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History

Modern language and standardization

In the late medieval period up to the 17th century, the majority of semi-autonomous Croatia was ruled by two domestic dynasties of princes (banovi), the Zrinski and the Frankopan, which were linked by inter-marriage. Toward the 17th century, both of them attempted to unify Croatia both culturally and linguistically, writing in a mixture of all three principal dialects (Chakavian, Kajkavian and Shtokavian), and calling it "Croatian", "Dalmatian", or "Slavonian". It is still used now in parts of Istria, which became a crossroads of various mixtures of Chakavian with Ekavian/Ijekavian/Ikavian dialects.

The most standardized form (Kajkavian-Ikavian) became the cultivated language of administration and intellectuals from the Istrian peninsula along the Croatian coast, across central Croatia up into the northern valleys of the Drava and the Mura. The cultural apex of this 17th century idiom is represented by the editions of "Adrianskoga mora sirena" ("Siren of Adriatic Sea") by Petar Zrinski and "Putni tovaruš" ("Traveling escort") by Katarina Zrinska.

However, this first linguistic renaissance in Croatia was halted by the political execution of Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan by the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I in Vienna in 1671. Subsequently the Croatian elite in the 18th century gradually abandoned this combined Croatian standard.

Illyrian period

The Illyrian movement was a 19th-century pan-South Slavic political and cultural movement in Croatia that had the goal to standardize the regionally differentiated and orthographically inconsistent literary languages in Croatia, and finally merge them into a common South Slavic literary language. Specifically, three major groups of dialects were spoken on Croatian territory, and there had been several literary languages over four centuries. The leader of the Illyrian movement Ljudevit Gaj standardized the Latin alphabet in 1830–1850 and worked to bring about a standardized orthography. Although based in Kajkavian-speaking Zagreb, Gaj supported using the more populous Neo-Shtokavian – a version of Shtokavian that eventually became the predominant dialectal basis of both Croatian and Serbian literary language from the 19th century on. Supported by various South Slavic proponents, Neo-Shtokavian was adopted after an Austrian initiative at the Vienna Literary Agreement of 1850, laying the foundation for the unified Serbo-Croatian literary language. The uniform Neo-Shtokavian then became common in the Croatian elite.

In the 1860s, the Zagreb Philological School dominated the Croatian cultural life, drawing upon linguistic and ideological conceptions advocated by the members of the Illyrian movement. While it was dominant over the rival Rijeka Philological School and Zadar Philological Schools, its influence waned with the rise of the Croatian Vukovians (at the end of the 19th century).

Distinguishing features and differences between standards

Croatian is commonly characterized by the Ijekavian pronunciation (see an explanation of yat reflexes), the sole use of the Latin alphabet, and a number of lexical differences in common words that set it apart from standard Serbian. Some differences are absolute, while some appear mainly in the frequency of use.

Sociopolitical standpoints

Croatian, although technically a form of Serbo-Croatian, is sometimes considered a distinct language by itself. Purely linguistic considerations of languages based on mutual intelligibility (abstand languages) are frequently incompatible with sociopolitical conceptions of language so that varieties that are mutually intelligible may be considered separate languages. Differences between various standard forms of Serbo-Croatian are often exaggerated for political reasons. Most Croatian linguists regard Croatian as a separate language that is considered key to national identity. The issue is sensitive in Croatia as the notion of a separate language being the most important characteristic of a nation is widely accepted, stemming from the 19th-century history of Europe. The 1967 Declaration on the Status and Name of the Croatian Literary Language, in which a group of Croatian authors and linguists demanded greater autonomy for the Croatian language, is viewed in Croatia as a linguistic policy milestone that was also a general milestone in national politics.

The terms "Serbo-Croatian" or "Serbo-Croat" are still used as a cover term for all these forms by foreign scholars, even though the speakers themselves largely don't find it useful. In Croatia, this is often based on the argument that the official language in Yugoslavia, a standardized form of Serbo-Croatian, was "artificial" or a political tool used to combine two distinct people. Within ex-Yugoslavia, the term has largely been replaced by the ethnic terms Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian.

The use of the name "Croatian" for a language names has been historically attested to, though not always distinctively; the Croatian–Hungarian Agreement, for example, designated "Croatian" as one of its official languages, and Croatian became an official EU language upon accession of Croatia to the EU on 1 July 2013. In 2013, the EU started publishing a Croatian language version of its official gazette.

Official status

Standard Croatian is the official language of the Republic of Croatia and, along with Standard Bosnian and Standard Serbian, one of three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is also official in the regions of Burgenland (Austria), Molise (Italy) and Vojvodina (Serbia). Additionally, it has co-official status alongside Romanian in the communes of Carașova and Lupac, Romania. In these localities, Croats or Krashovani make up the majority of the population, and education, signage and access to public administration and the justice system are provided in Croatian, alongside Romanian.

