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Reference.org
Croatian language
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<p>Croatian is the <a href="/facts/Standard_variety/1AV0uont">standard variety</a> of the <a href="/facts/Serbo-Croatian/MS85Xuwk">Serbo-Croatian</a> language mainly used by <a href="/facts/Croats/pxr26XCP">Croats</a>. It is the national <a href="/facts/Official_language/yCH2URym">official language</a> and literary standard of <a href="/facts/Croatia/MSS0yyvw">Croatia</a>, one of the official languages of <a href="/facts/Bosnia_and_Herzegovina/jNVA1gPB">Bosnia and Herzegovina</a>, <a href="/facts/Montenegro/QynKJrw5">Montenegro</a>, the <a href="/facts/Serbia/U0LVzPdI">Serbian</a> province of <a href="/facts/Vojvodina/xQLNdfCn">Vojvodina</a>, the <a href="/facts/European_Union/6GYcR8qM">European Union</a> and a recognized <a href="/facts/Minority_language/jN1xCGGb">minority language</a> elsewhere in Serbia and other neighbouring countries. </p><p>In the mid-18th century, the first attempts to provide a Croatian literary standard began on the basis of the Neo-Shtokavian dialect that served as a supraregional <a href="/facts/Lingua_franca/dlGrD7ra">lingua franca</a> – pushing back regional <a href="/facts/Chakavian/eDm5foLb">Chakavian</a>, <a href="/facts/Kajkavian/IHVsN8Mf">Kajkavian</a>, and <a href="/facts/Shtokavian/JWmmo7lG">Shtokavian</a> <a href="/facts/Vernacular/DEmxDgM3">vernaculars</a>. The decisive role was played by <a href="/facts/Croatian_Vukovians/5JBtmHFl">Croatian Vukovians</a>, who cemented the usage of Ijekavian Neo-Shtokavian as the literary standard in the late 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, in addition to designing a phonological orthography. Croatian is written in <a href="/facts/Gaj%2527s_Latin_alphabet/hxF8FTpe">Gaj's Latin alphabet</a>. </p><p>Besides the Shtokavian dialect, on which Standard Croatian is based, there are two other main <a href="/facts/Supradialect/jwHL3uH3">supradialects</a> spoken in Croatia, <a href="/facts/Chakavian_dialect/eDm5foLb">Chakavian</a> and <a href="/facts/Kajkavian/IHVsN8Mf">Kajkavian</a>. These supradialects, and the four national standards - Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian - are usually subsumed under the term "Serbo-Croatian" in English; this term is <a href="/facts/Serbo-Croatian/MS85Xuwk">controversial</a> for native speakers, and names such as "Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian" (BCMS) are used by linguists and philologists in the 21st century. </p><p>In 1997, the <a href="/facts/Croatian_Parliament/7b1XWIPu">Croatian Parliament</a> established the <i>Days of the Croatian Language</i> from March 11 to 17. Since 2013, the Institute of Croatian language has been celebrating the <i>Month of the Croatian Language</i>, from February 21 (<a href="/facts/International_Mother_Language_Day/Jh9x2MY3">International Mother Language Day</a>) to March 17 (the day of signing the <a href="/facts/Declaration_on_the_Name_and_Status_of_the_Croatian_Literary_Language/zvsnnzYS">Declaration on the Name and Status of the Croatian Literary Language</a>). </p>