Have you ever wondered how old the Bosnian language is? Surprisingly, it’s not as old as you might think. In fact, it’s a relatively young language that has only been around for a little over two centuries. But despite its young age, Bosnian has already come to be spoken by millions of people all over the world. So what is behind this impressive success? Read on to find out!
Bosnian is one of the South Slavic languages, which means that it is closely related to Croatian and Serbian. It is also very similar to Montenegrin, another South Slavic language. Bosnian is written in both the Latin and Cyrillic scripts, and it uses a modified form of the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet. Because of its close similarity to other South Slavic languages, Bosnian is sometimes referred to as a “Serbo-Croatian” or “Serbo-Croat” language.
The first written records of Bosnian date back to the early 1800s. At that time, the Ottoman Empire ruled over Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Bosnian language was primarily spoken by Muslim Bosnians. It wasn’t until the late 1800s that Bosnian began to be used more widely after Bosnia and Herzegovina became a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
During the early 1900s, there was a growing movement to promote the use of Bosnian as a literary language. This effort was successful, and in the 1920s, Bosnian became one of the official languages of Yugoslavia. After Yugoslavia separated in the 1990s, Bosnian continued to be used as an official language in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Today, Bosnian is spoken by about 2.5 million people, making it the third most-spoken South Slavic language after Serbian and Croatian. It is also one of the official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with Croatian and Serbian. Bosnian is a popular second language in Croatia and Montenegro, and it is also spoken by minorities in other countries, such as Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia.
So how old is Bosnian, really? While it’s not the oldest language in the world, it has a long and rich history. And with its growing popularity, it’s sure to stick around for many years to come!
