Bosnian language
| Bosnian | |
|---|---|
| Bosniak | |
| bosanski / босански | |
| Pronunciation | [bɔ̌sanskiː] |
| Native to | Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sandžak, Croatia, North Macedonia, and Kosovo |
| Ethnicity | Bosniaks |
Native speakers | 2.7 million (2020) |
| Latin (Gaj's Latin alphabet) Cyrillic (Serbian Cyrillic alphabet) Yugoslav Braille Formerly: Arabic (Arebica) Bosnian Cyrillic (Bosančica) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Bosnia and Herzegovina Montenegro (co-official) |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | bs |
| ISO 639-2 | bos |
| ISO 639-3 | bos |
| Glottolog | bosn1245 |
| Linguasphere | part of 53-AAA-g |
Countries where Bosnian is a co-official language (dark green) or a recognised minority language (light green) | |
Bosnian is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
| South Slavic languages and dialects |
|---|
Bosnian (/ˈbɒzniən/ ⓘ; bosanski / босански; [bɔ̌sanskiː]), sometimes referred to as Bosniak (bošnjački / бошњачки; [bǒʃɲaːtʃkiː]), is the standard variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Bosniaks. Bosnian is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina, alongside Croatian and Serbian, all of which are mutually intelligible. It is also an officially recognized minority language in Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Kosovo.
Bosnian uses both the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets, with Latin in everyday use. It is notable among the varieties of Serbo-Croatian for a number of Arabic, Persian and Ottoman Turkish loanwords, largely due to the language's interaction with those cultures through Islamic ties.
Bosnian is based on the most widespread dialect of Serbo-Croatian, Shtokavian, more specifically on Eastern Herzegovinian, which is also the basis of standard Croatian, Serbian and Montenegrin varieties. Therefore, the Declaration on the Common Language of Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks and Montenegrins was issued in 2017 in Sarajevo. Although the common name for the common language remains 'Serbo-Croatian', newer alternatives such as 'Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian' and 'Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian' have been increasingly utilised since the 1990s, especially within diplomatic circles.