āSerbianā and āCroatianā are the same language, except one is written in Cyrillic letters while the other is written in Latin letters (it was called āSerbo-Croatianā; calling it āSerbianā or āCroatianā is more a way of trying to assert more distinct national identity). Just saying
I am sure you and Quasimodo 101 are right and I am not arguing the point. But I didn't know that beforehand or before I penned my post so I did a Google search and the first link was to the "World Atlas" which says, "
Croatian: The Official Language Of Croatia
As expected, Croatian is the most popular language in the country, and 95% of the population are Croatian native speakers. Before Croatia adopted Croatian as its official language in the 19th century, Latin was the official language. A form of Serbo-Croatian language, which is a blend of Serbian and Croatian, was used in Croatia between 1945 and 1991. Croatian consists of three dialects, namely Shtokavian, Kajkavian, and Chakavian. The language uses the Latin alphabet.
Minority Languages Of Croatia
Serbian
Serbian is a minority language in Croatia and is mainly used by Serbs in Croatia. The Serbian language is closely related to Croatian. The language is taught in a few schools, especially in the counties of Osijek-Baranja and Vukovar-Srijem. Croatians firmly rejected the use of Serbian as the official language through violent protests in 2013. However, Croatian laws granted Serbs the right to use their native language for official purposes in areas where they formed a third of the population. Unlike Croatian, which uses the Latin alphabet, Serbian uses the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet.
So, you could see where I was misled. The above certainly makes it sound as if they are two different and distinct languages, no? Yes? Noyes Lab (haven't used that one in a long time). I mean, it says "The Serbian language is closely related to Croatian" which to my mind indicates two similar yet separate languages. But what do I know? Maybe someone can ask TI about it.