View source for Shtokavian

{{Short description|Prestige dialect of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Shtokavian
|nativename={{lang|sh|{{lang|sh-Latn|štokavski}} / {{lang|sh-Cyrl|italics=no|штокавски}}}}
|pronunciation=
|states= [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], [[Croatia]], [[Kosovo]], [[Montenegro]], [[Serbia]]
|speakers=
|date=
|ref=
|familycolor=Indo-European
|fam2=[[Balto-Slavic languages|Balto-Slavic]]
|fam3=[[Slavic languages|Slavic]]
|fam4=[[South Slavic languages|South Slavic]]
|fam5=[[Western South Slavic]]
|stand1      = [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]]
|stand2      = [[Croatian language|Croatian]]
|stand3      = [[Montenegrin language|Montenegrin]]
|stand4      = [[Serbian language|Serbian]]
|dia1 = [[Eastern Herzegovinian dialect|Eastern Herzegovinian]]
|dia2 = Eastern Bosnian
|dia3 = [[Šumadija–Vojvodina dialect|Šumadija–Vojvodina]]
|dia4 = [[Younger Ikavian]]
|dia5 = Kosovo–Resava
|dia6 = [[Smederevo–Vršac dialect|Smederevo–Vršac]]
|dia7 = [[Zeta–Raška dialect|Zeta–Raška]]
|dia8 = Slavonian
|dia9 = Prizren–South Morava
|dia10 = Svrljig–Zaplanje 
|dia11 = [[Timok–Lužnica dialect|Timok–Lužnica]]
|glotto=shto1241
|glottorefname=Shtokavski
|lingua      = 53-AAA-ga to -gf & <br />53-AAA-gi (-gia to -gii)
|notice=IPA
}}

[[File:Serbo croatian language2005.png|thumb|Area where Shtokavian standard languages are spoken by the majority or plurality of population, 2005]]
[[File:Serbo croatian dialects historical distribution 2.png|thumb|Map of Serbo-Croatian dialects prior to the 16th-century migrations]]
[[File:Shtokavian subdialects1988.png|thumb|Map of Shtokavian subdialects prior to the 20th-century migrations]]

'''Shtokavian''' or '''Štokavian''' ({{IPAc-en|ʃ|t|ɒ|ˈ|k|ɑː|v|i|ə|n|,_|-|ˈ|k|æ|v|-}}; {{lang-sh-Latn|štokavski}} / {{lang-sh-Cyrl|italics=no|штокавски}}, {{IPA|sh|ʃtǒːkaʋskiː|pron}})<ref>{{cite web | work =Hrvatski jezični portal | title = štókavskī | url = http://hjp.znanje.hr/index.php?show=search_by_id&id=d1duXhg%3D&keyword=%C5%A1tokavski |access-date=21 March 2015}}</ref> is the [[prestige dialect|prestige]] [[supradialect]] of the [[pluricentric language|pluricentric]] [[Serbo-Croatian]] language and the basis of its [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[Montenegrin language|Montenegrin]], and [[Serbian language|Serbian]] standards.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Sussex|Cubberly|2006|p=506}} "The core of the modern literary languages and the major dialect area, is Shtokavian (''št''o 'what'), which covers the rest of the area where Serbo-Croatian is spoken."</ref> It is a part of the [[Dialect continuum#South Slavic continuum|South Slavic dialect continuum]].<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Crystal|1998|p=25}}</ref><ref>{{harvcoltxt|Alexander|2000|p=4}}</ref> Its name comes from the form for the interrogative pronoun for "what": {{lang|sh|što}}. This is in contrast to dialects that are exclusive to [[Croatian language]]: [[Kajkavian]] and [[Chakavian]] ({{lang|sh|kaj}} and {{lang|sh|ča}} also meaning "what").

Shtokavian is spoken in [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], much of [[Croatia]], [[Montenegro]], and [[Serbia]]. The primary subdivisions of Shtokavian are based on three principles: one is different accents (whether the subdialect is Old-Shtokavian or Neo-Shtokavian), second is the way the old Slavic phoneme ''[[yat]]'' has changed (Ikavian, Ijekavian or Ekavian), and third is the presence of the Young [[Proto-Slavic]] isogloss (Schakavian or Shtakavian). Modern dialectology generally recognizes seven Shtokavian subdialects.

==Early history of Shtokavian==
{{South Slavic languages sidebar}}
The [[Slavic migrations to the Balkans|early medieval Slavs]] who later spoke various [[Bulgarian dialects|Bulgarian]] and Serbo-Croatian dialects migrated across [[Moldavia]] and [[Pannonia]].{{sfn|Kortlandt|1982|p=3}} According to [[Frederik Kortlandt]], the shared innovations originate from a "Trans-Carpathian" homeland, and by the 4th and 6th century, "the major dialect divisions of Slavic were already established".{{sfn|Kortlandt|2003|p=215}} Dialectologists and Slavists maintain that when the separation of Western South Slavic speeches happened, they separated into five divergent groups, more specifically two, one Slovene and a second Serbo-Croatian with four divergent groups - Kajkavian, Chakavian, Western Shtokavian and Eastern Shtokavian.{{sfn|Matasović|2008|p=66}}<ref name="Lončarić-1988">{{cite journal |last=Lončarić |first=Mijo |author-link=Mijo Lončarić |date=1988 |title=Rani razvitak kajkavštine |trans-title=Early development of Kajkavian |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/69872 |language=hr |journal=Rasprave |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=80–81, 84–85, 92 |access-date=14 February 2023}}</ref>{{sfn|Zubčić|2017|p=63–64}} The latter group can be additionally divided into a first (Kajkavian, Chakavian, Western Shtokavian) and second (Eastern Shtokavian, Torlakian).{{sfn|Lukežić|1996|p=226–227, 235}} As noted by [[Ranko Matasović]], "the Shtokavian dialect, on the other hand, was from the earliest times very non-unique, with the Western Shtokavian dialects leaning towards Kajkavian, and the Eastern Shtokavian to [[Torlakian]]".{{sfn|Matasović|2008|p=35}} According to isoglosses, and presumed end of existence of the common Southwestern Slavic language around the 8th-9th century, the formation of the Proto-Western Shtokavian and Proto-Eastern Shtokavian linguistic and territorial unit would be around the 9th-10th century (Proto-Western Shtokavian closer to Proto-Chakavian, while Proto-Eastern Shtokavian shared an old isogloss with Bulgarian).<ref name="Lončarić-1988"/>{{sfn|Matasović|2008|p=65–66}}{{sfn|Lukežić|1996|p=226–227, 235}} According to [[Ivo Banac]] in the area of today's [[Slavonia]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]] (west of [[Brčko]], [[Vlasenica]] and [[Neretva]] line) and on the littoral between the [[Bay of Kotor]] and [[Cetina]], medieval Croats spoke an old West Shtokavian dialect, which, some believe, stemmed from [[Chakavian]], while medieval Serbs spoke two dialects, old East Shtokavian and Torlakian.<ref name="Banac-1984">{{cite book |last=Banac |first=Ivo |author-link=Ivo Banac |date=1984 |title=The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KfqbujXqQBkC |location= |publisher=Cornell University Press |page=47 |isbn=0801416752}}</ref> Many linguists noted a close connection between Chakavian and Western Shtokavian, for example [[Pavle Ivić]] saw Chakavian as an archaic peripheral zone of Shtokavian, while [[Dalibor Brozović]] saw the majority of Chakavian dialects as derived from the same accentological core as Western Shtokavian.{{sfn|Zubčić|2017|p=46–48, 56–62}} Western Shtokavian was principally characterized by a three-accent system, whereas Eastern Shtokavian was mostly marked by a two-accent system.{{sfn|Kapović|2015|p=56–57, 645–649, 651}}

Western Shtokavian covered the major part of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slavonia and part of Southern [[Dalmatia]] in [[Croatia]]. Eastern Shtokavian was dominant in [[Serbia]], easternmost Bosnia and Herzegovina and greater parts of [[Montenegro]]. From the 12th century, both dialects started separating further from Chakavian and Kajkavian idioms.<ref name="Banac-1984"/> According to research of historical linguistics, Old-Shtokavian was well established by the mid-15th century. In this period it was still mixed with Church Slavonic to varying degrees. However, the ultimate development of Western Shtokavian and Eastern Shtokavian was not [[Divergence (linguistics)|divergent]] (like in the case of Chakavian and Kajkavian), but [[Language convergence|convergent]]. It was the result of migrations (particularly of Neoshtokavian-Eastern Shtokavian speakers), political-cultural border change and also caused by the [[Ottoman wars in Europe|Ottoman invasion]] (since the 16th century).<ref name="Lončarić-1988"/> Initially two separate proto-idioms started to resemble each other so greatly that, according to Brozović, "[today] we can no longer speak of an independent Western Shtokavian, but only about the better or weaker preservation of former West Shtokavian features in some dialects of the unique Shtokavian group of dialects".<ref name="Lončarić-1988"/>

As can be seen from the image on the right, originally the Shtokavian dialect covered a significantly smaller area than it covers today, meaning that the Shtokavian speech has spread for the last five centuries, overwhelmingly at the expense of Chakavian and Kajkavian idioms. The modern areal distribution of these three dialects as well as their internal stratification (Shtokavian and Chakavian in particular) is primarily a result of the [[Human migration|migrations]] resulting from the spread of the [[Ottoman Empire]] in the [[Balkans]].<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Okuka|2008|p=15}}</ref> Migratory waves were particularly strong in the 16th–18th century, bringing about large-scale linguistic and ethnic changes in the Central South Slavic area (see also [[Great Serb Migrations]]).

