Why Serbian has 2 Alphabets

Explore the fascinating dual-alphabet system of the Serbian language in this video from Polyglot Dreams. Learn why Serbian uniquely uses both Cyrillic and Latin scripts, delving into the historical, cultural, and practical reasons behind this linguistic feature. Discover the influence of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and geopolitical factors, and understand how this duality shapes Serbian identity and education. Perfect for language enthusiasts and curious minds, this video uncovers the rich tapestry of Serbian's linguistic heritage.
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[@isailodondic3204]

Cyril and Methodius invented glagolitic script, but cyrillic script was invented by Kliment Ohridski, who was Cyril's student and he dediceted the new script to Cyril

[@HeroManNick132]

And that's why Serbia created North Macedonia?

[@cerebrummaximus3762]

@HeroManNick132 A?

[@cerebrummaximus3762]

To elaborate, Saints Cyril and Methodius created Glagolitic as an alphabet for the Slavs during their mission to Greater Moravia. After their deaths there was a change in leadership, and their 5 Bulgarian Holy Students that were still there were expelled. Upon return to Bulgaria, the Holy Students were welcomed by Knyaz Boris with open arms, who founded two schools (Ohrid and Preslav) for the Students, to whom and where he commissioned the creation of Cyrillic. Cyrillic was created by the Holy Students at Preslav (the Students in general, not specifically St Clement of Ohrid, who was one and perhaps the most famous of the five students, along with St Naom who is also credited as the student in charge of the project), and the name is dedicated the their teacher, St Cyril, the older of the brothers. Cyrillic was simpler than Glagolitic and being similar to Greek, it was founded where the academics were aware of Greek (Bulgaria would accept Christianity from Byzantium and was founded on the former territories of Eastern Rome), which meant Cyrillic spread faster and overtook Glagolitic (meanwhile, Croatia accepted Christianity from Rome and never had the same connection with Byzantium, meaning it stuck with Glagolitic, until it eventually switched to Latin for convenience with Rome). As Bulgaria grew, and later sent missionaries (eg: to the Kievan Rus' during it's conversion), Cyrillic also spread. Cyrillic, like its predecessor alphabet Glagolitic, are meant as alphabets from the Slavs for the Slavs, in contrast to Latin. That is why I prefer Cyrillic. Latin was never meant for us.

[@HeroManNick132]

@@cerebrummaximus3762 Б!

[@AndyJugglesLanguages]

It was good to see you again at the gathering.

[@polyglotdreams]

Likewise

[@LearnRunes]

It's great how they care so deeply about their heritage that they continue to educate their children in both scripts. Had only the same practice prevailed in the rest of Europe, how many more writing systems could still be in use today?

[@polyglotdreams]

So true.

[@nusproizvodjach]

In 1850 an agreement was signed that united Serbian and Croatian languages into one. Serbo-Croatian used both scripts. After the disintegration of Yugoslavia, Serbo-Croatian was politically (not linguistically) divided into several languages. Croats kept only the Latin alphabet and Serbs kept both.

[@HeroManNick132]

Ironically these languages are artificially united on the Eastern Herzegovinian dialect but making Macedonian and Bulgarian separate which is just politics from Ex-Yugoslavia.

[@nusproizvodjach]

@@HeroManNick132 Well, the most central and the most widespread dialect was used as the basis for Serbo-Croatian. From Slovenia to the Black Sea there is a dialect continuum, so you can basically draw borders wherever you like and create separate languages... Or create one central south Slavic language... Every next village speaks a little bit differently. As they say, a language is a dialect with an army and navy. I guess you're Bulgarian and I know what you're getting at, but every standardized language is artificially created. The thing about Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin is that they are all based on the same dialect which is ridiculous xD (Serbian actually has 2 variants, and the one used in Serbia is based on Šumadija-Vojvodina dialect)

[@gordonpi8674]

@@HeroManNick132Slovenian doesn’t have to do anything with Serbo-Croatian, it is unintelligible to the Serbo-Croatian speakers and it’s totally different. Macedonian and Bulgarian as well, although to a lesser degree. So, Fuck off Ustashi, your failed propaganda is dead!

[@gordonpi8674]

@@HeroManNick132Slovenian (especially), Macedonian and Bulgarian are not completely mutually intelligible to the Serbo-Croatian speakers, so they are different languages. The three main accents of Serbo-Croatian, Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian are 100% mutually intelligible, even more than the main accents of English themselves.

