Editing Serbo-Croatian (section)

==== Croatian linguists ====
A common opinion of the Croatian linguists is that there has never been a Serbo-Croatian language, but two different standard languages that overlapped sometime in the course of history. However, Croatian linguist [[Snježana Kordić]] has been leading an academic discussion on this issue in the Croatian journal ''Književna republika''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bib.irb.hr/lista-radova?autor=173535#zncasopis |title=Kordić's publications in ''Književna republika'' |publisher=Bib.irb.hr |access-date=2013-09-01}} {{ZDB|2122129-7}}.</ref> from 2001 to 2010.<ref>{{cite news |first=Nikola |last=Petković |title=Mrsko zrcalo pred licima jezikoslovaca |trans-title=A nasty mirror reflects back at linguists |url=http://www.snjezana-kordic.de/Prikaz_Petkovic_tekst.doc |publisher=[[Novi list]] |location=Rijeka |issn=1334-1545 |date=5 September 2010 |url-status=dead |page = 7 in the arts section ''Mediteran'' |language=sh |archive-date=15 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315175329/http://www.snjezana-kordic.de/Prikaz_Petkovic_tekst.doc |access-date=18 July 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Slobodan |last=Šnajder |author-link=Slobodan Šnajder |title=Lingvistička bojna |trans-title=Linguistic battle |url=http://www.snjezana-kordic.de/Prikaz_Snajder.doc |publisher=[[Novi list]] |location=Rijeka |issn=1334-1545 |date=10 October 2010 |url-status=dead |page=6 in the arts section ''Mediteran'' |language=sh |archive-date=13 March 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120313145554/http://www.snjezana-kordic.de/Prikaz_Snajder.doc |access-date=6 July 2012 }}</ref> In the discussion, she shows that linguistic criteria such as mutual intelligibility, the huge overlap in the linguistic system, and the same dialect basis of the standard language are evidence that Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian and Montenegrin are four national variants of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kordić |first = Snježana |author-link=Snježana Kordić |title=Demagogija umjesto znanosti (odgovor Daliboru Brozoviću) |trans-title=Demagogy instead of science (response to Dalibor Brozović) |url = http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/430252.DEMAGOGIJA_UMJESTO_ZNANOSTI.PDF |language=sh |journal=Književna Republika |volume=1 |issue=7–8 |pages=176–202 |year=2003 |issn=1334-1057 |s2cid=171739712 |ssrn=3433060 |id={{CROSBI|430252}}. {{ZDB|2122129-7}} |url-status=live |archive-date=1 June 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120601173923/http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/430252.DEMAGOGIJA_UMJESTO_ZNANOSTI.PDF |access-date=8 April 2022}} [http://opak.crolib.hr/cgi-bin/unicat.cgi?form=D1440910057 (CROLIB)].</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Kordić |first = Snježana |author-link=Snježana Kordić |title=Autizam hrvatske filologije (odgovor Ivi Pranjkoviću) |trans-title=The autism of Croatian philology (response to Ivo Pranjković) |url = http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/430121.AUTIZAM_HRVATSKE_FILOLOGIJE.PDF |language=sh |journal=Književna Republika |volume=2 |issue=7–8 |pages=254–280 |year=2004 |issn=1334-1057 |ssrn=3433015 |id={{CROSBI|430121}}. {{ZDB|2122129-7}} |url-status=live |archive-date=29 May 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120529002217/http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/430121.AUTIZAM_HRVATSKE_FILOLOGIJE.PDF |access-date=1 March 2015 }} [http://katalog.nsk.hr/F/?func=direct&doc_number=000572375 (NSK)].</ref> In 2010, [[Igor Mandić]] stated: "During the last ten years, it has been the longest, the most serious and most acrid discussion (…) in 21st-century Croatian culture".