Languages of Serbia - Serbian Language

Serbian Language

Main article: Serbian language

Serbian language predominates in most of Serbia, excluding several municipalities in Vojvodina and southern Serbia, as well excluding larger part of Kosovo. Bosnian, Croatian and Bunjevac language, which are, according to census, spoken in some parts of Serbia are virtually identical with Serbian, while declared speakers of Bulgarian language from southern Serbia are actually speakers of Torlakian dialect, which is considered as one of the dialects of the Serbian language by Serbian linguists.

Serbian language spoken in Serbia has several dialects: Šumadija-Vojvodina, Smederevo-Vršac, Kosovo-Resava, Prizren South Morava, Svrljig-Zaplanje, Timok-Lužnica (Torlakian), Eastern Herzegovina, and Zeta-South Sandžak. Šumadija-Vojvodina and Eastern Herzegovina dialects are basys for modern standard Serbian.

Throughout part of southern Serbia, a dialect by the name of Torlakian is spoken. Although it has no standard form and continues to be spoken without any form of official status, Torlakian may be seen by some as constituting a separate language. It forms a part of the South Slavic dialect continuum, and is transitional between the eastern south Slavic languages (mainly Bulgarian and Macedonian) and the western south Slavic languages (of which Serbian is a part).