Croatian is officially used and taught at all the universities in Croatia, and at the University of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

There is no regulatory body that determines the proper usage of Croatian. The current standard language is generally laid out in the grammar books and dictionaries used in education, such as the school curriculum prescribed by the Ministry of Education and the university programmes of the Faculty of Philosophy at the four main universities.

Attempts are being made to revive Croatian literature in Italy.

The most prominent recent editions describing the Croatian standard language are:

• Hrvatski pravopis by the Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics, available online
• Rječnik hrvatskoga jezika by Anić
• Rječnik hrvatskoga jezika by Šonje et al
• Hrvatski enciklopedijski rječnik, by a group of authors
• Hrvatska gramatika by Barić et al.

Also notable are the recommendations of Matica hrvatska, the national publisher and promoter of Croatian heritage, and the Lexicographical institute Miroslav Krleža, as well as the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Numerous representative Croatian linguistic works were published since the independence of Croatia, among them three voluminous monolingual dictionaries of contemporary Croatian.

See also

• Croatian Language Corpus
• Croatian National Corpus
• Days of the Croatian Language
• Language secessionism in Serbo-Croatian
• Mutual intelligibility
• Dialects of Serbo-Croatian
• Pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language

References

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   The official language of Croatia is Croatian (Serbo-Croatian). The same language is referred to by different names, Serbian (srpski), Serbo-Croat (in Croatia: hrvatsko-srpski), Bosnian (bosanski), based on political and ethnic grounds. the language that used to be officially called Serbo-Croat has gotten several new ethnically and politically based names. Thus, the names Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian are politically determined and refer to the same language with possible slight variations. ("Croatia: Language Situation", in Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2 ed., 2006.)
4. David Dalby, Linguasphere (1999/2000, Linguasphere Observatory), pg. 445, 53-AAA-g, "Srpski+Hrvatski, Serbo-Croatian".
5. Benjamin W. 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."
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8. Radio Free Europe – Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Or Montenegrin? Or Just 'Our Language'? Živko Bjelanović: Similar, But Different, Feb 21, 2009, accessed Oct 8, 2010
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11. "Croatia: Themes, Authors, Books | Yale University Library Slavic and East European Collection". Library.yale.edu. 2009-11-16. Retrieved 2010-10-27.
12. Gazi, Stephen (1973). A History of Croatia. New York: Philosophical library. ISBN 978-0-8022-2108-7. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
13. Van Antwerp Fine, John (2006). When Ethnicity did not Matter in the Balkans. Michigan, USA: University of Michigan Press. pp. 377–379. ISBN 978-0-472-11414-6. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
14. Kalsbeek, Janneke (1998). "The Čakavian dialect of Orbanići near Žminj in Istria". Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics. 25. Rodopi. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
15. "Matica Hrvatska - Dva brata i jedna Sirena". Retrieved 9 March 2012.
16. "Matica Hrvatska - Putni tovaruš - izvornik (I.)". Retrieved 9 March 2012.
17. Tanner, Marcus (1997). Croatia: a Nation Forged in War. New Haven, USA: Yale University Press. p. 50. ISBN 0-300-06933-2. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
18. ^ Malić, Dragica (1997). Razvoj hrvatskog književnog jezika. ISBN 953-0-40010-1.
19. Uzelac, Gordana (2006). The development of the Croatian nation: an historical and sociological analysis. New York: Edwin Mellen Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-7734-5791-1. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
20. Bičanić et al. 2013, p. 77. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBičanićFrančićHudečekMihaljević2013 (help)
21. Bičanić et al. 2013, p. 78. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBičanićFrančićHudečekMihaljević2013 (help)
22. ^ Corbett & Browne 2009, p. 334.
23. Cvetkovic, Ljudmila. "Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Or Montenegrin? Or Just 'Our Language'? – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2010". Rferl.org. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
24. Benjamin W. Fortson IV, Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction, 2nd ed. (2010, Blackwell), pg. 431.
25. Snježana Ramljak; Library of the Croatian Parliament, Zagreb, Croatia (June 2008). ""Jezično" pristupanje Hrvatske Europskoj Uniji: prevođenje pravne stečevine i europsko nazivlje". Croatian Political Science Review (in Croatian). 45 (1). Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb. ISSN 0032-3241. Retrieved 2012-02-27. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
26. Stokes 2008, p. 348.
27. Šute 1999, p. 317.
28. David Crystal "Language Death", Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. 11, 12
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33. "Croatia". Cia.gov. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
34. "Ethnologue report for Bosnia and Herzegovina". Ethnologue.com. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
35. Kinda-Berlakovich, Andrea Zorka (2006). "Hrvatski nastavni jezik u Gradišću u školsko-političkome kontekstu". LAHOR. 1 (1). Croatian Philological Society: 27–35. ISSN 1846-2197. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
36. "Endangered languages in Europe: report". Helsinki.fi. Retrieved 2010-10-27.
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40. "Structura Etno-demografică a României". Edrc.ro. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
41. "From Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International". Ethnologue.com. Retrieved 2010-01-26.

