Serbo-Croatian

Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. Because it has four standard variants, it is a pluricentric language. Its variants do differ slightly, as is the case with other pluricentric languages (English, French, Spanish, German, Hindustani and Portuguese, among others), but not to a degree that would justify considering them different languages. The differences between the variants do not hinder mutual intelligibility. Compared to the differences between the variants of English, German, French, Spanish, Hindustani or Portuguese, the distinctions between the variants of Serbo-Croatian are less significant.

The language was standardised in the mid 19th century, decades before a Yugoslav state was established. From the very beginning, it has had a pluricentric standardisation. Croats and Serbs differ in religion and have historically lived under different empires, and have adopted slightly different literary forms as their respective standard variants. Since independence, Bosnian has likewise been established as an official standard in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There is an ongoing movement to codify a Montenegrin standard. Thus Serbo-Croatian generally goes by the ethnic names Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian. All four standard variants are based on the same dialect (Štokavian). In the 20th century, Serbo-Croatian had served as the official language of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (as "Yugoslavian"), and later as one of the official languages of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The dissolution of Yugoslavia affected language attitudes, so that social conceptions of the language separated on ethnic and political lines.

Among pluricentric languages, Serbo-Croatian was the only one with a pluricentric standardisation within one state. The dissolution of Yugoslavia has made Serbo-Croatian even more typical pluricentric language, because the variants of other pluricentric languages are also spoken in different states.