Croatian Language

The Croatian language has a long and complicated history. Today, the language is the official tongue of the countries of Croatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. With over 6 million speakers, the Croatian language is one of the more prevalent languages in Europe. Croatian belongs to the Western group of Slavic languages, and it has the distinction of being one of the standard versions of the Central-South Slavic diasystem (a single language with 2 or more standard varieties.

The Croatian language is based on the Štokavian dialect, but used the Croatian alphabet (which is a adapted and extended version of the Latin alphabet). The Croatian alphabet contains 30 letters. The history of how the Croatian language, both oral and written, came into being is extensive and politically charged. The written Croatian language can be tracked back to the 9th century. At this time, Old Church Slavonic was implemented as the language of the liturgy (the religious or ceremonial language). Ultimately, Old Church Slavonic began to be used for non-liturgical purposes and became known as the Croatian version of the Old Slavonic language. Both versions of the Old Slavonic language were used as elements of the Glagolithic (the oldest acknowledged Slavic alphabet) until the mid 9th century.

Up to the conclusion of the 11th century, all Croatian documents were written in three languages, Latin, Glagolithic, and Cyrillic (Bosnian). The three spoken languages included Latin, Croatian, and Old Slavonic. Some time during the 13th century, there is evidence of the appearance of documents written in the Croatian vernacular (the local language). The Štokavian dialect began to emerge in literature and documents about a century later. The Croatian vernacular was the most principal language in the region from the 14th century onward.

The modern Croatian language came into being during the 14th and 15th centuries in a form that is only slightly dissimilar from the current Croatian standard language. The standardization of the Croatian language can be tracked back to the first Croatian dictionary, in 1595, and the first Croatian grammar, in 1604. The process of standardization took nearly 4 centuries to complete, because it is a three dialect and three script language.

The Illyrian movement helped to finalize the standardization of the Croatian language. Brought on by Croatian linguist Ljudevit Gaj, the movement standardized and amalgamated the Croatian language. Gaj normalized the Croatian alphabet between the 1830's and the 1850's. It was also around this time that the troubled Serbian language came into the picture. During the 19th century Austrian bureaucracy desired an integrated Croatian and Serbian language for administrative reasons. In 1850, Serbian and Croatian linguists and writers met and signed The Vienna Agreement, which summarized an integrated Serbo-Croatian language. The Serbo-Croatian language was used until the collapse of Communism and the Yugoslavic state (1991), and Croatia assumed independence. Today, linguists work to help Croatian society regain its "Croatian" identity in all realms of culture, but most especially its language.

For those with interest in learning the Croatian language for travel purposes, or for the experience of learning a new language, there are an abundance of resources available that provide many levels of instruction in the language. From basic vocabulary and phrasing, all the way to thorough language and writing skills, there is a resource available. These resources are available online, in books, on tapes, and even in classes taught at colleges.