By far the most numerous, mobile and expansionist migrations were those of Ijekavian-Shtokavian speakers of eastern [[Herzegovina]], who have spread into most of Western Serbia, many areas of eastern and western [[Bosnia]], large swathes of Croatia ([[Banovina (region)|Banovina]], [[Kordun]], [[Lika]], parts of [[Gorski kotar]], continental parts of northern [[Dalmatia]], some places north of [[Kupa]], parts of [[Slavonia]], southeastern [[Baranya (region)|Baranya]] etc.).<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Okuka|2008|p=16}}</ref> This is the reason [[Eastern Herzegovinian dialect|Eastern Herzegovinian]] is the most spoken Serbo-Croatian dialect today, and why its name is only descriptive of its area of origin. These migrations also played a pivotal role in the spread of Neo-Shtokavian innovations.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Okuka|2008|p=17}}</ref>

===Earliest texts of Shtokavian dialect===
Proto-Shtokavian, or Church Slavic with elements of nascent Shtokavian, 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 fragment of the Acts of the Apostles|Gršković's]] and [[Mihanović's fragment of the Acts of the Apostles|Mihanović's fragments]], {{circa|1150}}, in southern Bosnia or Herzegovina. Experts' opinions are divided with regard to the extent these texts, especially the Kulin ban parchment, contain contemporary Shtokavian vernacular. Numerous legal and commercial documents from pre-Ottoman [[Bosnia (region)|Bosnia]], [[Zahumlje|Hum]], [[Serbia]], [[Principality of Zeta|Zeta]], and southern [[Dalmatia]], especially [[Dubrovnik]] are mainly Shtokavian, with elements of Church Slavic. The first major comprehensive vernacular Shtokavian text is the [[Vatican Croatian Prayer Book]], written in [[Dubrovnik]] a decade or two before 1400. In the next two centuries Shtokavian vernacular texts had been written mainly in Dubrovnik, other Adriatic cities and islands influenced by Dubrovnik, as well as in Bosnia, by Bosnian Franciscans and Bosnian Muslim vernacular ''[[aljamiado]]'' literature – the first example being "[[Chirvat-türkisi]]" or "Croatian song", dated 1589.

==Relationship towards neighboring dialects==
Shtokavian is characterized by a number of characteristic historical [[sound change]]s, [[Accent (dialect)|accentual]] changes, changes in [[inflection]], [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] and [[syntax]]. Some of these isoglosses are not exclusive and have also been shared by neighboring dialects, and some of them have mostly but not completely spread over the whole Shtokavian area. The differences between Shtokavian and the unrelated, neighboring [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]]–[[Macedonian language|Macedonian]] dialects are mostly clear-cut, whereas the differences with the related Serbo-Croatian dialects of Chakavian and Kajkavian are much more fluid, and the mutual influence of various subdialects plays a more prominent role.

The main bundle of isoglosses separates Slovenian and Kajkavian on the one hand from Shtokavian and Chakavian on the other. These are:<ref>Cited after {{harvcoltxt|Okuka|2008|pp=20–21}}</ref>
# long falling accent of newer origin (neocircumflex)
# development of the consonant group ''rj'' (as opposed to consonant ''/r/'') from former soft ''/r'/'' before a vowel (e.g., {{lang|sh|morjem}}, {{lang|sh|zorja}})
# reflexes of ''/o/'' or ''/ọ/'' of the old [[Common Slavic]] [[nasal vowel]] ''/ǫ/'', and not ''/u/''
# inflectional morpheme ''-o'' (as opposed to ''-ojo'') in the instrumental singular of a-declension

Other characteristics distinguishing Kajkavian from Shtokavian, beside the demonstrative/interrogatory pronoun ''kaj'' (as opposed to ''što/šta'' used in Shtokavian), are:<ref name="okuka21">Cited after {{harvcoltxt|Okuka|2008|p=21}}</ref>
# a reflex of old [[Yer|semivowels]] of ''/ẹ/'' (e.g. ''dẹn'' < Common Slavic *dьnь, ''pẹs'' < Common Slavic *pьsъ); closed ''/ẹ/'' appearing also as a ''[[yat|jat]]'' reflex
# retention of word-final ''-l'' (e.g. {{lang|kjv|došel}}, as opposed to Shtokavian ''došao'')
# word-initial ''u-'' becoming ''v-'' (e.g. {{lang|kjv|vuho}}, {{lang|kjv|vuzel}}, {{lang|kjv|vozek}})
# dephonemicization of [[affricate]]s /č/ and /ć/ to some form of middle value
# genitive plural of masculine nouns has the morpheme ''-of'' / ''-ef''
# [[Syncretism (linguistics)|syncretized]] dative, locative and instrumental plural has the ending ''-ami''
# the ending ''-me'' in the first-person plural present (e.g. ''vidime'')
# affix ''š'' in the formation of adjectival [[Comparison (grammar)|comparative]]s (e.g. ''debleši'', ''slabeši'')
# [[supine]]
# future tense formation in the form of ''bom/bum došel, došla, došlo''

Characteristics distinguishing Chakavian from Shtokavian, beside the demonstrative/interrogatory pronoun ''ča'', are:<ref name="okuka21"/>
# preservation of polytonic three-accent system
# vocalization of [[Havlík's law|weak jers]] in word-initial syllables (e.g. ''malin/melin'' < Common Slavic *mъlinъ; cf. Shtokavian ''mlin'')
# vowel ''/a/'' as opposed to ''/e/'' after [[palatals|palatal consonants]] ''/j/'', ''/č/'', ''/ž/'' (e.g. Čk. ''jazik/zajik'' : Št. ''[[wikt:jezik#Serbo-Croatian|jezik]]'', Čk. ''počati'' : Št. ''[[wikt:početi#Serbo-Croatian|početi]]'', Čk. ''žaja'' : Št. ''[[wikt:želja#Serbo-Croatian|želja]]'')
# the appearance of extremely palatal ''/t'/'' or ''/ć'/'' (< earlier ''/t'/'') and ''/j/'' (< earlier ''/d'/'') either in free positions or in groups ''<nowiki>št'</nowiki>'', ''<nowiki>žd'</nowiki>''
# depalatalization of ''/n'/'' and ''/l'/''
# ''/ž/'' instead of ''/dʒ/'' (cf. Čk. ''žep'' : Št. ''[[wikt:džep#Serbo-Croatian|džep]]'')
# ''/č/'' > ''/š/'' before consonants (cf. Čk. ''maška'' : Št. ''[[wikt:mačka#Serbo-Croatian|mačka]]'')
# word-initial consonant groups ''čr-'', ''čri-'', ''čre-'' (cf. Čk. ''črivo/črevo'' : Št. ''[[wikt:crijevo#Serbo-Croatian|cr(ij)evo]]'', Čk. ''črn'' : Št. ''[[wikt:crn#Serbo-Croatian|crn]]'')
# [[conditional mood]] with ''biš'' in the second-person singular
# non-[[Syncretism (linguistics)|syncretized]] dative, locative and instrumental plural

==General characteristics==
General characteristics of Shtokavian are the following:<ref>Cited after {{harvcoltxt|Lisac|2003|pp=17–18}}</ref>

