Serbo-Croatian phonology

Serbo-Croatian is a South Slavic language with four national standards. This article deals exclusively with the Eastern Herzegovinian Neo-Shtokavian dialect, the basis for the standards of Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian.

Serbo-Croatian has 30 phonemes, 25 consonants and 5 vowels, and a pitch accent.

Consonants

The consonant system of Serbo-Croatian has 25 phonemes. One peculiarity is a presence of both post-alveolar and palatal affricates, but a lack of corresponding palatal fricatives. Unlike most other Slavic languages such as Russian, there is no hard–soft contrast for most consonants.

		Labial	Dental, Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m	n		ɲ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t			k
	voiced	b	d			ɡ
Affricate	voiceless		t͡s	t͡ʃ	t͡ɕ
	voiced			d͡ʒ	d͡ʑ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ		x
	voiced	v	z	ʒ
Approximant	central				j
	lateral		l		ʎ
Trill			r

• /m/ is labiodental [ɱ] before /f, ʋ/, as in tramvaj [trǎɱʋaj], whereas /n/ is velar [ŋ] before /k, ɡ/, as in stanka [stâːŋka].
• /t, d, s, z, t͡s/ are dental, whereas /n, l, r/ are alveolar. /n, l/ become laminal denti-alveolar [n̪], [l̪] before dental consonants.
• /ʎ/ is palato-alveolar [l̻ʲ].
• /v/ is a phonetic fricative, although it has less frication than /f/. However, it does not interact with unvoiced consonants in clusters as a fricative would, and so is considered to be phonologically a sonorant (approximant).
• /t͡s, f, x/ are voiced [d͡z, v, ɣ] before voiced consonants.
• Glottal stop [ʔ] may be inserted between vowels across word boundary, as in i onda [iː ʔônda].
• Croatian has more allophones:
  • /ʃ, ʒ/ are retracted to [ɕ, ʑ] before /t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ/.
  • /x/ is retracted to [h] when it is initial in a consonant cluster, as in hmelj [hmêʎ].
  • /ʋ/ is labiovelar [w] before /u/, as in vuk [wûːk].

/r/ can be syllabic, short or long, and carry rising or falling tone, e.g. kȓv ('blood'), sȑce ('heart'), sŕna ('deer'), mȉlosr̄đe ('compassion'). It is typically realized by inserting a preceding or (more rarely) succeeding non-phonemic vocalic glide.

/l/ is generally velarized ("dark", [ɫ]). Diachronically, it was fully vocalized into /o/ in coda positions, as in past participle *radil : radio ('worked'). In some dialects, notably Torlakian, that process did not take place, and /l/ can be syllabic as well. However, in the standard language, vocalic /l/ appears only in loanwords, as in the name for the Czech river Vltava for instance, or debakl, bicikl. Very rarely other sonorants are syllabic, such as /ʎ̩/ in the surname Štarklj and /n̩/ in njutn ('newton').

In more detailed phonetic studies, the post-alveolars (/ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/) are described as apical ([ʃ̺] [ʒ̺], [t̺ʃ̺ʷ], [d̺ʒ̺ʷ]) or retroflex ([ʂ], [ʐ], [tʂ], [dʐ]). In most spoken Croatian idioms, as well as in some Bosnian, there is a complete or partial merger between post-alveolar (/tʃ/, /dʒ/) and palatal affricates (/tɕ/, /dʑ/).

Alveolo-palatal fricatives [ɕ], [ʑ] are marginal phonemes, usually realized as [sj], [zj]. However, the emerging Montenegrin standard has proposed two additional letters, Latin ⟨Ś⟩, ⟨Ź⟩ and Cyrillic ⟨С́⟩, ⟨З́⟩, for the phonemic sequences /sj/, /zj/, which may be realized phonetically as [ɕ], [ʑ].

Voicing contrasts are neutralized in consonant clusters, so that all obstruents are either voiced or voiceless depending on the voicing of the final consonant, though this process of voicing assimilation may be blocked by syllable boundaries.

Vowels

Vowel space of Serbo-Croatian from Landau et al. (1999:67). The diphthong /ie/ occurs in some Croatian and Serbian dialects. Schwa [ə] only occurs allophonically.

