnisch-Kroatisch-Montenegrinisch-Serbisch". uni-trier.de. 28 July 2015.
  31. ^ Central Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Croatia Census of 2001, Population by native language
  32. ^ Central Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Croatia, Census of 2011, Population by native language, retrieved January 19, 2014
  33. ^ "[Projekat Rastko] Odbor za standardizaciju srpskog jezika". rastko.rs.
  34. ^ 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., ISBN 978-3-643-10801-2, p. 143. "Already in 1990 the Committee for the Serbian language9 decided that only the term 'Bosniac language' should be used officially in Serbia, and this was confirmed in 1998."
  35. ^ "Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina". Office of the High Representative. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  36. ^ Decision on Constitutional Amendments in the Federation, retrieved January 19, 2014
  37. ^ Washington Agreement (PDF), retrieved January 19, 2014
  38. ^ "The Constitution of the Republika Srpska". U.S. English Foundation Research. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  39. ^ "Decision on Constitutional Amendments in Republika Srpska". Office of the High Representative. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  40. ^ Greenberg, Robert David (2004). Language and Identity in the Balkans: Serbo-Croatian and its Disintegration. Oxford University Press. p. 156. ISBN 0-19-925815-5.
  41. ^ Rizvanovic, Alma (2 August 2005). "Language Battle Divides Schools". Institute for War & Peace Reporting. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  42. ^ CDM : CafedelMontenegro
  43. ^ "Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Or Montenegrin? Or Just 'Our Language'?". Radio Free Europe.

Further reading

  • Alexander, Ronelle (2006). Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, a Grammar: With Sociolinguistic Commentary. pp. 1–2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Gröschel, Bernhard (2001). "Bosnisch oder Bosniakisch?". 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. ISBN 978-3-8265-8497-8. OCLC 47992691. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_chapter= ignored (|trans-chapter= suggested) (help)
  • Kafadar, Enisa (2009). "Bosnisch, Kroatisch, Serbisch – Wie spricht man eigentlich in Bosnien-Herzegowina?". In Henn-Memmesheimer, Beate; Franz, Joachim (eds.). Die Ordnung des Standard und die Differenzierung der Diskurse; Teil 1 (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. pp. 95–106. OCLC 699514676. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |trans_chapter= ignored (|trans-chapter= suggested) (help)
  • Kordić, Snježana (2005). "I dalje jedan jezik". Sarajevske sveske (in Serbo-Croatian) (10). Sarajevo: 83–89. ISSN 1512-8539. ZDB-ID 2136753-X. Archived from the original on 30 March 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2014. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help) (COBISS-BH).
  • Kordić, Snježana (2011). "Jezična politika: prosvjećivati ili zamagljivati?". 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. ISBN 978-9958-1959-0-7. OCLC 918205883. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |archive-url= requires |url= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |trans_chapter= ignored (|trans-chapter= suggested) (help) (ÖNB).
  • Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from The World Factbook (2024 ed.). CIA. (Archived 2006 edition.)
Bosnian edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wikivoyage has a phrasebook for Bosnian.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bosnian language.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Bosnian proverbs.
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