# ''[[wikt:što#Serbo-Croatian|što]]'' or ''[[wikt:šta#Serbo-Croatian|šta]]'' as the demonstrative/interrogative pronoun
# differentiation between two short (in addition to two or three long) accents, rising and falling, though not in all Shtokavian speakers
# preservation of unaccented length, but not consistently across all speeches
# ''/u/'' as the reflex of Common Slavic back nasal vowel ''/ǫ/'' as well as the syllabic ''/l/'' (with the exception of central Bosnia where a diphthongal ''/uo/'' is also recorded as a reflex)
# initial group of ''v-'' + [[Havlík's law|weak semivowel]] yields ''u-'' (e.g. ''[[wikt:unuk#Serbo-Croatian|unuk]]'' < Common Slavic *vъnukъ)
# [[schwa]] resulting from the ''jer'' merger yields ''/a/'', with the exception of the Zeta-Raška dialect
# [[Metathesis (linguistics)|metathesis]] of ''vьse'' to ''sve''
# ''čr-'' > ''cr-'', with the exception of Slavonian, [[Slavomolisano|Molise]] and [[Burgenland Croatian|Vlah oasis-Burgenland]] dialect
# word-final ''-l'' changes to ''/o/'' or ''/a/''; the exception is the verbal adjective in the Slavonian southwest
# ''ď'' > /dʑ/ {{angbr|đ}} with numerous exceptions
# ''cr'' > ''tr'' in the word ''[[wikt:trešnja#Serbo-Croatian|trešnja]]'' "cherry"; some exceptions in Slavonia, Hungary and Romania
# ''ć'' and ''đ'' from ''jt'', ''jd'' (e.g. ''[[wikt:poći#Serbo-Croatian|poći]]'', ''pođem''); exceptions in Slavonian and Eastern Bosnian dialect
# so-called "new iotation" of dentals and labials, with many exceptions, especially in Slavonia and Bosnia
# general loss of phoneme ''/x/'', with many exceptions
# ending ''-ā'' in genitive plural of masculine and feminine nouns, with many exceptions
# ending ''-u'' in locative singular of masculine and neuter nouns (e.g. {{lang|sh|u gradu}}, {{lang|sh|u m(j)estu}})
# augment ''-ov-'' / ''-ev-'' in the plural of most monosyllabic masculine nouns, with many exceptions (e.g. in the area between Neretva and Dubrovnik)
# [[Syncretism (linguistics)|syncretism]] of dative, locative and instrumental plural of nouns, with many exceptions
# preservation of ending {{lang|sh|-og(a)}} in genitive and accusative singular of masculine and neuter gender if pronominal-adjectival declension (e.g., {{lang|sh|drugoga}}), with exceptions on the area of Dubrovnik and Livno
# special form with the ending ''-a'' for the neuter gender in nominative plural of pronominal-adjectival declension (e.g. {{lang|sh|ova m(j)esta}} and no {{lang|sh|ove m(j)esta}})
# preservation of [[aorist]], which is however missing in some areas (e.g., around Dubrovnik)
# special constructs reflecting old dual for numerals 2–4 ({{lang|sh|dva, tri, četiri stola}})
# many so-called "[[List of Serbo-Croatian words of Turkish origin|Turkisms]]" ({{lang|sh|turcizmi}}) or "Orientalisms", i.e. words borrowed from [[Ottoman Turkish language|Ottoman Turkish]]

As can be seen from the list, many of these isoglosses are missing from particular Shtokavian idioms, just as many of them are shared with neighboring non-Shtokavian dialects.

There exist three main criteria for the division of Shtokavian dialects:<ref>Cited after {{harvcoltxt|Lisac|2003|pp=29}}</ref>
# Accentuation ("Old-Shtokavian" and "Neo-Shtokavian"; see section below)
# [[Yat]] reflex ("Ikavian", "Ijekavian", "Ekavian"; see section below)
# Young [[Proto-Slavic]] (600–750 AD{{sfn|Kortlandt|1982|p=4}}) [[palatal consonant]] [[isogloss]]: ''*šć''-''*žƷ'' ({{lang|sh|Šćakavski}} - Schakavian; "Western Shtokavian" including Slavonian, Eastern Bosnian and transitory Western ikavian dialect) and ''*št'' & ''*žd'' ({{lang|sh|Štakaviski}} - Shtakavian; "Eastern Shtokavian" including Eastern Herzegovinian-Krajina, Šumadija-Vojvodina, Kosovo-Resava, Zeta-Raška dialect). The isogloss developed between 7th and 8/9th century, and the former relates those dialects with Chakavian and Kajkavian, while the latter relates those dialects with Bulgarian.<ref name="Lončarić-1988"/>{{sfn|Kortlandt|1982|p=7}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kortlandt |first=Frederik |author-link=Frederik Kortlandt |date=2006 |title=On the relative chronology of Slavic accentual developments |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24750220 |journal=Wiener Slavistisches Jahrbuch |volume=52 |pages=4–6 |jstor=24750220 |access-date=14 February 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Kortlandt |first=Frederik |author-link=Frederik Kortlandt |date=2016 |title=On the relative chronology of Slavic consonantal developments |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/177714 |journal=Rasprave |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=465–469 |access-date=14 February 2023}}</ref>

==Accentuation== <!-- Section linked from [[Shtokavian accentuation]] -->
The Shtokavian dialect is divided into Old-Shtokavian and Neo-Shtokavian subdialects. The primary distinction is the accentuation system: although there are variations, "old" dialects preserve the older accent system, which consists of two types of falling ([[dynamic stress|dynamic]]) accents, one long and one short, and unstressed syllables, which can be long and short. Both long and short unstressed syllables could precede the stressed syllables. Stress placement is free and mobile in paradigms.

In the process known as "Neo-Shtokavian [[metatony]]" or "retraction", length of the old syllables was preserved, but their quality changed. Stress (intensity) on the inner syllables moved to the preceding syllable, but they kept the high pitch. That process produced the "rising" accents characteristic for Neo-Shtokavian, and yielded the modern four-tone system. Stress on the initial syllables remained the same in quality and pitch.

Most speakers of Shtokavian, native or taught, from Serbia and Croatia do not distinguish between short rising and short falling tones.<ref name="Alexander">{{Harvcoltxt|Alexander|2006|p=356}}</ref> They also pronounce most unstressed long vowels as short, with some exceptions, such as genitive plural endings.<ref name="Alexander"/>

The following notation is used for Shtokavian accents:
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Description!![[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]!!Traditional!!Diacritic
|-
|unstressed short ||{{IPA|[e]}} ||e ||–
|-
|unstressed long ||{{IPA|eː}} ||ē||[[Macron (diacritic)|macron]]
|-
|short rising ||{{IPA|ě}} ||è||[[Grave accent|Grave]]
|-
|long rising ||{{IPA|ěː}} ||é||[[Acute accent|Acute]]
|-
|short falling ||{{IPA|ê}} ||ȅ||[[Double grave]]
|-
|long falling ||{{IPA|êː}} ||ȇ||[[Inverted breve]]
|}

The following table shows the examples of Neo-Shtokavian retraction:

{|class=wikitable
|-
!colspan=2|Old stress||colspan=2|New stress||rowspan=2|Note
|-
!IPA||Trad.||IPA||Trad.
|-
|kûtɕa||kȕća||kûtɕa||kȕća||No retraction from the first syllable
|-
|prâːvda||prȃvda||prâːvda||prȃvda||No retraction from the first syllable
|-
|livâda||livȁda||lǐvada||lìvada||Retraction from short to short syllable → short rising
|-
|junâːk||junȃk||jǔnaːk||jùnāk||Retraction from long to short syllable → short rising + unstressed length
|-
|priːlîka||prīlȉka||prǐːlika||prílika||Retraction from short to long syllable → long rising
|-
|ʒīːvîːm||žīvȋm||ʒǐːviːm||žívīm||Retraction from long to long syllable → long rising + unstressed length
|}

As result of this process, the following set of rules emerged, which are still in effect in all standard variants of Serbo-Croatian:
* Falling accents may only occur word-initially (otherwise it would have been retracted).
* Rising accents may occur anywhere except word-finally.
** thus, monosyllabic words may only have falling accent.
* Unstressed length may only appear after a stressed syllable.

In practice, influx of foreign words and formation of compound words have loosened these rules, especially in spoken idioms (e.g. ''paradȁjz'', ''asistȅnt'', ''poljoprȉvreda''), but they are maintained in standard language and dictionaries.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Pešikan|2007|p=65}}</ref>

==Classification==
===Old-Shtokavian dialects===
====Prizren–Timok (Torlakian)====
{{Main article|Prizren–Timok dialect|Torlakian dialects}}
The transitional dialects stretch southwest from the [[Timok Valley]] near the [[Bulgaria]]n border to [[Prizren]]. There is disagreement among linguists whether these dialects belong to the Shtokavian area, because there are many other morphological characteristics apart from rendering of ''što'' (also, some dialects use ''kakvo'' or ''kvo'', typical for Bulgarian), which would place them into a "transitional" group between Shtokavian and Eastern South Slavic languages ([[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] and [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]]). The Timok-Prizren group falls to the [[Balkan sprachbund]]: declension has all but disappeared, the [[infinitive]] has yielded to [[subjunctive mood|subjunctives]] ''da''-constructions, and adjectives are compared exclusively with prefixes. The accent in the dialect group is a stress accent, and it falls on any syllable in the word. The old semi-vowel{{clarify|date=February 2016}} 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 dialect|Kajkavian]] and [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]]); in others, this ''l'' has become the syllable ''ja''.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}

Torlakian is spoken in [[Kosovo]], around [[Prizren]], [[Gnjilane]], and [[Štrpce]], in [[Southern Serbia (region)|Southern Serbia]], in the part of [[Toplica (South Morava)|Toplica Valley]] around [[Prokuplje]], in [[Nišava|Nišava Valley]] around [[Pirot]], and [[Timok Valley]] ending up with the area around [[Zaječar]], where the Kosovo-Resava dialect becomes more dominant. Few centuries ago, before settlers from Kosovo brought Kosovo-Resava dialect to Eastern Serbia (to [[Bor, Serbia|Bor]] and [[Negotin]] area), Torlakian dialects had been overwhelmingly represented in this region.