The Serbo-Croatian vowel system is symmetrically composed of five monophthongal vowels: a, e, i, o, u. Although phonemic, the difference between long and short vowels is not represented in standard orthography (unlike Czech or Slovak, which do). Unstressed vowels are shorter than the stressed ones by 30% (in case of short vowels) and 50% (in case of long vowels).

	Front		Central		Back
	unrounded		unrounded		rounded
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i	iː			u	uː
Mid	e	eː			o	oː
Open			a	aː

The long Ijekavian reflex of Proto-Slavic jat is of disputed status. The prescriptive grammar Barić et al. (1997) published by the foremost Croatian normative body—the Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics, describes it as a diphthong, but this norm has been heavily criticized by phoneticians as having no foundation in the spoken language, the alleged diphthong being called a "phantom phoneme". Thus the reflex of long jat, which is spelled as a trigraph ⟨ije⟩ in standard Croatian, Bosnian and Ijekavian Serbian, represents the sequence /jeː/.

Stressed vowels carry one of the two basic tones, rising and falling.

Pitch accent

See also: Shtokavian dialect § Accentuation

Shtokavian dialects allow two tones on stressed syllables, and have distinctive vowel length, and so distinguish four combinations of these, called pitch accent: short falling ⟨◌̏⟩, short rising ⟨◌̀⟩, long falling ⟨◌̑⟩, and long rising ⟨◌́⟩.

Most speakers from Serbia and Croatia do not distinguish between short rising and short falling tones. They also pronounce most unstressed long vowels as short, with some exceptions, such as genitive plural endings.

The accent is relatively free because it can be on any syllable except the last one. Accent alternations are very frequent in inflectional paradigms, both by quality and placement in the word (the so-called "mobile paradigms", which were present in Proto-Indo-European itself and became much more widespread in Proto-Balto-Slavic). Different inflected forms of the same lexeme can exhibit all four accents: lònac ('pot' nominative sg.), Serbo-Croatian: 'lónca' (genitive sg.), lȏnci (nominative pl.), lȍnācā (genitive pl.).

Although distinctions of pitch only occur on stressed syllables, unstressed vowels maintain a length distinction. Pretonic syllables are always short, but posttonic syllables may be either short or long. These are traditionally counted as two additional accents. In the standard language, the six accents are realized as follows:

Slavicist symbol	IPA symbol	Description
e	[e]	non-tonic short vowel
ē	[eː]	non-tonic long vowel
è	[ě]	short vowel with rising tone
é	[ěː]	long vowel with rising tone
ȅ	[ê]	short vowel with falling tone
ȇ	[êː]	long vowel with falling tone

Examples are short falling as in nȅbo ('sky') /ˈnêbo/; long falling as in pîvo ('beer') /ˈpîːvo/; short rising as in màskara ('eye makeup') /ˈmǎskara/; long rising as in čokoláda ('chocolate') /tʃokoˈlǎːda/. Unstressed long syllables can occur only after the accented syllable, as in d(j)èvōjka ('girl') /ˈd(ј)ěvoːjka/ or dòstavljānje ('delivering') /ˈdǒstavʎaːɲe/. There can be more than one post-accent length in a word, notably in genitive plural of nouns: kȍcka ('cubes') → kȍcākā ('cubes''). Realization of the accents varies by region.

Restrictions on the distribution of the accent depend, beside the position of the syllable, also on its quality, as not every kind of accent can be manifested in every syllable.

1. Falling tone generally occurs in monosyllabic words or the first syllable of a word (pȃs ('belt'), rȏg ('horn'); bȁba ('old woman'), lȃđa ('river ship'); kȕćica ('small house'), Kȃrlovac). The only exception to this rule are the interjections, i.e. words uttered in the state of excitement (e.g. ahȁ, ohȏ)
2. Rising tone generally occurs in every syllable of a word except the ultimate and never in monosyllabics (vòda 'water', lúka 'harbour'; lìvada 'meadow', lúpānje 'slamming'; siròta 'female orphan', počétak 'beginning'; crvotòčina 'wormhole', oslobođénje 'liberation').

