Orthography
The 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.
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 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)