Abstract

The issue of the status of languages that emerged on the basis of the Serbo-Croatian language after the collapse of Yugoslavia remains relevant until now. The standard Serbo-Croatian language arose in the 19th century as a common language of Serbs, Croats, Bosnians and Montenegrins and existed in two main variants, “western” and “eastern”, from the very outset. These variants were close enough to maintain free communication, and at the same time, each variant had symbolic significance as a marker of the corresponding ethnic group. This article provides an outline of the history of the Serbo-Croatian language from its origin to the collapse of Yugoslavia in the light of two social functions of the language, communicative (language as a means of exchanging information) and symbolic (language as a symbol of national identity).

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