Thus, monosyllabics generally have falling tone, whilst polysyllabics generally have falling or rising tone on the first syllable, and rising in all the other syllables but the last one. The tonal opposition rising ~ falling is hence generally only possible in the first accented syllable of polysyllabic words, whereas the opposition by lengths, long ~ short, is possible even in the non-accented syllable as well as in the post-accented syllable (but not in the pre-accented position).

Proclitics (clitics that latch on to a following word), on the other hand, may "steal" a falling tone (but not a rising tone) from the following mono- or disyllabic word. This stolen accent is always short, and may end up being either falling or rising on the proclitic. This phenomenon (accent shift to proclitic) is most frequent in the spoken idioms of Bosnia, in Serbian it is more limited (normally with the negation proclitic ne), and is almost absent from Croatian Neo-Shtokavian idioms. Such a shift is less frequent for short rising accents than for the falling one (as seen in the example /ʒěliːm/ → /ne ʒěliːm/)

	in isolation		with proclitic				Translation
			Croatian	Serbian		Bosnian
rising	/ʒěliːm/	'I want'	/neʒěliːm/				'I don't want'
	/zǐːma/	'winter'	/uzîːmu/			/ûziːmu/	'in the winter'
	/nemɔɡǔːtɕnɔːst/	'inability'	/unemɔɡǔːtɕnɔsti/				'not being able to'
falling	/vîdiːm/	'I see'	/něvidiːm/				'I can't see'
	/ɡrâːd/	'city'	/uɡrâːd/		/ûɡraːd/		'to the city' (stays falling)
	/ʃûma/	'forest'	/uʃûmi/		/ǔʃumi/		'in the forest' (becomes rising)

Morphophonemic alternations

Serbo-Croatian exhibits a number of morphophonological alternations. Some of them are inherited from Proto-Slavic and are shared with other Slavic languages, and some of them are exclusive to Serbo-Croatian, representing later innovation.

Fleeting a

The so-called "fleeting a" (Serbo-Croatian: nepóstojānō a), or "movable a", refers to the phenomenon of short /a/ making apparently random appearance and loss in certain inflected forms of nouns. This is a result of different types of reflexes Common Slavic jers */ъ/ and */ь/, which in Štokavian and Čakavian dialects merged to one schwa-like sound, which was lost in a weak position and vocalized to */a/ in a strong position, giving rise to what is apparently unpredictable alternation. In most of the cases, this has led to such /a/ appearing in word forms ending in consonant clusters, but not in forms with vowel ending.

The "fleeting a" is most common in the following cases:

• in nominative singular, accusative singular for inanimate nouns, and genitive plural for certain type of masculine nouns:

  bórac ('fighter' nom. sg.) – {{{2}}} (gen. sg.) – bȏrācā (gen. pl.)

  mòmak ('young man' nom. sg.) – mòmka (gen. sg.) – momákā (gen. pl.)

  stòlac ('chair' nom. sg.) – stólca (gen. sg.) – stȍlācā (gen. pl.)

• in genitive plural forms of feminine nouns ending in a consonant cluster:

  dàska ('board') – dasákā, sèstra ('sister') – sestárā, bȁčva ('barrel') – bȁčāvā

• in nominative singular indefinite masculine forms of adjectives and pronouns:

  kràtak ('short') – kràtkī, kàkāv ('what kind of') – kàkvi, sȁv ('entire') – svȉ

Palatalization

Further information: Slavic first palatalization

The reflex of the Slavic first palatalization was retained in Serbo-Croatian as an alternation of

/k/ → /tʃ/

/ɡ/ → /dʒ/

/x/ → /ʃ/

before /e/ in inflection, and before /j, i, e/ and some other segments in word formation. This alternation is prominently featured in several characteristic cases:

• in vocative singular of masculine nouns, where it is triggered by the ending -e:

  jùnāk ('hero') → jȕnāče,  vrȃg ('devil') → vrȃže,  òrah ('walnut') → òraše. It is, however, not caused by the same ending -e in accusative plural: junáke, vrȃge, òrahe.