====Slavonian====
<!-- doesn't exist; redirects back here {{Main if exists|Slavonian dialect}} -->
Also called the ''Archaic Šćakavian'', it is spoken by [[Croat]]s who live in some parts of [[Slavonia]], [[Bačka]], [[Baranya (region)|Baranja]], [[Syrmia]], in Croatia and Serbia, as well as in northern Bosnia. It is divided into two [[subdialects]]: southern (Posavian / ''posavski'') and northern (Podravian / ''podravski''). The Slavonian dialect has mixed Ikavian and Ekavian pronunciations. Ikavian accent is predominant in the Posavina, Baranja, Bačka, and in the Slavonian subdialect enclave of [[Derventa]], whereas Ekavian accent is predominant in [[Podravina]]. There are enclaves of one accent in the territory of the other, 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 influences. 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'' is preserved instead of the usual ''cr'', for example in ''črn'' instead of ''crn''. Both forms are usual in Kajkavian but very rare in Shtokavian.

====Eastern Bosnian====
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2023}}
{{Main if exists|Eastern Bosnian dialect}}
Also called ''Jekavian-Šćakavian'',{{sfn|Kapović|2015|p=42}} Eastern Bosnian dialect has Jekavian pronunciations in the vast majority of local forms and it is spoken by the majority of Bosniaks living in that area, which includes the bigger Bosnian cities [[Sarajevo]], [[Tuzla]], and [[Zenica]], and by most of Croats that live in that area ([[Vareš]], [[Usora Municipality|Usora]], etc.). Together with basic Jekavian pronunciation, mixed pronunciations exist in [[Tešanj]] and [[Maglaj]] ''dete–djeteta'' (Ekavian–Jekavian) and around [[Žepče]] and [[Jablanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina|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 {{lang|bs|stuop}}, instead of the standard modern ''vuk'' and ''stup''.

====Zeta–Raška====
{{Main article|Zeta–Raška dialect}}
Also known as ''Đekavian-Ijekavian'', it is spoken in eastern half of Montenegro and in eastern [[Raška (region)|Raška]] in Serbia. Its speakers are Serbs, Montenegrins, Bosniaks, and [[Muslims (ethnic group)|ethnic Muslims]]. Together with the dominant Ijekavian pronunciation, mixed pronunciations like ''djete–deteta'' (Jekavian–Ekavian) around Novi Pazar and [[Bijelo Polje]], ''dijete–đeteta'' (Ijekavian–Jekavian) around Podgorica and ''dete–đeteta'' (Ekavian–Jekavian) in the village of [[Mrkojevići]] in southern Montenegro. Mrkojevići are also characterised by retention of ''čr'' instead of ''cr'' as in the previously mentioned villages in Podravina.

Some vernaculars have a very open /ɛ/ or /æ/ as their reflex of ь/ъ, very rare in other Shtokavian vernaculars (''sæn'' and ''dæn'' instead of ''san'' and ''dan'').{{ citation needed | date = February 2016}} Other phonetic features include sounds like {{IPA|ʑ}} in ''iʑesti'' instead of ''izjesti'', {{IPA|ɕ}} as in ''ɕekira'' instead of ''sjekira''. However these sounds are known also to many in East Herzegovina like those in [[Konavle]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kašić |first=Zorka |title=Govor Konavala |journal=Srpski dijalektološki zbornik |volume=XLI |year=1995 |pages=241–395}}</ref> and are not Zeta–Raška specific . There is a loss of the /v/ sound apparent, seen in ''čo'ek'' or ''đa'ola''. The loss of distinction between /ʎ/ and /l/ in some vernaculars is based on a [[Stratum (linguistics)|substratum]]. The word {{lang|cnr|pljesma}} is a hypercorrection (instead of {{lang|cnr|pjesma}}) because many vernaculars have changed lj to j.

All verbs in infinitive finish with "t" (example: {{lang|cnr|pjevat}} 'sing'). This feature is also present in most vernaculars of East Herzegovinian, and actually almost all Serbian and Croatian vernaculars.

The group ''a + o'' gave ''ā'' /aː/ (''kā'' instead of ''kao'', ''rekā'' for ''rekao''), like in other seaside vernaculars. Elsewhere, more common is ''ao'' > ''ō''.

====Kosovo–Resava====
{{Main if exists|Kosovo–Resava dialect}}
{{See also|Smederevo–Vršac dialect}}
Also called ''Older Ekavian'', is spoken by Serbs, mostly in western and northeastern Kosovo (around [[Mitrovica, Kosovo|Mitrovica]] and in Serb ethnic enclaves of [[Goraždevac]] and [[Osojane]] near [[Peja]]), in [[Ibar (river)|Ibar Valley]] up to [[Kraljevo]], around [[Kruševac]], [[Trstenik, Serbia|Trstenik]], and in Župa, in the part of [[Toplica (South Morava)|Toplica Valley]] around ([[Kuršumlija]]), in the [[Morava Valley (Serbia)|Morava Valley]] ([[Jagodina]], [[Ćuprija]], [[Paraćin]], [[Lapovo]]), in [[Resava (river)|Resava Valley]] ([[Svilajnac]], [[Despotovac]]) and eastern Serbia ([[Požarevac]], [[Bor, Serbia|Bor]], [[Majdanpek]], [[Negotin]]). This dialect can be also found in parts of [[Clisura Dunării|Banatska Klisura]] (Clisura Dunării) in Romania, in places where [[Serbs of Romania|Romanian Serbs]] live (left bank of the Danube).

Substitution of ''jat'' is predominantly Ekavian accent even on the end of datives (''žene'' instead of ''ženi''), in pronouns (''teh'' instead of ''tih''), in comparatives (''dobrej'' instead of {{lang|sh|dobriji}}) in the negative of biti (''nesam'' instead of ''nisam''); in [[Smederevo]]–[[Vršac]] dialects, Ikavian forms can be found (''di si'' instead of ''gde si?''). [[Smederevo–Vršac dialect]] (spoken in northeastern Šumadija, Lower Great Morava Valley and Banat) is sometimes classified as a subdialect of the Kosovo-Resava dialect but is also considered to be a separate dialect as it the represents mixed speech of Šumadija–Vojvodina and Kosovo–Resava dialects.

===Neo-Shtokavian dialects===
====Younger Ikavian====
{{Main article|Younger Ikavian}}
{{See also|Bunjevac dialect|Slavomolisano dialect}}
Also called ''Western Ikavian''. The majority of its speakers are [[Croats]] who live in [[Lika]], [[Kvarner]], [[Dalmatia]], [[Herzegovina]], and in north [[Bačka]] around Subotica in Serbia and south [[Bács-Kiskun]] of Hungary, and in [[Molise]] in Italy. The minority speakers of it include [[Bosniaks]] in western Bosnia, mostly around the city of [[Bihać]], and also in central Bosnia where Croats and Bosniaks (e.g. [[Travnik]], [[Jajce]], [[Bugojno]], [[Vitez]]) used to speak this dialect. Exclusively Ikavian accent, Bosnian and Herzegovinian forms use ''o'' in verb participle, whereas those in Dalmatia and Lika use ''-ija'' or ''ia'' like in ''vidija/vidia''. Local form of [[Bačka]] was proposed as the base for the Danubian branch of the [[Bunjevac dialect]] of Bunjevac Croats ([[Bunjevci]]) in [[Vojvodina]], Serbia.