[@gordonpi8674]

@@HeroManNick132So, stop spreading your failed nationalist propaganda, it’s long dead and all you write here to support it is worthless.

[@igorskyflyer]

Always worth mentioning and to clear the ambiguity of the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets being used interchangeably, you CAN use both of them freely but not in one text, document, paragraph, etc. i.e. the alphabets are NOT allowed be mixed, if one starts writing in Cyrillic, they must write in Cyrillic until the end of their text. Doing otherwise is seen as a sign of illiteracy. I've seen many times (many natives as well) e.g. writing in Latin and writing the letter H as Х (Cyrillic counterpart of H)...

[@HeroManNick132]

Except that somehow only in Ex-Yugoslavia J is accepted to be in Cyrillic which is funny.

[@polyglotdreams]

Yes... thanks for pointing that out.

[@cerebrummaximus3762]

Saints Cyril and Methodius created Glagolitic as an alphabet for the Slavs during their mission to Greater Moravia. After their deaths there was a change in leadership, and their 5 Bulgarian Holy Students that were still there were expelled. Upon return to Bulgaria, the Holy Students were welcomed by Knyaz Boris with open arms, who founded two schools (Ohrid and Preslav) for the Students, to whom and where he commissioned the creation of Cyrillic. Cyrillic was created by the Holy Students at Preslav (St Clement of Ohrid is perhaps the most famous of the five students, along with St Naom who is also credited as the student in charge of the project), and the name is dedicated the their teacher, St Cyril, the older of the brothers. Cyrillic was simpler than Glagolitic and being similar to Greek, it was founded where the academics were aware of Greek (Bulgaria would accept Christianity from Byzantium and was founded on the former territories of Eastern Rome), which meant Cyrillic spread faster and overtook Glagolitic (meanwhile, Croatia accepted Christianity from Rome and never had the same connection with Byzantium, meaning it stuck with Glagolitic, until it eventually switched to Latin for convenience with Rome). As Bulgaria grew, and later sent missionaries (eg: to the Kievan Rus' during it's conversion), Cyrillic also spread. Cyrillic, like its predecessor alphabet Glagolitic, are meant as alphabets from the Slavs for the Slavs, in contrast to Latin. That is why I prefer Cyrillic. Latin was never meant for us.

[@laszlovondracsek]

I notice that the young Serbs use the Latin script more often. I think the only explanation would be the frequent use of the computer, where the software is mostly in English, obviously with Latin script.

[@HeroManNick132]

And obviously that's what makes them ''more European'' too, am I right?

[@tinkywinky8558]

Plus Serbian girls drool for Croatian dialects

[@laszlovondracsek]

@@HeroManNick132 Yes and no...In fact, all of us know very well that Serbia is in Europe!

[@HeroManNick132]

@@laszlovondracsek So other Slavic languages that write in Cyrillic are not European enough by Standards? That's why Catholics were forced to write in Latin alphabet but Orthodoxes can do that but the Catholics, Protestants can't?

[@wangyiko8386]

greetings from taiwan! I enjoy watching your video including your presentation and any other kind. I would like to ask a question irrelated to the topic hoping you dont mind.I accidently notice that you have been on a russian tv show,but I couldnt find the link,which i realy wanna watch it,would you mind giving me the link?

[@polyglotdreams]

Yes you can! kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6bRoJ2mrd2HeNEsi=lWICG2kjGXvhzUsh

[@polyglotdreams]

The 2nd performance

[@wangyiko8386]

Thanks for responding!

[@banesovilj]

Hello Tim, thank you for your wonderful video. Just to clarify, Serbian has only Cyrillic. :) The Serbian Constitution exclusively mandates the Cyrillic as the official alphabet (Art. 10), while the "law based on the Constitution shall regulate official use of other languages and scripts" (the Bill on the Use of the Serbian Language provides a special protection to Cyrillic prescribing penalties whereas the Law on official use of languages and alphabets still favors Cyrillic over other scripts). In the northern province of Vojvodina, there are 6 official languages (and their scripts) with legally equal status while ethnic minorities are language-wise additionally protected at the local level accordingly. The informal use of the Latin script is the reminiscence of "The Serbo-Croatian language" - a political construction formally established by the Novi Sad Agreement of 1954) as the official language of socialist Yugoslavia, as well as a means for facilitating the position of national minorities who could only use Latin until they learn the official script and become literate. The Serbian language, therefore, both from a literary and a legal point of view, has only the Cyrillic alphabet, and the informal use of the Latin alphabet is, due to the aforementioned, somewhat more pronounced in informal communication compared to other countries where the Cyrillic alphabet is exclusively used (e.g., Macedonians often use Latin in informal texting and online although their language has only Cyrillic - a similar phenomenon of informal use of Latin in Arabic). All the best! :)

[@polyglotdreams]

Thanks for the detailed input, but it seems to conflict with other sources.