• in the present stem of certain verbs before the endings in -e:

  • pȅći ('to bake') – present stem pèk-; pèčēm ('I bake'), but pèkū ('they bake') without palatalization before the 3rd person plural ending -u
  • strȉći ('to shear') – present stem stríg-; strížem ('I shear'), but strígū ('they shear') without palatalization before the 3rd person plural ending -u
  • mȍći ('can – present stem') mog-; mȍžeš ('you can'), but mògu ('I can'), without the palatalization before the archaic 1st person singular ending -u

• in aorist formation of some verbs:

  • rȅći ('to say') – rèkoh ('I said' aorist), as opposed to rȅče (2nd/3rd person singular aorist)
  • stȉći ('to arrive') – stȉgoh ('I arrived' 1st person singular aorist), as opposed to stȉže (2nd/3rd person singular aorist)

• in derivation of certain classes of nouns and verbs:

  • mȕka ('torment') → mȕčiti ('to torment'); zrȃk ('air') → zráčiti ('to air'),  trȃg ('trace') → trážiti ('to seek')
  • slúga ('servant') → slúžiti ('to serve'),  njȗh ('the sense of smell') → njȕšiti ('to smell')

• before the "fleeting a", and before the endings -an, -ji and several others:

  • dȃh ('breath') → dášak ('puff') Kartága ('Carthage') → Kartážanin ('Carthaginian'), bȏg ('god') → bȍžjī ('god's'), strȃh ('fear') → strášan ('fearsome')

• a few words exhibit palatalization in which /ts/ and /z/ palatalize before vowels /e/ and /i/, yielding /tʃ/ and /dʒ/. Such palatals have often been leveled out in various derived forms. For example:

  • strȋc ('uncle') – strȋče ('uncle! ') – stríčev ('uncle's'), lòvac ('hunter') – lȏvče ('hunter!') – lóvčev ('hunter's'), zȇc ('hare') – zȇče ('hare!') – zȅčevi ('hares'), ȕlica ('street') – ȕličica ('alley'), ptȉca ('bird') – ptȉčica ('small bird') – ptičùrina ('big ugly bird')
  • vȉtēz ('knight') – vȉtēže ('knight! '), knȇz ('prince') – knȇže ('prince!')

There are some exceptions to the process of palatalization. The conditions are:

• before the suffix -ica

  • mȁčka • ма̏чка ('cat') → mȁčkica ('kitten'), p(j)ȅga ('freckle') → p(j)ȅgica ('small freckle'), bùha ('flea') → bùhica ('small flea')

• before the suffix -in in adjectives derived from hypocoristic nouns:

  • báka ('grandma') → bákīn ('grandma's'), zéko ('bunny') → zékīn ('bunny's'), máca ('kitten') → mácin ('kitten's')

Doublets exist with adjectives derived with suffix -in from trisyllabic proper names:

• Dànica → Dàničin : Dànicin, Ȉvica → Ȉvičin : Ȉvicin,  Ànkica → Ànkičin : Ànkicin

Sibilantization

Further information: Slavic second palatalization and Slavic third palatalization

The output of the second and the third Slavic palatalization is in the Serbo-Croatian grammar tradition known as "sibilantization" (sibilarizácija/сибилариза́ција). It results in the following alternations before /i/:

/k/ → /ts/

/ɡ/ → /z/

/x/ → /s/

his alternation is prominently featured in several characteristic cases:

• in the imperative forms of verbs with stem ending in /k/, /ɡ/ and one verb in /x/:

  • pȅći ('to bake' present stem) pèk-; pèci ('bake!' 2nd person singular imperative)
  • strȉći ('to shear' present stem) stríg-; strízi ('shear!' 2nd person singular imperative)
  • vȓći ('to thresh' present stem) vŕh-; vŕsi ('thresh!' 2nd person singular imperative)

