jekavian

Jekavian is one of the major yat reflexes described in the Serbo-Croatian language continuum. It denotes the set of dialects in which the historical yat vowel (/jat/) is realized as the sounds /je/ or /ije/ in most contexts. This contrasts with Ikavian, where yat becomes /i/, and Ekavian, where it becomes /e/. The Jekavian pattern thus affects the phonology and, in many cases, the spelling of a large number of words.

Phonologically, Jekavian yields characteristic sequences containing je or jeje in places where yat appears in other dialects. The distinction between Jekavian and the other yat reflexes is regional and diachronic, reflecting historical sound changes that differentiated dialect groups within the South Slavic-speaking area. Because yat is a historical vowel with variable reflexes, the Jekavian pattern can interact with consonant context and stress, producing a range of phonetic outcomes across dialects.

In linguistic practice, Jekavian is one of the three classical yat reflex classifications used by dialectologists to categorize South Slavic speech varieties. It is descriptively useful for explaining regional pronunciation differences and the behavior of yat in connected speech. While it sheds light on phonological history, the term does not alone determine national or standard language identities, which often incorporate multiple dialectal influences.