languagesBosnian

Bosnian, or Bosanski jezik, is a standard variety of the Serbo-Croatian language family spoken primarily in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It belongs to the South Slavic branch of the Indo-European family, in the Western subgroup of Serbo-Croatian. The standard language is based largely on the Shtokavian dialect, especially the Eastern Herzegovinian subdialect, and uses the Ijekavian phonology.

Bosnian is one of the official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina; it is used by Bosniaks and in education, media, and government, alongside Croatian and Serbian. The language is written primarily in the Latin script, though the Cyrillic script is also used in some communities and historical contexts.

Vocabulary has absorbed loanwords from Turkish, Arabic, Persian, German, and English due to historical contact.

Although classified as a separate standard variety, Bosnian is mutually intelligible with Croatian and Serbian; the three languages form a pluricentric language often collectively described as Serbo-Croatian.

Codes: ISO 639-1 bs; ISO 639-2 bos; ISO 639-3 bos.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, education and official administration rely on standard Bosnian, and the Latin script is predominant in media and schools, though Cyrillic is used in some institutions and cultural contexts.

The language continues to evolve with ongoing standardization, and it remains closely related to Croatian and Serbian within the Serbo-Croatian framework.