<ref>{{cite news |first=Igor |last=Mandić |author-link=Igor Mandić |title = Svojom polemikom možda pokušava izbrisati naš identitet... Što, zapravo, hoće ta žena? |trans-title = She is perhaps trying to destroy our identity by polemicising... What does that woman really want? |url = http://www.jutarnji.hr/igor-mandic--svojom-polemikom-mozda-pokusava-izbrisati-nas-identitet---sto--zapravo--hoce-ta-zena-/905607/ |newspaper=[[Jutarnji list]] |location=Zagreb |issn=1331-5692 |date=21 November 2010 |page=19 |language=sh |archive-date=29 September 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120929042255/http://www.jutarnji.hr/igor-mandic--svojom-polemikom-mozda-pokusava-izbrisati-nas-identitet---sto--zapravo--hoce-ta-zena-/905607/ |access-date=12 August 2013 }}</ref> Inspired by that discussion, a [[Croatian language and nationalism|monograph on language and nationalism]] has been published.{{sfn|Kordić|2010}}

The view of the majority of Croatian linguists that there is no single Serbo-Croatian language but several different standard languages has been sharply criticized by German linguist [[Bernhard Gröschel]] in his monograph{{sfn|Gröschel|2009}} ''Serbo-Croatian Between Linguistics and Politics''.<ref>{{cite journal |last = Kordić |first = Snježana |author-link = Snježana Kordić |title = Svijet o nama: Bernhard Gröschel, ''Das Serbokroatische zwischen Linguistik und Politik'' |trans-title = About us – World point of view: Bernhard Gröschel, ''Serbo-Croatian Between Linguistics and Politics'' |url = http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/445818.rec_GROSCHEL_u_KR.PDF |language=sh |journal=Književna Republika |volume=7 |issue=10–12 |issn=1334-1057 |ssrn=3441854 |id={{CROSBI|445818}}. {{CEEOL|29944}}. {{ZDB|2122129-7}} |pages=316–330 |year=2009 |url-status=live |archive-date=1 June 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120601175459/http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/445818.rec_GROSCHEL_u_KR.PDF |access-date=6 October 2013 }} [http://katalog.nsk.hr/F/?func=direct&doc_number=000742298 (NSK)].</ref>

A more detailed overview, incorporating arguments from Croatian philology and contemporary linguistics, would be as follows:

: ''Serbo-Croatian is a language''
: One still finds many references to Serbo-Croatian, and proponents of Serbo-Croatian who deny that Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks and Montenegrins speak different languages. The usual argument generally goes along the following lines:
:* Standard Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin are completely mutually intelligible.<ref>{{cite book |last=Trudgill |first=Peter |year=2003 |title = A glossary of sociolinguistics |url = https://archive.org/details/glossarysociolin00trud |url-access=limited |location=Oxford & New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/glossarysociolin00trud/page/n125 119] |isbn=9780748616237 |oclc=50768041 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kordić |first=Snježana |title=Les langues des Balkans |author-link=Snježana Kordić |editor-last=Madelain |editor-first=Anne |series = Au sud de l'Est |volume=3 |publisher=Non Lieu |page=74 |language=fr |chapter=La langue croate, serbe, bosniaque et monténégrine |trans-chapter=The Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin Language |chapter-url = http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/429734.LA_LANGUE_CROATE_SERBE.PDF |location=Paris |year=2007 |isbn=978-2-35270-036-4 |oclc=182916790 |ssrn=3439662 |id={{CROSBI|429734}} |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120601174651/http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/429734.LA_LANGUE_CROATE_SERBE.PDF |url-status=live |archive-date = 1 June 2012 }}</ref> In addition, they use two alphabets that perfectly match each other ([[Gaj's Latin alphabet|Latin]] and [[Serbian Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic]]), thanks to Ljudevit Gaj and Vuk Karadžić. Croats exclusively use Latin script and Serbs equally use both Cyrillic and Latin. Although Cyrillic is taught in Bosnia, most [[Bosnians]], especially non-[[Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Serbs]] ([[Bosniaks]] and [[Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Croats]]), favor Latin.