[@banesovilj]

@@polyglotdreams Yes, it conflicts. I'm adding the sources. Constitution: www.parlament.gov.rs/upload/documents/Constitution_%20of_Serbia_pdf.pdf The Bill: www.parlament.gov.rs/13th_Extraordinary_Session_of_the_National_Assembly_of_the_Republic_of_Serbia,_12th_Legislature.42726.537.html www.srbija.gov.rs/vest/en/177790/bill-on-use-of-serbian-language-protection-of-cyrillic-alphabet-adopted.php www.paragraf.rs/propisi/zakon-o-cirilici-upotreba-srpskog-jezika.html AP Vojvodina: www.puma.vojvodina.gov.rs/etext.php?ID_mat=207

[@HeroManNick132]

Montenegrin too (even though Latin is more preferrable nowadays) and sometimes Bosnian use both. Montenegrin can be also mentioned because unlike other alphabet there are 2 letters (although not used) they were proposed to be in Montenegrin like the letters are written as Sj/Zj; Сj/Зj in others as Ś, Ź (which are taken from Polish to represent the soft S and Z sounds), З́/С́. The only BCMS variant that uses entirely Latin alphabet is Croatian which they add Q, W, X, Y into foreign words, while others (except Bosnian) don't add them.

[@perkelegenda]

"Montenegrin" language is a political construct inforced for building a Montenegrin nation and further separation of Serbs and Montenegrines, people with identical roots, background, religion and language, but formed in 2 historical serbian states- Serbia and Montenegro, first time identity separated by the freaky communists in 1945... Those 2 letters are nowadays used as a joke, guy who is promoting this narative is a mascote and allways fooled on social networks and his college is called "2 letters college" 😂 Just imagine if New Zealand proclame new language-newzealandish and found a college for newzealandish language with a few new letters... Officialy, about 60% people in Montenegro speaks serbian...

[@HeroManNick132]

@@perkelegenda As how you claim the whole world speaks Serbian?

[@balkanexplorer6092]

There is a small mistake in your video. The term "latinica" reffers to all latin scripts, not just the ones Croats and Serbs use (for example, the French are using "latinica" aswell). The specific latin script (with the letters š,đ,dž,ž,ć,č,lj,nj) that Croats and Serbs use is actually called "gajica/Hrvatska latinica". Just wanted to point that out, your video is great tho!

[@HeroManNick132]

As far as I know Croatian also uses Q, W, X, Y which appear in foreign words but Serbian doesn't.

[@balkanexplorer6092]

@@HeroManNick132 No it doesn't

[@HeroManNick132]

@@balkanexplorer6092 Pretty sure English names that has these letters (especially in Movies) are kept as original.

[@balkanexplorer6092]

@@HeroManNick132 In Croatian and Serbian writing, foreign names (in the latin alphabet) are spelt the way they are in the original script, however that DOES NOT mean those foreign letters are part of the gajica script. In Serbian specifically it is also correct to transcript foreign names into gajica script. If we applied your argument to english, it would mean "ó" and "ł" are also in the english alphabet because that is how you spell Józef Piłsudski.

[@HeroManNick132]

@@balkanexplorer6092 Shouldn't be in Serbian ''Jузеф Пилсудски/Juzef Pilsudski'' since it's how it will be in Cyrillic and the Cyrillic is identical with the Latin alphabet?

[@cocobill]

1. Serbian cyrilic uses simple rule: one letter = one voice. Because of that, I think that it is the easiest alphabet to learn, but Koreans says that their alphabet is easiest. I would like to hear your oppinion about that - which script is easiest? 2. It's usefull to know both scripts but in handwriting it's hard to convert from one script to another. A letter from opposite script would easily "sneak" into the sentence that is written.

[@HeroManNick132]

Ah yes Lj, Nj, Dž are definitelly ''1 letter'' Also I love how J became ''Cyrillic'' letter after Vuk Karadzic changed your alphabet.