• in masculine nominative plurals with the ending -i:

  jùnāk ('hero') → junáci

  kr̀čag ('jug') → kr̀čazi

  prȍpūh ('draught [of air]') → prȍpūsi

• in dative and locative singular of a-stem nouns (prevalently feminine):

  mȃjka ('mother') → mȃjci

  nòga ('leg') → nòzi

  snàha ('daughter-in-law') → snàsi

• in dative, locative and instrumental of masculine o-stems:

  jùnāk ('hero') → junácima

  kr̀čag ('jug') → kr̀čazima

• in the formation of imperfective verbs to perfective verbs

  dȉgnuti ('to lift') – dȉzati ('to keep something ifting')

  uzdàhnuti ('to sigh') – ùzdisati ('to keep sighing') but first-person singular present: ùzdišēm ('I sigh')

In two cases there is an exception to sibilantization:

• in nominative singular of masculine nouns:
  • in monosyllabic borrowings:

    Bȁsk ('Basque') →Bȁski, brȍnh ('bronchus') →brȍnhi, ȅrg → ȅrgi

  • in toponyms in plural form, usually from a region where Kajkavian dialect is spoken:

    Čȅhi ('Czechs'), Nȍvāki ('Novaks')

  • some surnames that are not identical to some general noun of the standard language

    Srȅćko → Srȅćki, Zelénko → Zelénki

  • with nouns having 'fleeting a' in the ending -cak

    natucak → natucki

• in dative and locative case of feminine and masculine a-stems
  • in hypocorisms

    báka ('grandmother') →báki, séka ('little sister') →séki, bráco ('little brother') →bráci, zéko ('bunny') →zéki, stríko ('uncle [affectionate]') →stríki

  • in words whose stem ends in a single consonant:

    dȅka ('blanket') →dȅki, kȕka ('hook') →kȕki, koléga ('colleague') →kolégi, pjȅga ('freckle') →pjȅgi, zȃliha ('supply') →zȃlihi

  • in names and surnames

    Jȇlka → Jȇlki, Lȗka → Lȗki, Jȁdrānka → Jȁdrānki

  • in nouns ending in -cka, -čka, -ćka, -ska, -tka, -zga:

    kȍcka ('cube') →kȍcki, tȍčka ('point') →tȍčki, prȁćka ('sling') →prȁćki, pljȕska ('slap') →pljȕski, pȁtka ('duck' feminine) →pȁtki, màzga ('mule') →màzgi

  • in some toponyms

    Kȑka → Kȑki, Kartága ('Carthage') →Kartági

  • in nouns ending in suffix -ka with stem-final sonorant:

    intelektùālka ('an intellectual' feminine) →intelektùālki, kàjkāvka ('Kajkavian speaker' feminine) →kàjkāvki, srednjòškōlka ('high school girl') →srednjòškōlki

Doublets are allowed in the following cases:

• nominative plural of some masculine borrowings:

  flamìngo → flamìnzi : flamìngi

• in nominative plural of surnames who are identical with some general masculine noun:

  Bȅg → Bȅgi : Bȅzi, Dȕh → Dȕhi : Dȕsi

• in nominative plural of masculine nouns with "fleeting a" and the ending -čak, -ćak or -đak

  máčak ('cat' masculine) →máčki : máčci, òplećak ('ephod') →òplećki : òplećci, omeđak → omećki : omećci

• in dative and locative of some feminine foponyms with stem ending in a single consonant:

  Líka → Líci : Líki

• in dative and locative of some toponyms ending in -ska, -ška:

  Àljaska ('Alaska') →Àljaski : Àljasci, Gràdiška → Gràdiški : Gràdišci

• in dative and locative of some feminines ending in -ska, -tka, -vka:

  gȕska ('goose') →gȕski : gȕsci, bȉtka ('battle') →bȉtki : bȉ(t)ci, trȃvka ('blade of grass') →trȃvci : trȃvki

Iotation

Main article: Iotation

Assimilation

There are two types of consonant assimilation: by voicing (jednačenje po zvučnosti) and by place of articulation (jednačenje po m(j)estu tvorbe).