:*The list of 100 words of the basic Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin vocabulary, as set out by Morris Swadesh, shows that all 100 words are identical.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Brozović |first = Dalibor |author-link=Dalibor Brozović |title=Europske integracije i hrvatski jezik |trans-title=European integration and the Croatian language |journal=Jezik |volume=49 |issue=4 |page=124 |year=2002 |language=sh |issn=0021-6925 }}</ref> According to Swadesh, 81 per cent are sufficient to be considered as a single language.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kloss |first=Heinz |author-link=Heinz Kloss |editor1-last=Göschel |editor1-first=Joachim |editor2-last=Nail |editor2-first=Norbert |editor3-last=van der Els |editor3-first=Gaston |title=Zur Theorie des Dialekts: Aufsätze aus 100 Jahren Forschung |publisher=F. Steiner |page=303 |chapter=Abstandsprachen und Ausbausprachen |trans-chapter=Abstand-languages and Ausbau-languages |series=Zeitschrift für Dialektologie and Linguistik, Beihefte, n.F., Heft 16 |location=Wiesbaden |year=1976 |oclc=2598722 }}</ref>
:* Typologically and structurally, these standard variants have virtually the same grammar, i.e. morphology and syntax.{{sfn|Pohl|1996|p=214}}<ref>{{cite journal |last = Kordić |first = Snježana |author-link = Snježana Kordić |title = Le serbo-croate aujourd'hui: entre aspirations politiques et faits linguistiques |trans-title=Serbo-Croatian today: Between political aspirations and linguistic facts |language = fr |journal=Revue des études slaves |volume=75 |issue=1 |pages=34–36 |year=2004 |issn=0080-2557 |oclc=754207802 |s2cid=228222009 |ssrn=3433041 |id={{CROSBI|430127}}. {{ZDB|208723-6}} |doi=10.3406/slave.2004.6860}} [http://data.onb.ac.at/rec/AC07248653 (ÖNB)].</ref>
:* Serbo-Croatian was standardised in the mid-19th century, and all subsequent attempts to dissolve its basic unity have not succeeded.
:* The affirmation of distinct [[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]], [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]], and [[Montenegrin language|Montenegrin]] languages is ''politically'' motivated.
:* According to [[phonology]], [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] and [[syntax]], these standard variants are essentially one language because they are based on the same, [[Shtokavian dialect|Štokavian dialect]].{{Sfn | Blum | 2002 | p = 134}}

: ''Serbo-Croatian is not a language''
:* Similar arguments are made for other official standards which are drawn from identical or nearly identical material bases and which therefore constitute pluricentric languages, such as [[Malaysian language|Malaysian]] (Malaysian Malay), and [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]] (together called [[Malay language|Malay]]),<ref>{{cite book |last=Haji Omar |first=Asmah |editor-last=Clyne |editor-first=Michael G. |editor-link=Michael Clyne |title=Pluricentric Languages: Differing Norms in Different Nations |publisher=[[De Gruyter|Mouton de Gruyter]] |pages=401–419 |chapter=Malay as a pluricentric language |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wawGFWNuHiwC&pg=PA401 |series=Contributions to the sociology of language 62 |location=Berlin & New York |year=1992 |isbn=978-3-11-012855-0 |oclc=24668375 }}</ref> or [[Standard Hindi]] and [[Urdu]] (together called [[Hindustani language|Hindustani or Hindi-Urdu]]).<ref>{{cite book |last= Dua |first=Hans Raj |editor-last=Clyne |editor-first=Michael G. |editor-link=Michael Clyne |title= Pluricentric Languages: Differing Norms in Different Nations |publisher=[[De Gruyter|Mouton de Gruyter]] |pages=381–400 |chapter=Hindi-Urdu as a pluricentric language |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wawGFWNuHiwC&q=hindi+urdu+pluricentric&pg=PA381 |series=Contributions to the sociology of language 62 |location=Berlin & New York |year=1992 |isbn=978-3-11-012855-0 |oclc=24668375 }}</ref> 