====Šumadija–Vojvodina====
{{Main article|Šumadija–Vojvodina dialect}}
Also known as ''Younger Ekavian'', is one of the bases for the standard [[Serbian language]]. It is spoken by Serbs across most of Vojvodina (excluding easternmost parts around Vršac), wider [[Belgrade]] region, western half of [[Šumadija]], [[Kolubara District|Kolubara]], [[Mačva]], and in majority ethnic Serb areas in eastern Croatia around the town of [[Vukovar]]. It is predominately Ekavian (Ikavian forms are of morphophonological origin). Most Vojvodina dialects and some dialects in Šumadija have an open ''e'' and ''o''{{clarify|date=April 2014}}. However the vernaculars of western Serbia, and in past to them connected vernaculars of (old) Belgrade and southwestern Banat (Borča, [[Pančevo]], Bavanište) are as close to the standard as a vernacular can be. The dialect presents a base for the Ekavian variant of the Serbian standard language.

====Eastern Herzegovinian====
{{Main article|Eastern Herzegovinian dialect|Dubrovnik subdialect}}
Also called ''Eastern Herzegovinian'' or ''Neo-Ijekavian''. It encompasses by far the largest area and the number of speakers of all Shtokavian dialects. It is the dialectal basis of the standard literary [[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]], and [[Montenegrin language|Montenegrin]] languages.

A specific idiom which is often grouped with Eastern Herzegovinian is [[Dubrovnik subdialect]]. Also known as ''Western Ijekavian'', in earlier centuries, this subdialect was an independent subdialect of Western Shtokavian dialect. After migrations and Neo-Shtokavisation, it preserved features (like accent, vowels, morphology etc.) which are different to Eastern Herzegovinian. It has a mixed Shtokavian and Chakavian vocabulary, with some words from [[Dalmatian language|Dalmatian]], older [[Venetian language|Venetian]] and modern [[Italian language|Italian]].

Micro groups:
* western [[Montenegro]] – spoken south Ijekavian variant.
* [[Croats]] western Ijekavian variant micro groups in region [[Slavonia]], [[Banovina (region)|Banovina]], [[Kordun]], [[Žumberak]], [[Neretva]], [[East Herzegovina]] ([[Ravno]], [[Stolac]], [[Buna, Mostar|Buna]], [[Neum]]), wider [[Dubrovnik]] region, and is the basis of the Croatian standard. Cities and towns: ([[Osijek]], [[Bjelovar]], [[Daruvar]], [[Sisak]], [[Pakrac]], [[Petrinja]], [[Dubrovnik]], [[Metković]]).
* [[Serbs]] east Ijekavian variant groups; East Bosnia, East Herzegovina ([[Trebinje]], [[Nevesinje]], [[Bileća]]), [[Bosanska Krajina]], southwestern Serbia and Podrinje ([[Užice]], [[Čačak]], [[Ivanjica]], [[Loznica]], [[Priboj]], [[Prijepolje]]). Cities and towns: [[Trebinje]], [[Bijeljina]], [[Banja Luka]], [[Prijedor]], [[Istočno Sarajevo]].
* Its south-eastern form is characterised by the total lack of {{IPA|/x/}} sound that is sometimes not only left out or replaced by more common {{IPA|/j/}} or {{IPA|/v/}} but is replaced as well by less common {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}} ({{lang|sh|bijak}}, {{lang|sh|bijaku}} imperfect of verb ''biti''). Local forms in the [[Žumberak]] enclave and around [[Dubrovnik]] or [[Slunj]] have some special Croatian features, influenced from [[Chakavian dialect|Chakavian]] and the [[#Bosnian–Dalmatian|western subdialect]], whereas forms in [[Bjelovar]] or [[Pakrac]] are influenced from [[Kajkavian dialect|Kajkavian]].

==Yat reflexes{{Anchor|Ijekavian|Ekavian|Ikavian}}==
[[File:Serbo-Croatian dialects.png|thumb|Map of [[yat]] pronunciations:
{{legend|#ffff80|Ijekavian}}
{{legend|#3e9eff|Ekavian}}
{{legend|#ff7d7d|Ikavian}}]]
The Proto-Slavic vowel ''[[yat|jat]]'' (ѣ in [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] or ě in [[Latin script|Latin]])
has changed over time, coming to be pronounced differently in different areas. These different reflexes define three "pronunciations" ({{lang|sh|izgovori}}) of Shtokavian:
* In Ekavian pronunciation (''ekavski'' {{IPA|sh|ěːkaʋskiː|}}),<ref>{{cite web | work = Hrvatski jezični portal | title = ékavskī |url=http://hjp.znanje.hr/index.php?show=search_by_id&id=fF1iXhQ%3D&keyword=ekavski |access-date=21 March 2015}}</ref> ''jat'' has conflated into the vowel ''e''
* in Ikavian pronunciation (''ikavski'' {{IPA|sh|ǐːkaʋskiː|}}),<ref>{{cite web | work = Hrvatski jezični portal | title = íkavskī |url=https://hjp.znanje.hr/index.php?show=search_by_id&id=fVtgXRI%3D&keyword=ikavski |access-date=21 March 2015}}</ref> it has conflated into the vowel ''i''
* in Ijekavian or Jekavian pronunciation (''ijekavski'' {{IPA|sh|ijěːkaʋskiː|}}<ref name="hjp4">{{cite web | work = Hrvatski jezični portal | title = ijékavskī | url=https://hjp.znanje.hr/index.php?show=search_by_id&id=fVtgWxY%3D |access-date=21 March 2015}}</ref> or ''jekavski'' {{IPA|sh|jěːkaʋskiː|}}),<ref name="hjp4"/> it has come to be pronounced ''ije'' or ''je'', depending on whether the vowel was long or short. In standard [[Croatian language|Croatian]], pronunciation is always Jekavian: when yat is short then it is {{IPA|[je]}} (written as ''je''), and when yat is long then it is {{IPA|[jeː]}} (written as ''ije'').

Historically, the yat reflexes had been inscribed in Church Slavic texts before the significant development of Shtokavian dialect, reflecting the beginnings of the formative period of the vernacular. In early documents it is predominantly Church Slavic of the Serbian or Croatian ''recension'' (variant). The first undoubted Ekavian reflex ({{lang|sr-Latn-ekavsk|beše}} 'it was') is found in a document from Serbia dated 1289; the first Ikavian reflex ({{lang|sr|svidoci}} 'witnesses') in Bosnia in 1331; and first Ijekavian reflex ({{lang|sr-Latn-ijekavsk|želijemo}} 'we wish', a "hyper-Ijekavism") in Croatia in 1399. Partial attestation can be found in earlier texts (for instance, Ikavian pronunciation is found in a few Bosnian documents from the latter half of the 13th century), but philologists generally accept the aforementioned dates. In the second half of the 20th century, many vernaculars with unsubstituted yat{{clarify|date=December 2011}} are found.<ref>P. Ivić, Putevi razvoja srpskohrvatskog vokalizma, Voprosy jazykoznanija VII/1 (1958), revised in Iz istorije srpskohrvatske dijalektologije, Niš 1991</ref> The intrusion of the vernacular into Church Slavic grew in time, to be finally replaced by the vernacular idiom. This process took 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 [[Quran]], where this phoneme is the carrier of specific semantic value.

The Ekavian pronunciation, sometimes called Eastern, is spoken primarily in Serbia, and in small parts of Croatia. The Ikavian pronunciation, sometimes called Western, is spoken in western and central Bosnia, western Herzegovina, some of Slavonia and the major part of Dalmatia in Croatia. The Ijekavian pronunciation, sometimes called Southern, is spoken in central Croatia, most of Slavonia, southern Dalmatia, most of Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, as well as some parts of western Serbia. The following are some generic examples:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! English !! Predecessor !! Ekavian !! Ikavian !! Ijekavian
|-
| time || {{lang|sh|vrěme}} || {{lang|sr-Latn-ekavsk|vreme}} || {{lang|sh|vrime}} || {{lang|sr-Latn-ijekavsk|vrijeme}}
|-
| beautiful || {{lang|sh|lěp}} || {{lang|sr-Latn-ekavsk|lep}} || {{lang|sh|lip}} || {{lang|sr-Latn-ijekavsk|lijep}}
|-
| girl || {{lang|sh|děvojka}} || {{lang|sr-Latn-ekavsk|devojka}} ||{{lang|sh|divojka}} || {{lang|sr-Latn-ijekavsk|djevojka}}
|-
| true || {{lang|sh|věran}} || {{lang|sr-Latn-ekavsk|veran}} || {{lang|sh|viran}} || {{lang|sr-Latn-ijekavsk|vjeran}}
|-
| to sit || {{lang|sh|sědĕti}} || {{lang|sr-Latn-ekavsk|sedeti (sèdeti)}} || {{lang|sh|siditi (sìditi)}} || {{lang|sr-Latn-ijekavsk|sjediti}}
|-
| to grow gray hairs || {{lang|sh|sěděti}} || {{lang|sr-Latn-ekavsk|sedeti (sédeti)}} || {{lang|sh|siditi (síditi)}} || {{lang|sr-Latn-ijekavsk|sijediti}}
|-
| to heat || {{lang|sh|grějati}} || {{lang|sr-Latn-ekavsk|grejati}} || {{lang|sh|grijati}} || {{lang|sr-Latn-ijekavsk|grijati}}
|}
Long ''ije'' is pronounced as a single syllable, {{IPA|[jeː]}}, by many Ijekavian speakers, especially in Croatia. However, in Zeta dialect and most of East Herzegovina dialect, it is pronounced as two [[syllable]]s, {{IPA|[ije]}}, which is the Croatian official standard too, but seldom actually practiced. This distinction can be clearly heard in first verses of [[Lijepa naša domovino|national anthems of Croatia]] and [[Oj, svijetla majska zoro|Montenegro]]—they're sung as "'''''L'je-pa''' [two syllables] na-ša do-mo-vi-no''" and "''Oj '''svi-je-tla''' [three syllables] maj-ska zo-ro''" respectively.