Sources

• Bičanić, Ante; Frančić, Anđela; Hudeček, Lana; Mihaljević, Milica (2013), Pregled povijesti, gramatike i pravopisa hrvatskog jezika (in Croatian), Croatica
• Corbett, Greville; Browne, Wayles (2009). "Serbo-Croat - Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Serbian". In Comrie, Bernard (ed.). The World's Major Languages. Routledge. ISBN 9781134261567. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |editorlink= ignored (|editor-link= suggested) (help)
• Stokes, Gale (2008). Yugoslavia: Oblique Insights and Observations. University of Pittsburgh Pre. ISBN 9780822973492. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Šute, Ivica (April 1999). "Deklaracija o nazivu i položaju hrvatskog književnog jezika – Građa za povijest Deklaracije, Zagreb, 1997, str. 225". Radovi Zavoda za hrvatsku povijest (in Croatian). 31 (1): 317–318. ISSN 0353-295X. Retrieved 5 July 2014. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)

Further reading

• Bičanić, Ante; Frančić, Anđela; Hudeček, Lana; Mihaljević, Milica (2013), Pregled povijesti, gramatike i pravopisa hrvatskog jezika (in Croatian), Croatica
• Banac, Ivo: Main Trends in the Croatian Language Question, YUP 1984
• Blum, Daniel (2002). Sprache und Politik : Sprachpolitik und Sprachnationalismus in der Republik Indien und dem sozialistischen Jugoslawien (1945-1991). Beiträge zur Südasienforschung ; vol. 192 (in German). Würzburg: Ergon. p. 200. ISBN 3-89913-253-X. OCLC 51961066. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Franolić, Branko: A Historical Survey of Literary Croatian, Nouvelles Editions Latines, 1984
• Franolić, Branko: A Bibliography of Croatian Dictionaries, Paris, Nouvelles Editions Latines, 1985 139p
• Franolić, Branko: Language Policy in Yugoslavia with special reference to Croatian, Paris, Nouvelles Editions Latines 1988
• Franolić, Branko and Mateo Žagar: A Historical Outline of Literary Croatian & The Glagolitic Heritage of Croatian Culture, Erasmus & CSYPN, London & Zagreb 2008 ISBN 978-953-6132-80-5
• Greenberg, Robert David (2004). Language and identity in the Balkans: Serbo-Croatian and its disintegration. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-925815-4. (reprinted in 2008 as ISBN 978-0-19-920875-3)
• Gröschel, Bernhard (2009). Das Serbokroatische zwischen Linguistik und Politik: mit einer Bibliographie zum postjugoslavischen Sprachenstreit. Lincom Studies in Slavic Linguistics ; vol 34 (in German). Munich: Lincom Europa. p. 451. ISBN 978-3-929075-79-3. LCCN 2009473660. OCLC 428012015. OL 15295665W. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Kačić, Miro: Croatian and Serbian: Delusions and Distortions, Novi Most, Zagreb 1997
• Kordić, Snježana (2010). Jezik i nacionalizam. Rotulus Universitas (in Croatian). Zagreb: Durieux. p. 430. ISBN 978-953-188-311-5. LCCN 2011520778. OCLC 729837512. OL 15270636W. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2013. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Moguš, Milan: A History of the Croatian Language, NZ Globus, 1995
• Težak, Stjepko: "Hrvatski naš (ne)zaboravljeni" , 301 p., knjižnica Hrvatski naš svagdašnji (knj. 1), Tipex, Zagreb, 1999, ISBN 953-6022-35-4 (Croatian)

External links

This article's use of external links may not follow Misplaced Pages's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (April 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

• Croatian Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)
• EUdict – online dictionary – translation from Croatian into many languages and vice versa
• Croatian Language Corpus
• Croatian Language Portal Template:Hr icon
• Croatian Language E-Learning Center
• Croatian Old Dictionary Portal

Language history

• Croatian Glagolitic Script
• Croatian Cyrillic Script
• Croatian Glagolitic Manuscripts held outside of Croatia
• The Croatian Language Today, a lecture given by dr. Branko Franolić
• History of Croatian Dictionaries and Grammar books at Yale University Library – Slavic and East European Collection

v t e Croatian language
Features	Alphabet Phonology Grammar
Varieties	Shtokavian Chakavian Kajkavian Burgenland Croatian Molise Croatian
Names	Patronymic names List of exonyms Months
History and literature	Literature 1967 Declaration
Promotion and purism	Croatian National Corpus Croatian Language Days Council for Standard Croatian Language Norm Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics Croatian Encyclopedia Linguistic purism Studies
Related topics	Croatian Sign Language

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