:** However, some argue that these arguments have flaws. Phonology, morphology, and syntax are not the only dimensions of a language: other fields (semantics, pragmatics, stylistics, [[lexicology]], etc.) also differ slightly. However, it is the case with other pluricentric languages.{{Sfn | Ammon | 1995 | pp = 154–174}} A comparison is made to the closely related [[North Germanic languages]] (or dialects, if one prefers), though these are not fully mutually intelligible<ref>{{cite book|last=Kordić|first=Snježana|author-link=Snježana Kordić|editor-last1=Nomachi|editor-first1=Motoki|editor-link1=Motoki Nomachi|editor-last2=Kamusella|editor-first2=Tomasz|editor-link2=Tomasz Kamusella|title=Languages and Nationalism Instead of Empires|publisher=[[Routledge]]|series=Routledge Histories of Central and Eastern Europe|pages=167{{hyphen}}179|chapter=Ideology Against Language: The Current Situation in South Slavic Countries|chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/372202077|chapter-format=PDF|location=London|year=2024|doi=10.4324/9781003034025-11|doi-access=|isbn=978-0-367-47191-0|lccn=|oclc=1390118985|s2cid=259576119|s2cid-access=|ssrn=4680766|ssrn-access=free|id={{COBISS.SR|125229577}}. {{COBISS|171014403}}|archive-url=https://archive.org/details/kordic-ideology-against-language |archive-date=10 January 2024|access-date=23 January 2024|quote=the mutual intelligibility between the standard varieties spoken in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia is at the highest level, meaning that it is significantly higher than between spoken standard Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. Research conducted by the Nordic Culture Fund (Nordiska kulturfonden) and the Nordic Council of Ministers (Nordiska ministerrådet) from 2002 to 2005 with native speakers of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish under the age of twenty-five showed that Copenhagen’s youth understand only 36 percent of spoken Swedish and 41 percent of spoken Norwegian; Oslo’s youth understand 71 percent of spoken Swedish and 65 percent of spoken Danish; Stockholm’s youth understand 55 percent of spoken Norwegian and 34 percent of spoken Danish.|quote-page=168–169|url-status=live}}</ref> as the Serbo-Croatian standards are. A closer comparison may be [[General American]] and [[Received Pronunciation]] in English, which are closer to each other than the latter is to other dialects which are subsumed under "[[British English]]".
:* That the standardization of the Croatian language was a long process spanning several centuries, and that it was mostly based, aside Chakavian and Kajkavian influences, on the [[Dubrovnik subdialect]] which as a specific western idiom of the [[Eastern Herzegovinian]]  dialect has linguistic origin in Western Shtokavian and is significantly different to the general Eastern Herzegovinian itself, and on Western Shtokavian (alike Serbian which is based only on Eastern Shtokavian which includes Eastern Herzegovinian).<ref name="Grcevic1998">{{cite journal|last=Grčević|first=Mario|year=1998|title=Zablude o istočnohercegovačkim govorima kao dijalekatnoj osnovici hrvatskoga književnoga jezika|url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/324379|journal=[[Jezik]]|volume=46|issue=2|pages=41–56|language=hr}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Grčević|first=Mario|year=1999|title=Ponovno o »istočnohercegovačkoj štokavštini« i kroatističkim stranputicama|journal=[[Jezik]]|volume=47|issue=1|pages=18–32|url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/113654|language=hr}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Brozović|first=Dalibor|author-link=Dalibor Brozović|year=2005|title=O početku hrvatskoga jezičnog standarda|journal=[[Jezik]]|volume=52|issue=5|pages=186–192|url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/24212|language=hr}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Brozović|first=Dalibor|author-link=Dalibor Brozović|year=2008|title=Hrvatski štokavski dijalekti – razvoj i stanje|journal=Hrvatski dijalektološki zbornik|publisher=HAZU|issue=14|pages=3–12|url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/217440|language=hr}}</ref><ref name="Brozovic2007">{{cite book|last=Brozović|first=Dalibor|author-link=Dalibor Brozović|year=2007|chapter=Hrvatski jezik, njegovo mjesto unutar južnoslavenskih i drugih slavenskih jezika, njegove povijesne mijene kao jezika hrvatske književnosti|title=Neka bitna pitanja hrvatskoga jezičnog standarda|language=hr|publisher=[[Školska knjiga]]|pages=155–278|isbn=978-953-0-50840-8}}</ref> Since the Croatian as recorded in old [[Croatian literature]] from [[Dubrovnik]] which would gain a prestige status (e.g. [[Marin Držić|Držić]] and [[Ivan Gundulić|Gundulić]]'s works in the 16th and 17th centuries) is virtually the same as the contemporary standard Croatian (understandable archaisms apart), it is evident that the 19th-century formal standardization was just the final touch in the process that, as far as Croatian is concerned, had lasted more than three centuries.<ref name="Brozovic2007"/>