This map shows the regions
of the world where Serbo-Croatian is commonly spoken (red circle).
Technically, Serbian and Croatian were two separate languages,
but they were so similar as to be mutually understandable. When
the Serbian nation and the Croats of Bosnia and Croatia were
made into a single nation in the territory of Yugoslavia after
World War I, the linguistic similarities increased to the point
where they were indistinguishable. Given the recent bouts of
"ethnic cleansing" (i.e., genocide) in parts of Bosnia,
Serbia, Croatia, and the surrounding regions in the last part
of the 1990s, it remains to be seen what will happen to this
linguistic fusion. Serbian and Croatian are in the South Slavic
family of languages that descended from the Slavic sub-branch
of the Balto-Slavic sub-branch of Indo-European. Serbo-Croatian
is most closely related to Bulgarian
and Slovenian.
| Daniel M. Short originally created this
map and the other Indo-European language charts for his website at http://www.danshort.com/.
I reproduce these images here with the author's permission, but they are
copyrighted by Daniel Short as of 2002. These charts should not be reproduced
or reused without Mr. Short's approval. You may contact him at danshort@gte.net
for more information. These images are not public domain. |