Serbian language

The Serbian language is one of the standard versions of the ?tokavian dialect (former standard was known as Serbo-Croatian language). Serbian is used primarily in Serbia and Montenegro, Republika Srpska and by Serbs everywhere.

Related Topics:
?tokavian dialect - Serbia and Montenegro - Republika Srpska - Serbs

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Serbian language has a rare feature, in that words are spelled as they are spoken, and every letter represents one sound. This phonetic principle is represented in the saying: "Write as you speak and read as it is written", the principle used by Vuk Stefanovi? Karad?i? when reforming the Cyrillic spelling of Serbian in the 19th century.

Related Topics:
Vuk Stefanovi? Karad?i? - 19th century

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Another rare feature of Serbian language is the presence of two alphabets: Cyrillic and Latin. The two alphabets are almost equivalent; the only difference is in the glyphs used. This is due to historical reasons, as part of population speaking the language was under the western (newer) influence of Austria-Hungary and the remainder under the eastern (older) influence of the Byzantine Empire; all educated people are familiar with both alphabets.

Related Topics:
Alphabet - Cyrillic - Latin - Glyph - Austria-Hungary - Byzantine Empire

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