[@aurelije]

​@@HeroManNick132it is jota taken from Greek like the rest of Cyrillic. Dž is from old Romanian... Definitely the most advanced Cyrillic script and one of most phonetic script in the world

[@HeroManNick132]

@@aurelije The Jota letter is I which actually existed in Cyrillic and even in older Bulgarian texts you can see. Now only Ukrainians, Rusyns and Belarusians keep that letter. J is clearly a Latin letter, just like the ''Macedonian'' S. I see your Latin Dž is the same as Slavic languages who write in Cyrillic as Дж.

[@polyglotdreams]

Since I first learned Serbo-Croation during Tito ... latnica wad easier at first

[@siyacer]

smart

[@pierreabbat6157]

I noticed that "George Washington" was transliterated into both alphabets; it wasn't written "ulica Georgea Washingtona". Is this usual? What about names originating in other languages written in Cyrillic?

[@isailodondic3204]

It was written "Ulica Džordža Vašingtona" because of the genitive case. In Serbian we have only 30 sounds and one letter for each one of them. The key rule in writing in Serbian is "one sound -> one letter and one letter -> one sound". That's why we write Džordž Vašington and never George Washington. In Croatia it is possible to find names written in their original names, but I am not sure about official street names. In Serbia the street names of are usualy written only in cyrillic, but there are examples where the name of a street is written in both alphabets.

[@danielvanr.8681]

Another reason why non-Slavic names are "Serbianized" in the Latin script is so as to keep the one-to-one grapheme correspondence with Cyrillic. Otherwise, _George Washington_ would suddenly become _Георге Васхингтон_ in Cyrillic, and the pronunciation would, in turn, be literally [ge.or.ge vas.hink.ton] ... and nobody would have a clue what's being said. 😂😂 Croatia and Slovenia use Latin script only, meaning they can allow themselves to keep the original, foreign spelling. 🙂 Of course, a Slavic language using Latin script is not always a guarantee for name sanctity. Polish, for example will more often than not write foreign names phonetically; _Washington_ becomes _Waszyngton,_ _Shakespeare_ is _Szekspir,_ etc. Not even living people are safe; both Queen Elizabeth II and Danish Queen Margrethe II are known to the Poles as _Elżbieta_ and _Małgorzata,_ respectively... 😮😂

[@HeroManNick132]

@@isailodondic3204 I find it so ironic that you write Љ, Њ, Џ as 1 letter in Cyrillic but 2 letters in Latin alphabet? I will never get why you didn't take Polish's letters that are used in the Classical Belarusian Latin alphabet if your language is so ''focused'' on 1 letter, 1 sound? Like for Л you could take Ł, and for Љ - L instead of Lj. Heck even Slovak has 1 letter for soft L and N but Serbian doesn't which is funny. Heck at least Montenegrins tried to add letters for Sj/Zj; Сj/Зj taken from Polish - Ś, Ź and made own variant in Cyrillic - З́, С́. I never get why you guys don't like these letters just like making Л and Р as vowel which imo is stupid. And the Latin Dž is the same how in every other Slavic languages we use Дж in Cyrillic.

[@HeroManNick132]

@@danielvanr.8681 Most Slavic languages seems they lack of letter for W sound and like Slovak, Slovene and Ukrainian they use V/В in consonant clusters or at the end of words change it to W sound. Only Belarusian, Polish and the Lechtic ones have proper W sound, since Polish doesn't have dark L but W sound.

[@danielvanr.8681]

@@HeroManNick132 In all fairness, _Lublana_ and _lubav_ would look silly... So let's keep Lj lj and NJ nj, I say. 🤭 And it'd seem that the only Slavic lingos with an actual /w/ sound is Polish (Ł ł), Belarussian (Ў ў, łacinka Ł ł) and Ukrainian (В в -- but this letter also covers /v/, so good luck...) 😄

[@sulajkovski]

Cyrillic is traditional and official alphabet in Serbia, Latin alphabet is more practical in the modern age especially on internet.

[@HeroManNick132]

Yeah, then Vuk Karadzic comes and adds Latin letter to your alphabet and calls it ''Cyrillic.'' How pathetic is to call J a Cyrillic letter where it never was.

[@cerebrummaximus3762]

Come on Serbia, please keep our lovely child, present for the Slavs alive, an alphabet to unite the Orthodox alive - your sincerely, Bulgaria

[@sulajkovski]

The truth is that in 1850 some Serbian and Croatian linguists gathered in Vienna, and declared that Serbs and Croats speak the same language, that the language should be called Serbo-Croatian, and that it should be using two equal alphabets, Cyrillic and Latin, which mirrored each other with same 30 voices. But in reality, only the Serbs adopted both alphabets, while the Croats were always using only Latin. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbo-Croatian language doesn't exist anymore, but the Serbs have continued using two alphabets because they were used to and they thought it was practical.