The Ikavian pronunciation is the only one that is not part of any standard variety of Serbo-Croatian today, though it was a variant used for a significant literary output between the 15th and 18th centuries. This has led to a reduction in its use and an increase in the use of Ijekavian in traditionally Ikavian areas since the standardization. For example, most people in formerly fully Ikavian [[Split, Croatia]] today use both Ikavian and Ijekavian words in everyday speech, without a clearly predictable pattern (usually more emotionally charged or intimate words are Ikavian and more academic, political, generally standardised words Ijekavian, but it is not a straight out rule).

The [[IETF language tag]]s have assigned the variants {{code|sr-ekavsk}} and {{code|sr-ijekavsk}} to Ekavian and Ijekavian pronunciations, respectively.<ref>{{cite web |title=IETF language subtag registry |url=https://www.iana.org/assignments/language-subtag-registry/language-subtag-registry |publisher=IANA |access-date=10 September 2021 |language=en |date=2021-08-06}}</ref>

==Ethnic affiliation of native speakers of Shtokavian dialect==
During the first 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 the Czech philologist [[Josef Dobrovský]], the Slovak [[Pavel Šafárik]], the Slovenes [[Jernej Kopitar]] and [[Franz Miklosich]], the Serb [[Vuk Karadžić]], the Croat of Slovak origin [[Bogoslav Šulek]], and the Croatians [[Vatroslav Jagić]] and [[Ante Starčević]].

The dispute was primarily concerned with who can, philologically, be labelled as "Slovene", "Croat" and "Serb" with the aim of expanding one's national territory and influence. Born in the climate of romanticism and national awakening, these polemical battles led to increased tensions between the aforementioned nations, especially because the Shtokavian dialect cannot be split along ethnic lines in an unequivocal manner.

However, contemporary native speakers, after process of national crystallization and identification had been completed, can be roughly identified as predominant speakers of various Shtokavian subdialects. Because 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-Shtokavian speakers along ethnic lines in present times is as follows:
* Timok-Prizren (Ekavian pronunciation) dialect: Serbs
* Kosovo-Resava (Ekavian pronunciation) dialect: Serbs
* Zeta-Raška dialect (Ijekavian pronunciation): Montenegrins, Bosniaks, and Serbs.
* Slavonian dialect (fluctuating "yat": mainly Ikavian pronunciation, also Ijekavian): Croats
* Eastern Bosnian dialect (Ijekavian pronunciation): Bosniaks and Croats

Generally, the Neo-Shtokavian dialect is divided as follows with regard to the ethnicity of its native speakers:
* Šumadija-Vojvodina dialect (Ekavian pronunciation): Serbs
* Dalmatian-Bosnian dialect (Ikavian pronunciation): Croats and Bosniaks
* Eastern Herzegovinian (Ijekavian pronunciation): Serbs, Montenegrins, Croats, and Bosniaks

{| class="wikitable"
!Group !! Sub-Dialect !! Serbian !! Croatian !! Bosnian !! Montenegrin
|-
|rowspan=5|Old-Shtokavian
|Timok-Prizren || x || || ||
|-
|Kosovo-Resava || x || || ||
|-
|Zeta-Raška || x || || x || x
|-
|Slavonian || || x || ||
|-
|Eastern Bosnian || || x || x ||
|-
|rowspan=3|Neo-Shtokavian
|Šumadija-Vojvodina || x || || ||
|-
|Dalmatian-Bosnian || || x || x ||
|-
|Eastern Herzgovinian || x || x || x || x
|}

==Standard language==
{{Main article|Comparison of Serbo-Croatian standard varieties}}
The standard [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[Montenegrin language|Montenegrin]], and [[Serbian language|Serbian]] variants of the [[Pluricentric language#Serbo-Croatian|pluricentric Serbo-Croatian]] [[standard language]] are all based on the Neo-Shtokavian dialect.<ref>{{harvcoltxt| Brozović |1992|pp=347–380}}</ref><ref>{{harvcoltxt| Blum |2002|p=134}}</ref><ref>{{harvcoltxt|Kordić|2010|pp=99–101}}</ref>

However, it must be stressed that standard variants, irrespectively of their mutual differences, have been stylised in such manners that parts of the Neo-Shtokavian dialect have been retained (for instance, declension)but other features were purposely omitted or altered (for instance, the phoneme "h" was reinstated in the standard language).

Croatian has had a long tradition of Shtokavian vernacular literacy and literature. It took almost four and half centuries for Shtokavian to prevail as the dialectal basis for the Croatian standard. In other periods, Chakavian and Kajkavian dialects, as well as hybrid Chakavian–Kajkavian–Shtokavian interdialects "contended" for the Croatian national [[koine]], but eventually lost, mainly due to historical and political reasons. By the 1650s it was fairly obvious that Shtokavian would become the dialectal basis for the Croatian standard, but this process was finally completed in the 1850s, when Neo-Shtokavian Ijekavian, based mainly on Ragusan (Dubrovnik), Dalmatian, Bosnian, and Slavonian literary heritage became the national standard language.{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}}

Serbian was much faster in standardisation. Although [[vernacular literature]] was present in the 18th century, it was Vuk Karadžić who, between 1818 and 1851, made a radical break with the past and established Serbian Neo-Shtokavian 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 accent, the majority of Serbs have adopted Ekavian accent, which is dominant in Serbia. Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia, as well as Montenegrins, use the Ijekavian accent.

Bosnian is only currently beginning to take shape. The Bosniak idiom can be seen as a transition between Serbian Ijekavian and Croatian varieties, with some specific traits. After the [[breakup of Yugoslavia]], Bosniaks affirmed their wish to stylize their own standard language, based on the Neo-Shtokavian dialect, but reflecting their characteristics, from phonetics to semantics.

Also, the contemporary situation is unstable with regard to the accentuation, because phoneticians have observed that the 4-accents speech has, in all likelihood, shown to be increasingly unstable, which resulted in proposals that a 3-accents norm be prescribed. This is particularly true for [[Croatian language|Croatian]], where, contrary to all expectations, the influence of [[Chakavian dialect|Chakavian]] and [[Kajkavian dialect]]s on the standard language has been waxing, not waning, in the past 50–70 years.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}}<!--any actual dates, even approximate?-->

The Croatian, Serbian, and Bosnian standard variants, although all based on the East Herzegovinian subdialect of Neo-Shtokavian and mutually intelligible, do differ slightly, as is the case with other pluricentric languages (English, Spanish, [[Standard German#Pluricentricity|German]] and Portuguese, among others), but not to a degree which would justify considering them as [[Language secessionism#In Serbo-Croatian|different languages]].<ref>{{harvcoltxt| Pohl |1996|p=219}}</ref><ref>{{harvcoltxt| Blum |2002|pp=125–126}}</ref><ref>{{harvcoltxt| Bunčić |2008|p=93}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Zanelli|first=Aldo|year=2018|title=Eine Analyse der Metaphern in der kroatischen Linguistikfachzeitschrift Jezik von 1991 bis 1997|trans-title=Analysis of Metaphors in Croatian Linguistic Journal ''Language'' from 1991 to 1997|language=de|series=Studien zur Slavistik ; 41|location=Hamburg|publisher=Kovač|pages=21|isbn=978-3-8300-9773-0|oclc=1023608613}} [http://katalog.nsk.hr/F/?func=direct&doc_number=001013945 (NSK)]. [https://koha.ffzg.hr/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=385977 (FFZG)]</ref> Their structures are grammatically and phonologically almost identical, but have differences in vocabulary and semantics: "Lexical differences between the ethnic variants are extremely limited, even when compared with those between closely related Slavic languages (such as standard Czech and Slovak, Bulgarian and Macedonian), and grammatical differences are even less pronounced. More importantly, complete understanding between the ethnic variants of the standard language makes translation and second language teaching impossible."<ref>{{cite book|last=Šipka|first=Danko|author-link=Danko Sipka|year=2019|title=Lexical layers of identity: words, meaning, and culture in the Slavic languages|location=New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=166|doi=10.1017/9781108685795|isbn=978-953-313-086-6|s2cid=150383965|lccn=2018048005 |oclc=1061308790}}</ref>

