Shtokavianbased

Shtokavianbased is a linguistic descriptor used to refer to dialects and standard varieties that are derived from the Shtokavian dialect of Serbo-Croatian. It denotes the base on which several South Slavic literary standards are built, in contrast to other dialect bases such as Kajkavian or Čakavian. The term is commonly applied in historical and descriptive linguistics to group languages that share Shtokavian phonology, morphology, and syntax.

The Shtokavian base underpins four national literary standards: Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin, as well as numerous regional and local varieties. Within Shtokavian, there are three main reflexes of the Proto-Slavic jat vowel—Ekavian, Ijekavian, and Ikavian—which influence pronunciation and orthography across the standards. In practice, this leads to characteristic differences among the languages: Ijekavian is standard in Croatian and Bosnian, Ekavian is prominent in many Serbian-speaking communities, and Montenegrin uses both Ijekavian and Ekavian alignments depending on context.

Historically, the prominence of Shtokavian-based standards rose in the 19th century during national revival and language reform movements. Linguists and reformers established grammars, dictionaries, and orthographic conventions that solidified a unified base drawing from Shtokavian, even as distinct national identities and scripts (Latin and Cyrillic) developed alongside.

In contemporary usage, Shtokavianbased varieties are often discussed as the dominant Serbo-Croatian continuum. Official language names now differentiate Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin, though all share the common Shtokavian base in their standard forms. See also Shtokavian, Serbo-Croatian, Ikavian, Ijekavian, Ekavian, Kajkavian, and Čakavian.