Assimilation of voice

All consonants in clusters are neutralized by voicing, but Serbo-Croatian does not exhibit final-obstruent devoicing as most other Slavic languages do. Assimilation is practically always regressive, i.e. voicing of the group is determined by voicing of the last consonant. Sonorants are exempted from assimilation, so it affects only the following consonants:

• /b/ ↔ /p/

  kobac ('Hawk') →kobca : kopca (nominative → genitive, with fleeting a)

  top ('cannon') + džija → topdžija : tobdžija ('cannonman')

• /ɡ/ ↔ /k/

  burek ('burek') + džija → burekdžija : buregdžija ('Burek-baker')

• /d/ ↔ /t/

  pod- ('under-') + platiti ('pay') →podplatiti : potplatiti ('to bribe')

• /dʒ/ ↔ /tʃ/

  vrač ('sorcerer') + -bina → vračbina : vradžbina ('witchcraft')

• /ʒ/ ↔ /ʃ/

  težak ('heavy') →težki : teški (singular → plural, with fleeting a)

• /z/ ↔ /s/

  uzak ('narrow') →uzki : uski (singular → plural, with fleeting a)

  s- ('off-') + baciti ('throw') →sbaciti : zbaciti ('throw off')

• /dʒ/ ↔ /tʃ/

  uč ('learn-') + -benik → učbenik : udžbenik ('textbook')

Furthermore, /f/, /x/ and /ts/ don't have voiced counterparts, so they trigger the assimilation, but are not affected by it.

As can be seen from the examples above, assimilation is generally reflected in orthography. However, there are numerous orthographic exceptions, i.e. even if voicing or devoicing does take place in speech, the orthography does not record it, usually to maintain the etymology clearer.

Assimilation by place of articulation

Assimilation by place of articulation affects /s/ and /z/ in front of (post)alveolars /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /tɕ/, /dʑ/, as well as palatals /ʎ/ and /ɲ/, producing /ʃ/ or /ʒ/:

• /s/ → /ʃ/

  pas ('dog') + -če → pašče ('small dog')

  list ('leaf') + -je → listće : lisće : lišće ('leaves')

  prositi ('to beg') + -nja → prosnja : prošnja ('begging')

  snositi ('to bear') + -ljiv → snosljiv : snošljiv ('bearable')

• /z/ → /ʒ/

  miraz ('dowry') + -džika → mirazdžika : miraždžika ('girl with dowry')

  grozd ('grape bunch') + -je → grozđe : grožđe ('grapes')

  paziti ('to care') + -nja → paznja : pažnja ('care')

  paziti ('to care') + -ljiv → pazljiv : pažljiv ('careful')

Simultaneously, assimilation by voicing is triggered if necessary.

L-vocalization

See also: L-vocalization

A historical /l/ in coda position has become /o/ and is now so spelled, and produces an additional syllable. For example, the Serbo-Croatian name of Belgrade is Beograd. However, in Croatian, the process is partially reversed; compare Croatian stol, vol, sol vs. Serbian sto, vo, so ('table', 'ox' and 'salt').

Sample

The sample text is a reading of The North Wind and the Sun by a 57-year-old female announcer at the Croatian Television Network reading in a colloquial style.

Phonemic transcription

/sjêʋeːrniː lědeniː ʋjêtar i‿sûːnt͡se‿su‿se prěpirali o‿sʋǒjoj snǎːzi || stôɡa ǒdlut͡ʃeː da‿ǒnome ôd‿ɲiːx prǐpadne pôbjeda kǒjiː sʋǔːt͡ʃeː | t͡ʃôʋjeka pûːtnika || ʋjêtar zǎpot͡ʃe snâːʒno pǔːxati | a‿bǔduːt͡ɕi da‿je t͡ʃôʋjek t͡ʃʋr̩̂ːsto dr̩̂ʒao ôdjet͡ɕu | nǎʋali ôːn jôʃ jât͡ʃeː || t͡ʃôʋjek pâːk jôʃ jât͡ʃeː ot‿stûdeni prǐtisnuːt | naʋǔːt͡ʃeː nǎ‿sebe jôʃ ʋîʃeː ôdjet͡ɕeː | dôk‿se ʋjêtar ne‿ǔmoriː i‿prěpustiː‿ɡa tâda sûːnt͡su || ǒnoː u‿pot͡ʃěːtku zǎsija ǔmjereno || kâd‿je t͡ʃôʋjek skînuo suʋǐːʃak ôdjet͡ɕeː | pǒʋiːsi ǒnoː jôʃ jât͡ʃeː ʒêɡu | dôk‿se t͡ʃôʋjek | u‿nemoɡǔːt͡ɕnosti da‿ǒdoli sǔnt͡ʃeʋoːj toplǐni ne‿sʋǔːt͡ʃeː | i‿ně‿pod͡ʑeː na‿kǔːpaɲe u‿rijěːku tekǔt͡ɕit͡su || prîːt͡ʃa pokǎzujeː da‿je‿t͡ʃêːsto uspjěʃnijeː uʋjerǎːʋaɲe | něɡoli nǎːsiːʎe/