In 2017, numerous prominent writers, scientists, journalists, activists and other public figures from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia, signed the [[Declaration on the Common Language]], which states that in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia, a common [[Polycentric language|polycentric standard language]] is used, consisting of several standard varieties, similar to the situation in [[German language|German]], English, or Spanish.<ref>{{cite web|first=Sven|last=Milekić|date=30 March 2017|title=Post-Yugoslav 'Common Language' Declaration Challenges Nationalism|url=http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/post-yugoslav-common-language-declaration-challenges-nationalism-03-29-2017|publisher=[[Balkan Insight]]|archive-date=27 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170427234436/http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/post-yugoslav-common-language-declaration-challenges-nationalism-03-29-2017|url-status=live|location=London|access-date=6 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=J.|first=T.|date=10 April 2017|title=Is Serbo-Croatian a Language?|url=http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2017/04/economist-explains-4|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|archive-date=10 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410083158/http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2017/04/economist-explains-4|url-status=live|location=London|issn=0013-0613|access-date=4 May 2017}} [http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2017&mm=04&dd=10&nav_category=12&nav_id=1248942 Alt URL]</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Trudgill|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Trudgill|date=30 November 2017|page=46|title=Time to Make Four Into One|url=https://archive.org/details/PeterTrudgillTimeToMakeFourIntoOne2017|publisher=[[The New European]]|access-date=1 July 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|first=Dan|last=Nosovitz|date=11 February 2019|title=What Language Do People Speak in the Balkans, Anyway?|url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-language-is-spoken-in-the-balkans|magazine=[[Atlas Obscura]]|archive-date=11 February 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190211191959/https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-language-is-spoken-in-the-balkans|access-date=7 April 2019}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Abstand and ausbau languages]]
* [[Language secessionism#In Serbo-Croatian|Language secessionism in Serbo-Croatian]]
* [[Pluricentric language]]
* [[Mutual intelligibility]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last=Alexander |first=Ronelle |year=2000 |title=In honor of diversity: the linguistic resources of the Balkans |series=Kenneth E. Naylor memorial lecture series in South Slavic linguistics ; vol. 2 |location= Columbus, Ohio |publisher=Ohio State University, Dept. of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures |oclc=47186443 }}
* {{cite book|last=Alexander |first=Ronelle |author-mask=2 |title=Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian - A Grammar with Sociolinguistic Commentary |publisher=The University of Wisconsin Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-299-21194-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Blum |first=Daniel |year=2002 |language=de |title=Sprache und Politik : Sprachpolitik und Sprachnationalismus in der Republik Indien und dem sozialistischen Jugoslawien (1945–1991) |trans-title=Language and Policy: Language Policy and Linguistic Nationalism in the Republic of India and the Socialist Yugoslavia (1945–1991) |series=Beiträge zur Südasienforschung ; vol. 192 |location=Würzburg |publisher=Ergon |page=200 |isbn=3-89913-253-X |oclc=51961066 }}
* {{cite book |author-link=Dalibor Brozović |last=Brozović |first=Dalibor |date=1992 |title=Serbo-Croatian as Pluricentric Language, u: ''Pluricentric Languages''. Differing Norms in Different Nations. |editor=Michael Clyne |location=Berlin-New York |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |pages=347–380}}
* {{Citation|last=Bunčić |first=Daniel |editor1-last=Kempgen |editor1-first=Sebastian |title=Deutsche Beiträge zum 14. Internationalen Slavistenkongress, Ohrid, 2008 |series=Welt der Slaven |publisher=Otto Sagner |pages=89–102 |language=de |chapter=Die (Re-)Nationalisierung der serbokroatischen Standards |trans-chapter=The (Re-)Nationalisation of Serbo-Croatian Standards |location=Munich |year=2008 |oclc=238795822}}
* {{Citation|last=Crystal |first=David |author-link=David Crystal |year=1998 |orig-year=1st pub. 1987 |title=The Cambridge encyclopedia of language |location=Cambridge, New York | publisher=Cambridge University Press |oclc=300458429}}
* {{cite book|last=Gröschel |first=Bernhard| author-link=Bernhard Gröschel |year=2009 |language=de |title=Das Serbokroatische zwischen Linguistik und Politik: mit einer Bibliographie zum postjugoslavischen Sprachenstreit |trans-title=Serbo-Croatian Between Linguistics and Politics: With a Bibliography of the Post-Yugoslav Language Dispute |series=Lincom Studies in Slavic Linguistics ; vol 34 |location=Munich |publisher=Lincom Europa |page=451 |isbn=978-3-929075-79-3 |oclc=428012015 |lccn=2009473660 |ol=15295665W}} [http://d-nb.info/994941226/04 Inhaltsverzeichnis].
* {{cite book |last=Kapović |first=Mate |author-link=Mate Kapović |date=2015 |title=Povijest hrvatske akcentuacije. Fonetika |trans-title=History of Croatian Accentuation. Phonetics |url=https://www.bib.irb.hr/793569 |language=hr |location=Zagreb |publisher=[[Matica hrvatska]] |isbn=978-953-150-971-8}}
* {{Citation |last=Kordić |first=Snježana |author-link=Snježana Kordić |year=2010 |language=sh |title=Jezik i nacionalizam |trans-title=Language and Nationalism |url=http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/475567.Jezik_i_nacionalizam.pdf |url-status=live |series=Rotulus Universitas |location=Zagreb |publisher=Durieux |page=430 |isbn=978-953-188-311-5 |lccn=2011520778 |oclc=729837512 |ol=15270636W |id={{CROSBI|475567}} |archive-date=1 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601175359/http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/475567.Jezik_i_nacionalizam.pdf |access-date=3 April 2014 }}
* {{cite book |last=Kortlandt |first=Frederik |author-link=Frederik Kortlandt |date=1982 |chapter=Early dialectal diversity in South Slavic I |chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40996889 |title=South Slavic and Balkan Linguistics |series=Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics |volume=2 |pages=177–192|publisher=Editions Rodopi B.V., Brill |jstor=40996889 }}
* {{cite book |last=Kortlandt |first=Frederik |author-link=Frederik Kortlandt |date=2003 |chapter=Early dialectal diversity in South Slavic II |chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40997749 |title=Dutch Contributions to the Thirteenth International Congress of Slavists. Linguistics |series=Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics |volume=30 |pages=215–235|publisher=Editions Rodopi B.V., Brill |jstor=40997749 }}
* {{Citation |first=Josip |last=Lisac |author-link=Josip Lisac |title=Hrvatska dijalektologija 1&nbsp;– Hrvatski dijalekti i govori štokavskog narječja i hrvatski govori torlačkog narječja |year=2003 |publisher=Golden marketing&nbsp;– Tehnička knjiga |location=Zagreb |isbn=953-212-168-4}}
* {{cite journal |last=Lukežić |first=Iva |date=1996 |title=Prilog raspravi o genezi hrvatskih narječja |trans-title=A contribution to the treatise of the beginnings of Croatian dialects |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/132679 |language=hr |journal=Fluminensia |volume=8 |issue=1–2 |pages=223–236}}
* {{cite book |last=Matasović |first=Ranko |author-link=Ranko Matasović |date=2008 |title=Poredbenopovijesna gramatika hrvatskoga jezika |trans-title=Comparative and historical grammar of Croatian |language=hr |location=Zagreb |publisher=[[Matica hrvatska]] |isbn=978-953-150-840-7}}
* {{Citation |first=Miloš |last=Okuka |author-link=Miloš Okuka |title=Srpski dijalekti |year=2008 |publisher=SDK Prosvjeta |isbn=978-953-7611-06-4}}
