Serbian Language - Writing System

Writing System

Standard Serbian language uses both Cyrillic (ћирилица / ćirilica) and Latin script (latinica / латиница).

Although Serbian language authorities have recognized the official status for both scripts in contemporary standard Serbian language for more than half of a century now, due to historical reasons, Cyrillic was made the official script of Serbia's administration by the 2006 Constitution. However, the law does not regulate scripts in standard language, or standard language itself by any means, leaving the choice of script as a matter of personal preference and to the free will in all aspects of life (publishing, media, trade and commerce, etc.), except in government paperwork production and in official written communication with state officials which have to be in Cyrillic. Even in official government documents this constitutional requirement is rarely enforced. Serbian is a rare example of synchronic digraphia, a situation where all literate members of a society have two interchangeable writing systems available to them. An example of diagraphia is the media in Serbia. The public broadcaster, Radio Television of Serbia, predominantly uses the Cyrillic script while the privately run broadcasters, like RTV Pink, predominantly uses the Latin script.