The Balkan region has one of the turbulent linguistic histories in Europe. As recently as the 20th century, there has been war and division that split one language into many.

The languages spoken in the Balkans belong to different groups. One of the most widespread languages is Croatian, one of the four variants that belong to the so-called Serbo-Croatian language. In this article, we’ll explore the history and present of the Croatian language.

The History Of The Croatian Language

The Origins Of Croatian

The Croatian language is linked to the migration of Slavic peoples to the Balkans between the sixth and seventh centuries. The first written evidence of this language, however, dates back to the 11th century: it is the Bescanuova stone, which was found on the island of Veglia (or Krk) in 1851, and is an inscription that attested to the donation of some land.

The gravestone also has a high symbolic value because it is the first time that the Croatian language and the word “Croatia” (Hrvatski) are mentioned, and it is therefore in some way the birth of the Croatian people and their language.

The Bescanuova tombstone isn’t written in the Latin alphabet (the one we use), but rather in the Glagolitic alphabet, which is the oldest known Slavic alphabet, invented by two evangelists who are also two crucial figures in Slavic culture: Cyril and Methodius.

The Birth Of Serbo-Croatian

You may have often heard, rather than of the Serbian or Croatian language, of the “Serbo-Croatian” language. What’s it all about? Is Serbian the same as Croatian? Well, not exactly, but it’s true that these two languages are very similar, and for a time were considered a single language. It’s true that the two remain mutually intelligible, however.

In the 19th century, various writers and intellectuals from Serbia and Croatia began to push for what they called a literary unification. These efforts culminated in the so-called Literary Agreement of Vienna (1850), which defined a common spelling system and pronunciation. The ultimate goal was to achieve a definitive linguistic union. We can therefore define this agreement as the founding act of the Serbo-Croatian language.

It was the triumph of the Illyrian movement, a cultural movement connected to the rise of the Serbian and Croatian nationalist movements. The goal was to create a single language and literature for a single people.

After the end of World War I, Serbs and Croats (but not only) all found themselves part of the same country, the newly formed Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which dissolved after the fall of the Berlin Wall and a bloody war.

The End Of Serbo-Croatian

In short, the history of Serbo-Croatian is closely linked to the political history of Serbia and Croatia, so we could say that this language, in fact, no longer exists today. The official language of Serbia is Serbian, and the official language of Croatia, as mentioned, is Croatian. In addition to Serbian and Croatian, there are two other standardized varieties of what was known as Serbo-Croatian: Bosnian, spoken in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegrin, spoken in (can you guess?) Montenegro.

How Many People Speak Croatian?

According to Ethnologue, there are about 6.4 million people who speak Croatian. Of these, 5 million people speak it as a mother tongue, and most of them live in Croatia. In addition to Croatia, Croatian is an official language in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Dialects Of The Croatian Language

There are three Croatian dialects:

• Ciacavo, a dialect spoken primarily on the coast.
• The Caicavo dialect, which is spoken in the north of the country.
• The Stocavo dialect, which is spoken in the interior, mainly to the east and south.

What Alphabet Does The Croatian Language Use?

Although the first Croatian texts were written in the Glagolitic alphabet, it was quickly replaced by the Latin alphabet. The Glagolitic alphabet, however, didn’t disappear completely and is still used in liturgical contexts. For everyday life, however, the Latin alphabet is used, which is the same as the one we use, although Croatian uses more diacritical marks. Here are the 30 letters of the Croatian alphabet:

a, b, c, č, ć, d, dž, đ, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, lj, m, n, nj, o, p, r, s, š, t, u, v, z, ž

One of the biggest differences between Croatian and Serbian, which we mentioned are very similar languages, is that Croatian uses the Latin alphabet, while Serbian uses the Cyrillic alphabet.

Croatian Words And Phrases To Use While Traveling