Phonetic transcription

[sjêʋeˑrniˑ ɫědeniˑ ʋjêtar i‿sûːnt͡se‿su‿se prěpiraɫi o‿sʋǒjoj snǎːzi || stôɡa ǒdɫut͡ʃeˑ da‿ǒnome ôd‿ɲiˑx prǐpadne pôbjeda kǒjiˑ sʋǔːt͡ʃeˑ | t͡ʃôʋjeka pûːtnika || ʋjêtar zǎpot͡ʃe snâːʒno pǔːxati | a‿bǔduˑt͡ɕi da‿je t͡ʃôʋjek t͡ʃʋr̩̂ːsto dr̩̂ʒao ôdjet͡ɕu | nǎʋali ôːn jôʃ jât͡ʃeˑ || t͡ʃôʋjek pâːk jôʃ jât͡ʃeˑ ot‿stûdeni prǐtisnuˑt | naʋǔːt͡ʃeˑ nǎ‿sebe jôʃ ʋîʃeˑ ôdjet͡ɕeˑ | dôk‿se ʋjêtar ne‿ǔmoriˑ i‿prěpustiˑ‿ɡa tâda sûːnt͡su || ǒnoˑ u‿pot͡ʃěːtku zǎsija ǔmjereno || kâd‿je t͡ʃôʋjek skînuo suʋǐːʃak ôdjet͡ɕeˑ | pǒʋiˑsi ǒnoˑ jôʃ jât͡ʃeˑ ʒêɡu | dôk‿se t͡ʃôʋjek | u‿nemoɡǔːt͡ɕnosti da‿ǒdoli sǔnt͡ʃeʋoˑj topɫǐni ne‿sʋǔːt͡ʃeˑ | i‿ně‿pod͡ʑeˑ na‿kǔːpaɲe u‿rijěːku tekǔt͡ɕit͡su || prîːt͡ʃa pokǎzujeˑ da‿je‿t͡ʃêːsto uspjěʃnijeˑ uʋjerǎːʋaɲe | něɡoɫi nǎːsiˑʎe]

Orthographic version (Croatian)

Sjeverni ledeni vjetar i Sunce su se prepirali o svojoj snazi. Stoga odluče da onome od njih pripadne pobjeda koji svuče čovjeka putnika. Vjetar započe snažno puhati, a budući da je čovjek čvrsto držao odjeću, navali on još jače. Čovjek pak, još jače od studeni pritisnut, navuče na sebe još više odjeće, dok se vjetar ne umori i prepusti ga tada Suncu. Ono u početku zasija umjereno. Kad je čovjek skinuo suvišak odjeće, povisi ono još jače žegu dok se čovjek, u nemogućnosti da odoli sunčevoj toplini, ne svu če i ne pođe na kupanje u rijeku tekućicu. Priča pokazuje da je često uspješnije uvjeravanje negoli nasilje.

See also

• Differences between Serbo-Croatian standard varieties
• IPA for Serbo-Croatian
• Language secessionism in Serbo-Croatian
• Pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language
• Serbo-Croatian grammar
• Serbo-Croatian kinship
• Serbo-Croatian language
• Serbo-Croatian relative clauses
• Shtokavian dialect
• South Slavic dialect continuum
• Standard language

References

• [Grammar book]. Contents. Summary

External links

• Croatian for travellers, with audio files