Shtokavian dialect
Shtokavian or
Štokavian () is the primary dialect of the
Central South Slavic languages system,
Serbian,
Croatian,
Bosnian language.
The Štokavian dialect is spoken in
Serbia,
Montenegro,
Bosnia and Hercegovina, and the greater part of
Croatia. The Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian
standard languages are all based on the Neo-Štokavian dialect. Its name comes from the form for the interrogatory pronoun "what", which is "što" in the Štokavian dialect.
The primary subdivisions of Štokavian are based on 2 principles: one is whether the subdialect is Old-Štokavian or Neo-Štokavian, and the different ways the old Slavic phoneme
has been changed. Generally, modern dialectology recognizes 7 Štokavian subdialects (there are opinions that one or two subdialects more exist, but this is not universally accepted).
The Proto-Štokavian idiom had appeared in the 12th century. In the following century or two, Štokavian was divided into two zones: western, which covered the major part of
Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Slavonia in
Croatia, and eastern, dominant in the easternmost
Bosnia and Herzegovina and greater parts of
Montenegro and
Serbia. The western Štokavian was characterized by 3-accents speech, while eastern štokavian was marked by 2-accents. According to the research of historical linguistics, the old-štokavian was well established by the mid-
1400s. In this period it had been still mixed with Church Slavonic in various degrees, as well as with
Chakavian dialect in
Croatia and many parts of
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Štokavian dialect is divided into Old-Shtokavian and Neo-Shtokavian subdialects.
Old-Shtokavian
Timok-Prizren (Torlakian)
The oldest dialects stretch southeast from
Timok near the
Bulgarian border to
Prizren. There is disagreement among linguists whether these dialects belong to Štokavian area, as there are many other morphological characteristics apart from rendering of
što which would place them into a "transitional" group between Štokavian and Eastern South Slavic languages (
Bulgarian and
Macedonian). These dialects split from the rest of the group at the onset of the Turkish conquest in the fourteenth century. The Timok-Prizren group falls to the
Balkan linguistic union: declension has all but disappeared, the
infinitive has yielded to
subjunctives da-constructions, and adjectives are compared exclusively with suffixes. The accent in the dialect group is a stress accent, and it falls on any syllable in the word. The old semi-vowel (
schwa) has been retained throughout. The vocalic
l has been retained (
vlk =
vuk), and some dialects don't distinguish
ć/č and
đ/dž by preferring the latter, postalveolar variants. Some subdialects preserve l at the end of words (where otherwise it has developed into a short o) –
došl,
znal, etc. (cf.
Kajkavian and
Bulgarian); in others, this
l has become the syllable
ja.
Slavonian
Also called the
Šokački or
Archaic Šćakavian dialect, it is spoken by
Šokci that live in some parts of
Slavonia,
Bačka,
Baranja,
Srem/Srijem, in Croatia and Vojvodina, as well as in northern Bosnia. The Slavonian dialect has mixed ikavian and ekavian pronunciation. Ikavian is predominant in the Posavina, Baranja, Bačka, and in the Slavonian sub-dialect enclave of
Derventa, while ekavian is predominant in
Podravina. There are also enclaves of one of both variants in the main territory of other and vice-versa, as well as mixed ekavian-ikavian and jekavian-ikavian areas. In some villages in
Hungary the original yat is preserved. Local variants can widely differ in the degree of neo-shtokavian accent influneces. In two villages in
Posavina, Siče and Magića Male the
l, as in the verb
nosil, has been retained in place of the modern
nosio. In some villages in the Podravina
čr instead of the usual
cr is preserved, for example in
črn instead of
crn. Both forms are usual in Kajkavian but very rare in Shtokavian.
East-Bosnian
Also called
, it has jekavian prounanciation in the vast majority of local forms and it is spoken by the majority of Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) living in area that include bigger Bosnian cities
Sarajevo,
Tuzla and
Zenica, and by most of Croats and Serbs that live in that area. Together with basic jekavian pronunciation, mixed pronunciations exist in
Tešanj and
Maglaj dete-djeteta (ekavian-jekavian) and around Žepča and Jablanica
djete-diteta (jekavian-ikavian). In the central area of the subdialect, the
diphthong uo exists in some words instead of the archaic
l and more common
u like
vuok or
stuop, instead of the standard modern
vuk and
stup.