[@aurelije]

​@@HeroManNick132but that letter came into Latin from old Greek. In classical Latin there was only I/i letter. So stop bullshitting and use your ja jo ju and funny looking i as multiple ways to write voice j

[@HeroManNick132]

@@aurelije I will never consider J as Cyrillic letter. It's just pathetic.

[@readtalkenglish]

It's religion. Catholics used Latin script, Orthodox used Cyrillic because their respective religious books were written in those scripts. The Latin in Serbia has also gained in popularity after the 90s when most of computers couldn't yet process Cyrillic scripts.

[@danielvanr.8681]

And this is also mirrored in the Greco-Roman loanwords; Serbian uses the Byzantine/Orthodox /h/ sound, but Croatian uses the Roman/Latin /k/ sound, e.g. _hemija / kemija_ (chemistry). 😊

[@HeroManNick132]

Well, but the question is why Catholics can't use Cyrillic but Orthodox and Muslims can use Latin alphabet? Still doesn't make much sense why the Roman church does that?

[@HeroManNick132]

@@danielvanr.8681 This is to some way similar with Bulgarian and Macedonian: BG - MK характер - карактер хамелеон - камелеон

[@danielvanr.8681]

@@HeroManNick132 If you ponder for a while the fact that Romans spoke Latin, you'll find that the Roman Catholic Church using the Latin script makes perfect sense.

[@HeroManNick132]

@@danielvanr.8681 Writing Slavic language imo with Latin alphabet is ugly, especially look at Polish's monstrocity. The only reason for this is this makes you more ''European'' or perhaps you don't want to promote Russian or Serbian nationalism. Despite Croatian used Cyrillic till 1991. I see many Ex-Yugoslavians trying to be really edgy with using more Latin alphabet because it makes them ''more Europeans'' than us.

[@vladimirobradovic-tm6kf]

Latinic and script cirilic we have a choice I using Latinic because influence of West country's through the culture and art, any art including. Music

[@HeroManNick132]

That's why it makes you ''more European.''

[@branimirnikolic4559]

Serbs, Croats, Bosnians and Montenegrins speak THE SAME language - the Serbian language. But for political reasons Croats and Muslims from Bosnia call it by the name of their nations: _"Croatian language, Bosnian language"_ . A part of Montenegrins still accept that the language is Serbian, and a part of Montenegrins only call it "mother tongue", because the process of identity conversion (under the influence of foreign powers) is still a relatively new phenomenon among Montenegrins. In Montenegro, there is ongoing indoctrination that they are _"different from Serbs"_ and that their language is called _"Montenegrin"_ . All this is like if Australians decided to call the English they speak _"Australian"_ .

[@polyglotdreams]

I hold the same view.

[@ruralsquirrel5158]

Serbian written with the Latin alphabet is called Croatian. (runs for cover...😁just kidding folks, relax)...

[@pierreabbat6157]

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all Serbs are croated equal ... :)

[@HeroManNick132]

Croatian uses Q, W, X, Y in foreign words which Serbian doesn't

[@pandagoeshome]

Actually no matter what people say Serbian and Croatian are the same language with different accents and coloquialisms. Yes people in Split speak a different version of Croatian but at the same time people in south Serbia speak a very different Serbian from the north. In fact, Spanish in Spain and Spanish in Argentina are probably more different than Serbian and Croatian. It is one language that got separated by politics. Whenever I speak with other peole from the former Yugoslavia I just call it "our language"

[@gordonpi8674]

It is TRUE, by the way.

[@aurelije]

​@@HeroManNick132serbian uses that also as a writing rule to write in original at least when foreign name is from latin language. But true many times the rule is neglected. In Cyrillic it is also required to write nsme in original when first introduced and later just in Cyrillic transcription

[@gordonpi8674]

Serbian is only the eastern version of the Serbo-Croatian language. The western version of it is Croatian, and there is the Bosnian version as well. Not mentioning these facts makes your video much LESS valuable!

[@HeroManNick132]

Montenegrin left the chat.

[@polyglotdreams]

I just focused on Serbian, but hold that BCMS is one language with multiple standards.