Serbo-Croatian

Serbo-Croatian ⁱ/ˌsɜːrboʊkroʊˈeɪʃən, -bə-/, also called Serbo-Croat /ˌsɜːrboʊˈkroʊæt, -bə-/,Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB),Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), or Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with fourmutually intelligible standard varieties.

South Slavic dialects historically formed a continuum. The turbulent history of the area, particularly due to expansion of the Ottoman Empire, resulted in a patchwork of dialectal and religious differences. Due to population migrations, the Shtokavian dialect became the most widespread in the western Balkans, intruding westwards into the area previously occupied by Chakavian and Kajkavian dialects (which further blend into the Slovene language in the northwest). Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs differ in religion and were historically often part of different cultural circles, although a large part of the nations have lived side by side under foreign overlords. During that period, the language was referred to under a variety of names, such as "Slavic", "Illyrian", or according to region, "Bosnian", "Serbian" and "Croatian", the latter often in combination with "Slavonian" or "Dalmatian".