Zeta
Also known as the
Zeta-Novopazar dialect or the
East-Montengrin dialect, as well as
Old Jekavian. It is spoken in eastern Montenegro, in
Podgorica and
Cetinje, around the city of
Novi Pazar in eastern
Sandžak in Serbia, and in the village of
Peroj in
Istria. Togheter with the dominant jekavian pronunciation, mixed pronunciations like
djete-deteta (jekavian-ekavian) around Novi Pazar and
Bijelo Polje,
dite-đeteta (ikavian-jekavian) around Podgorica and
dete-đeteta (ekavian-jekavian) in the village of Mirkovići in southern Montenegro. Mirkovići are also characterised by remainings of
čr instead of
cr as in the previously mentioned villages in Podravina. The Zeta sub-dialect is also charactericized by several "hyper-ijekavisms" (
nijesam,
sjutra where the rest of shtokavian area uses nisam, sutra) and "hyper-iotations" (
đevojka for
djevojka,
đeca for
djeca etc). Many local forms have a unique vocal, for example in the words
sän and
dän instead of
san and
dan. Other special phonetic features inlude sounds like in
iʝesti instead of
izjesti, as in
śjekira instead of
sjekira and ' like in
pļesma insted of
pjesma. Currently there is an attempt by Montenegrin nationalists to create a separate
Montenegrin language standard based on the Zeta subdialect.
Kosovo-Resava
Also called
Older Jekavian, spoken mostly in western Kosovo and northeastern Serbia. Pronunciation is dominatly ekavian even on the end of datives (
žene instead of
ženi), in pronouns (
teh instead of
tih), in comparatives (
dobrej instead of
dobriji) and in the negative of biti (
nesam instead of
nisam) and in
Smederevo-
Vršac speeches ikavian forms can be found.
Neo-Shtokavian
Western Ikavian
Also called Bosnian-Dalmatian,
Younger Ikavian is spoken mostly by
Croats that live in
Lika,
Kvarner,
Dalmatia,
Herzegovina and
Bačka and by
Bosniaks that live in western Bosnia mostly around city of
Bihać. Exclusively ikavian, Bosnian and Herzegovinian forms use
o in verb participle, while those in Dalmatia and Lika use
-ija like in
vidija. Local form of
Bačka was proposed as base of new
Bunjevac language proposed standard by some
Bunjevci in Vojvodina.
Šumadija-Vojvodina
Also called
Younger Ekavian, is spoken across most of Vojvodina, north-west Serbia and in eastern Croatia around the town of
Vukovar. It is completely ekavian and on whole area in declination yat before
o and
j goes to
i like in
sobi and
živio. Short
e and
o are pronounced openly, and from east to west non-accented vocals get shorter. In some parts of Vojvodina old declination is preserved. The dialect presents a base for the Serbian Ekavian standard.
East Herzegovinian
Also called East Herzegovina-
Krajina and
Younger Jekavian. It is the biggest Shtokavian and Serbo-Croatian dialect. It is spoken by most
Bosnian Serbs,
Croatian Serbs as well in western Serbia, western Montenegro and by
Croats in
Slavonia,
Banija,
Kordun and
Dalmatia east of
Neretva around city of
Dubrovnik and is the base of standard Croatian language and the Serbian Jekavian standard. A south-eastern form is characterised by the total lack of
h sound that is sometimes not only left out or replaced by more common
j or
v but is replaced as well by less common
k and
g (
bijak, bijaku imperfect of verb
biti). Local forms in the
Žumberak enclave and around Dubrovnik have some special features, influenced from
Chakavian and the
western subdialect.
The Proto-Slavic vowel
has changed over time and is now being rendered in three different ways or reflexes:
* In Ekavian (
ekavski),
jat has morphed into the vowel
e* in Ikavian (
ikavski), the vowel
i* in Ijekavian or Jekavian (
ijekavski or
jekavski), the diphthong
ije or
je depending on whether the vowel was long or short.
Historically, the yat reflexes had been inscribed in Church Slavic texts before the significant development of štokavian dialect, reflecting the beginnings of the formative period of the vernacular. In early documents it is still either almost exclusively or predominantly Church Slavic of Serbian or Croatian variant (technical term is recension). First undoubtedly ekavian "yat reflex" had been inscribed in a document in Serbia (/it was), dated
1289, ikavian in Bosnia in
1331 (/witnesses), and first ijekavian in Croatia in
1399 (/we wish, a "hyperijekavism"). Partial inscriptions can be found in earlier texts (for instance, ikavian form is written in a few Bosnian documents in the latter half of the
13th century), but philologists generally accept the aforementioned data for yat reflexes. The intrusion of the vernacular into Church Slavic grew in time, to be finally replaced by the vernacular idiom. This process has taken place for Croats, Serbs and
Bosniaks independently and without mutual interference until the mid-
19th century. Historical linguistics, textual analysis and dialectology have dispelled myths about allegedly "unspoilt" vernacular speech of rural areas: for instance, it is established that Bosniaks have retained phoneme "h" in numerous words (unlike Serbs and Croats), due to elementary religious education based on the Koran, where this phoneme is the carrier of specific semantic value.