* {{Citation |last=Pohl |first=Hans-Dieter |editor1-last=Ohnheiser |editor1-first=Ingeborg |title=Wechselbeziehungen zwischen slawischen Sprachen, Literaturen und Kulturen in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart : Akten der Tagung aus Anlaß des 25jährigen Bestehens des Instituts für Slawistik an der Universität Innsbruck, Innsbruck, 25.&nbsp;– 27. Mai 1995 |series=Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Kulturwissenschaft, Slavica aenipontana ; vol. 4 |publisher=Non Lieu |pages=205–219 |language=de |chapter=Serbokroatisch&nbsp;– Rückblick und Ausblick |trans-chapter=Serbo-Croatian&nbsp;– Looking backward and forward |location=Innsbruck |year=1996 |oclc=243829127}}
* {{Citation |first1=Roland |last1=Sussex |author1-link=Roland Sussex |first2=Paul |last2=Cubberly |title=The Slavic Languages |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo |isbn=978-0-521-22315-7}}
* {{Citation |title=Srpski jezički priručnik|last=Pešikan |first=Mitar |chapter=III. Akcenat i druga pitanja pravilnog govora |page=65 |publisher=Beogradska knjiga |year=2007 |edition=IV |isbn=978-86-7590-169-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Zubčić |first=Sanja |date=2017 |title=Neocirkumfleks u čakavskom narječju |trans-title=Neocircumflex in the Čakavian |url=http://izdavastvo.ffri.hr/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Sanja-Zubcic-Neocirkumfleks-u-cakavskom-narjecju.pdf |language=hr |location=Rijeka |publisher=Filozofski fakultet u Rijeci |isbn=978-953-7975-50-0}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last=Friedman |first=Victor |author-link=Victor Friedman |year=1999 |title=Linguistic emblems and emblematic languages: on language as flag in the Balkans |series=Kenneth E. Naylor memorial lecture series in South Slavic linguistics ; vol. 1 |location= Columbus, Ohio |publisher=Ohio State University, Dept. of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures |oclc=46734277}}
* {{cite journal|author=Gröschel, Bernhard| author-link=Bernhard Gröschel |title=Postjugoslavische Amtssprachenregelungen - Soziolinguistische Argumente gegen die Einheitlichkeit des Serbokroatischen? |trans-title=Post-Yugoslav Official Languages Regulations – Sociolinguistic Arguments Against Consistency of Serbo-Croatian? |language=de |url=https://archive.org/details/Postjugoslavische_Amtssprachenregelungen_Bernhard_Groeschel_2003 |journal=Srpski Jezik |volume=8 |issue=1–2 |pages=135–196 |year=2003 |issn=0354-9259 |access-date=14 April 2015}} [http://www.vbs.rs/scripts/cobiss?command=DISPLAY&base=99999&rid=121971724&fmt=11&lani=sr (COBISS-Sr)].
* {{cite journal |last1=Hrnjica |first1=Samra |date=2018 |title=Zapadna štokavština u djelu Aleksandra Belića |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/218444 |journal=Croatica et Slavica Iadertina |volume=14/1 |issue=14 |pages=77–85 |language=sh}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Kapović |first1=Mate |author-link=Mate Kapović |date=2008 |title=O naglasku u staroštokavskom slavonskom dijalektu |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/32640 |journal=Croatica et Slavica Iadertina |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=115–147 |doi=10.15291/csi.414 |language=sh|doi-access=free }}
* {{cite book |last=Kordić |first=Snježana |author-link=Snježana Kordić |editor1-last=Krause |editor1-first=Marion |editor2-last=Sappok |editor2-first=Christian |title=Slavistische Linguistik 2002: Referate des XXVIII. Konstanzer Slavistischen Arbeitstreffens, Bochum 10.-12. September 2002 |series=Slavistishe Beiträge ; vol. 434 |publisher=Otto Sagner |pages=97–148 |language=de |chapter=Pro und kontra: "Serbokroatisch" heute |trans-chapter=Pro and con: "Serbo-Croatian" nowadays |chapter-url=http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/430499.PRO_UND_KONTRA_SERBOKROATISCH.PDF |url-status=live |location=Munich |year=2004 |isbn=3-87690-885-X |oclc=56198470 |ssrn=3434516 |id={{CROSBI|430499}} |archive-date=4 August 2012 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/69f5n0ek4?url=http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/430499.PRO_UND_KONTRA_SERBOKROATISCH.PDF |access-date=2 October 2013 }} [http://data.onb.ac.at/rec/AC05094207 (ÖNB)].
* {{cite book |last=Kordić |first=Snježana |author-link=Snježana Kordić |author-mask=2 |editor1-last=Badurina |editor1-first=Lada |editor2-last=Pranjković |editor2-first=Ivo |editor2-link=Ivo Pranjković |editor3-last=Silić |editor3-first=Josip |title=Jezični varijeteti i nacionalni identiteti |publisher=Disput |pages=83–108 |language=sh |chapter=Policentrični standardni jezik |trans-chapter=Polycentric Standard Language |chapter-url=http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/426269.POLICENTRICNI_STANDARDNI.PDF |url-status=live |location=Zagreb |year=2009 |isbn=978-953-260-054-4 |oclc=437306433 |ssrn=3438216 |id={{CROSBI|426269}} |archive-date=4 August 2012 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/69f5Mtzox?url=http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/426269.POLICENTRICNI_STANDARDNI.PDF |access-date=31 January 2015 }} [http://data.onb.ac.at/rec/AC07252152 (ÖNB)].
* {{cite journal |author=Kordić, Snježana |author-link=Snježana Kordić |author-mask=2 |title=Plurizentrische Sprachen, Ausbausprachen, Abstandsprachen und die Serbokroatistik |trans-title=Pluricentric languages, Ausbau languages, Abstand languages and the Serbo-Croatians |url=http://www.zeitschrift-fuer-balkanologie.de/index.php/zfb/article/view/203/203 |language=de |journal=Zeitschrift für Balkanologie |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=210–215 |year=2009 |issn=0044-2356 |oclc=680567046 |ssrn=3439240 |id={{CROSBI|436361}}. {{ZDB|201058-6}} |archive-date=4 August 2012 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/69f5bCgpH?url=http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/436361.AUSBAU-ABSTAND-PLURIZENTRISCH.PDF |url-status=live |access-date=6 May 2014 }}
* {{cite journal |author= Kristophson, Jürgen |title=Vom Widersinn der Dialektologie: Gedanken zum Štokavischen |trans-title=Dialectological Nonsense: Thoughts on Shtokavian |language=de |journal=Zeitschrift für Balkanologie |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=178–186 |year=2000 |issn=0044-2356}}
* [[Asim Peco|Peco, Asim]] (1967). "Uticaj turskog jezika na fonetiku štokavskih govora". ''Naš jezik'', 16, 3. {{in lang|sh}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Peco |first1=Asim |author-link=Asim Peco |date=1981 |title=Čakavsko-šćakavski odnosi u zapadnobosanskoj govornoj zoni |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/204532 |journal=Hrvatski dijalektološki zbornik |issue=5 |pages=137–144 |language=sh}}
* {{cite book|last=Škiljan |first=Dubravko| author-link=Dubravko Škiljan |year=2002 |language=sh |title=Govor nacije: jezik, nacija, Hrvati |trans-title=Voice of the Nation: Language, Nation, Croats |series=Biblioteka Obrisi moderne |location=Zagreb | publisher=Golden marketing |oclc=55754615}}
* {{cite journal|author=Thomas, Paul-Louis |title=Le serbo-croate (bosniaque, croate, monténégrin, serbe): de l'étude d'une langue à l'identité des langues |trans-title=Serbo-Croatian (Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Serbian): from the study of a language to the identity of languages |url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/slave_0080-2557_2002_num_74_2_6801 |language=fr |journal=Revue des études slaves |volume=74 |issue=2–3 |pages=311–325 |year=2003 |doi=10.3406/slave.2002.6801 |issn=0080-2557 |oclc=754204160 |id= {{ZDB|208723-6}} |access-date=23 September 2015}}
* {{cite book |last1=Vidović |first1=Domagoj |date=2009 |chapter=Ikavski i ijekavski govori na širemu neretvanskom području |trans-chapter=Ikavian and Ijekavian speeches in the wider Neretva area |title=Ivo Lendić: književnik, novinar, proganik; Četvrti neretvanski književni, znanstveni i kulturni susret |chapter-url=https://www.bib.irb.hr/428955 |pages=191–205 |language=sh |isbn=978-953-6223-18-3}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Vidović |first1=Domagoj |date=2009 |title=Utjecaj migracija na novoštokavske ijekavske govore u Neretvanskoj krajini i Donjoj Hercegovini |trans-title=The influence of migrations on the Neoštokavian Ijekavian subdialects in the Neretva region and in lower Herzegovina |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/144203 |journal=Hrvatski dijalektološki zbornik |issue=15 |pages=283–304 |language=sh}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20240617204742/http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/540/langdial/serbcrot.html Map of Serbo-Croatian dialects according to Brabec, Hraste, and Živković]

{{Authority control}}

{{Serbo-Croatian dialects}}
{{Slavic languages}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shtokavian Dialect}}
[[Category:Serbo-Croatian]]
[[Category:Dialects of Serbo-Croatian]]