Orthography#

The [[index|Serbo-Croatian]] language may be written using either a Latin or a [[Cyrillic Script]]. The Serbian, Bosnian and Montenegrin standards use both scripts equally often, but Croatian is only written using the Latin script.

[[index|Serbo-Croatian]] uses the following variation of the [[Cyrillic Script]]:

Letter	IPA
А а	/ä/
Б б	/b/
В в	/v/
Г г	/g/
Д д	/d/
Ђ ђ	/dʑ/
Е е	/e̞/
Ж ж	/ʐ/
З з	/z/
И и	/i/
J j	/j/
К к	/k/
Л л	/l/
Љ љ	/ʎ/
М м	/m/
Н н	/n/
Њ њ	/ɲ/
О о	/ɔ̝/
П п	/p/
Р р	/ɾ/
С с	/s/
Т т	/t/
Ћ ћ	/tɕ/
У у	/u/
Ф ф	/f/
Х х	/x/
Ц ц	/ts/
Ч ч	/t͡ʂ/
Џ џ	/d͡ʐ/
Ш ш	/ʂ/

The Cyrillic script is the only script in which official documents in Serbia are printed.

Letter	IPA
A a	/ä/
B b	/b/
V v	/v/
G g	/g/
D d	/d/
Đ đ	/dʑ/
E e	/e̞/
Ž ž	/ʐ/
Z z	/z/
I i	/i/
J j	/j/
K k	/k/
L l	/l/
M m	/m/
N n	/n/
O o	/ɔ̝/
P p	/p/
R r	/ɾ/
S s	/s/
T t	/t/
Ć ć	/tɕ/
U u	/u/
F f	/f/
H h	/x/
C c	/ts/
Č č	/t͡ʂ/
Š š	/ʂ/

The Latin script has fewer letters than the Cyrillic script because it expresses certain sounds using multiple letters:
- The sound /ʎ/ is represented by "Lj" / "lj";
- The sound /ɲ/ is represented by "Nj" / "nj";
- The sound /d͡ʐ/ is represented by "Dž" / "dž".

Converting between Scripts#

Since [[index|Serbo-Croatian]] is a largely phonemic language, it is rather easy to transliterate between its Latin and Cyrillic scripts.

Cyrillic Script	Latin Script	IPA
А а	A a	/ä/
Б б	B b	/b/
В в	V v	/v/
Г г	G g	/g/
Д д	D d	/d/
Ђ ђ	Đ đ	/dʑ/
Е е	E e	/e̞/
Ж ж	Ž ž	/ʐ/
З з	Z z	/z/
И и	I i	/i/
J j	J j	/j/
К к	K k	/k/
Л л	L l	/j/
Љ љ	Lj lj	/ʎ/
М м	M m	/m/
Н н	N n	/n/
Њ њ	Nj nj	/ɲ/
О о	O o	/ɔ̝/
П п	P p	/p/
Р р	R r	/ɾ/
С с	S s	/s/
Т т	T t	/t/
Ћ ћ	Ć ć	/tɕ/
У у	U u	/u/
Ф ф	F f	/f/
Х х	H h	/x/
Ц ц	C c	/ts/
Ч ч	Č č	/t͡ʂ/
Џ џ	Dž dž	/d͡ʐ/
Ш ш	Š š	/ʂ/

Phonology#

The language is largely phonemic which means that letters always make the same sounds.

Pitch Accent#

short falling (ȅ), short rising (è), long falling (ȇ), and long rising (é)