Ekavian, sometimes called eastern, is spoken primarily in Serbia, and very limited area in eastern Croatia. Ikavian, sometimes called western, is spoken in western and central Bosnia, western Herzegovina, in Slavonia and the major part of Dalmatia in Croatia. Ijekavian, sometimes called southern, is spoken in many parts of Croatia including southern Dalmatia, most of Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro. The following are some generic examples:
| English | Predecessor | Ekavian | Ikavian | Ijekavian |
|---|
| time | vrěme | vreme | vrime | vrijeme |
| beautiful | lěp | lep | lip | lijep |
| girl | děvojka | devojka | divojka | djevojka |
| true | věran | veran | viran | vjeran |
| to sit | sěditi | sedeti | siditi | sjediti |
| to grow gray hairs | sědeti | sedeti | siditi | sijediti |
| to heat | grějati | grejati | grijati | grijati |
One must, however, be cautious with the Ijekavian version – the presented examples are actually from Croatian standard language, while Serbian and Montenegrin speakers of Ijekavian variant of standard Serbian tend to "ekavise" their speech in numerous occasions – in short, Croatian on one hand, and Serbian Ijekavian and Bosnian (predominantly) on the other, tend to differ also in the frequency of "ije/je" form, Croatian showing the tendency of "ijekavisation". Examples would, for instance, include word for "transport", which is "prijevoz" in Croatian, and "prevoz" in Bosnian and Serbian Ijekavian.
Long
ije is
diphthongal among the majority of Ijekavian speakers; some Croatian authors recognize it as 31st
phoneme of Croatian . In Zeta dialect and most of East Herzegovina dialect, it represents two
syllables though. Serbian phonologists do not recognize it as separate phoneme (possibly as a heritage that East Herzegoviniana was the native dialect of
Vuk Karadžić, the reformer of Serbian language). The distinction can be clearly heard in first verses of
national anthems of Croatia and
Montenegro—they're sung as "
Lije-pa na-ša do-mo-vi-no" and
"Oj svi-je-tla maj-ska zo-ro" respectively.
During the 1st half of the 19th century, protagonists of nascent Slavic philology were, as far as South Slavic dialects were concerned, embroiled in frequently bitter polemic about "ethnic affiliation" of native speakers of various dialects. This, from contemporary point of view, rather bizarre obsession was motivated primarily by political and national interests that prompted philologists-turned-ideologues to express their views on the subject. The most prominent contenders in the squabble, with conflicting agenda, were Czech philologist
Josef Dobrovsky, Slovak
Pavel Šafarik, Slovene
Jernej Kopitar and
Franz Miklosich, Serb
Vuk Karadžić and Croatian
Bogoslav Šulek and
Vatroslav Jagić.
Essentially, the dispute was about who can, philologically, be labelled as "Slovene", "Croat" and "Serb"-with the very mundane aim of expanding one's national territory and influence. Born in the climate of romanticism and national awakening, these polemical "battles" only succeeded in poisoning relations between the aforementioned nations, especially because the štokavian dialect cannot be split along ethnic lines. Like many other dialects (for instance,
Plattdeutsch), it is "multiethnic" by its very nature.
However, contemporary native speakers, after process of national crystallization and identification had been completed, can be roughly identified as predominant speakers of various štokavian subdialects. Since standard languages propagated through media have strongly influenced and altered the situation in the 19th century, the following attribution must be treated with necessary caution.
The distribution of old-štokavian speakers along ethnic lines in present times is as follows:
* Kosovo-Resava (Ekavian) dialect: vastly Serbian
* Zeta-Sanjak dialect (Ijekavian): Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) and Serbian
* Slavonian dialect (fluctuating "yat": mainly Ikavian, also Ijekavian and Ekavian): vastly Croatian
* Eastern-Bosnian dialect(Ijekavian): vastly Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) and Croatian
Generally, the neo-štokavian dialect is divided as follows with regard to the ethnicity of its native speakers:
* Šumadija-Vojvodina dialect (Ekavian): vastly Serbian
* Dalmatian-Bosnian dialect(Ikavian): vastly Croatian and Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak)
* Eastern-Herzegovinian (Ijekavian): Serbian (predominantly- well over 50%), Croatian and Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak)
Proto-štokavian, or Church Slavic with ingredients of nascent štokavian, were recorded in legal documents like the charter of
ban Kulin, regulating the commerce between Bosnia and Dubrovnik in Croatia, dated 1189, and in liturgical texts like Gršković's and Mihanović's fragments, ca.
1150, in southern Bosnia or Herzegovina. But, their idiom being almost exclusively Church Slavic, these documents cannot be considered to represent proper štokavian texts. First vernacular štokavian text is the
Vatican Croatian Prayer Book, written a decade or two before
1400 in
Dubrovnik. In next two centuries štokavian vernacular texts had been written mainly in Dubrovnik, other Croatian cities and islands influenced by Dubrovnik, as well as in Bosnia, by Croatian Franciscans and Bosniak Muslim vernacular
alhamiado literature " the first example being "Chirwat turkisi" or "Croatian song", dated 1589. First Serbian štokavian vernacular texts are from the
18th century,
Gavrilo Venclović's and
Jovan Rajić's poems.
Standard languages
Croatian,
Bosnian and
Serbian are all based on neo-štokavian dialect.
However, it must be stressed that standard languages, irrespectively of their mutual differences, have been stylised in such manners that parts of the neo-štokavian dialect have been retained " for instance, declension — but other features were purposely omitted or altered " for instance, the phoneme "h" was re-instated in standard languages.
The Croatian language has had the longest tradition of štokavian vernacular literacy and literature, but due to the influence of the other Croatian dialects, čakavian and kajkavian, it took almost four and half centuries for štokavian to prevail as the dialectal basis for Croatian standard. In other periods, čakavian and kajkavian dialects, as well as hybrid čakavian"kajkavian"štokavian interdialect "contended" for the Croatian national koine " but eventually lost, mainly due to historical and political reasons. By
1650s it was fairly obvious that štokavian would become the dialectal basis for the Croatian standard, but this process was finally completed in
1850s, when neo-štokavian Ijekavian, based mainly on Ragusan (Dubrovnik-an), Dalmatian, Bosnian and Slavonian literary heritage became national standard language.
Serbian language was much faster in standardisation. Although
vernacular literature was present in the
18th century, it was Vuk Karadzic who, between
1818 and
1851, made a radical break with the past and established Serbian neo-štokavian folklore idiom as the basis of standard Serbian (until then, educated Serbs had been using Serbian Slavic, Russian Slavic and hybrid Russian-Serbian language). Although he wrote in Serbian Ijekavian, the majority of Serbs have adopted Ekavian, which is dominant in Serbia. Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia, as well as Montenegrins, use Ijekavian variant of standard Serbian language.
Bosnian language is only currently beginning to take shape. Bosniaks have been using a sort of hybrid of Serbian Ijekavian and Croatian languages, with some specific traits. After the collapse of Yugoslavia, Bosniaks affirmed their wish to stylise their own standard language, based on neo-štokavian dialect, but reflecting their characteristics " from phonetics to semantics.
Also, contemporary situation is unstable with regard to the accentuation, since phoneticians have observed that 4-accents speech has, in all likelihood, shown to be increasingly unstable, which resulted in proposals that 3-accents norm be prescribed. This is particularly true for
Croatian, where the influence of
čakavian and
kajkavian dialects on standard language is, contrary to all expectations, waxing, not waning in the past 50"70 years.
Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian standard languages, although all based on neo-štokavian dialect (or, more precisely, various subdialects) and mutually intelligible, are recognizably different in their prescribed forms as standard or literary languages. Their structures are almost identical in basic grammar, but different in all fields that define a language- from phonetics, phonology and morphology to syntax, semantics and pragmatics. For other traits, see
Differences in official languages in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia.
Example:
(The first option in the middle of the sentence is a difference between Ekavian and Ijekavian. The second option in the middle is difference between Serbian and Croatian norms, respectively.)
Another "classic" example is:
: : :
*
Map of Serbo-Croatian dialects according to Brabec, Kraste, and Živković*
Map of štokavian dialects according to Dalibor Brozović*
Map according to Pavle Ivić
