# Cyrillic versus Latin alphabet in Serbia... various Qs

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cyrillic-versus-latin-alphabet-in-serbia-various-qs/550654>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 18, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cyrillic-versus-latin-alphabet-in-serbia-various-qs/550654 "2010-08-18T19:08:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cyrillic-versus-latin-alphabet-in-serbia-various-qs/550654/21 "2010-08-19T16:08:25Z")

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> [@Polycarp](#):
>
> I recall that the pronouns for “who” vary across the dialects in much the same way.

Yes, the major dialects of Serbo-Croat\* are named after what word is used for who: _što-, ča-_, or _0kaj- kavian_. However, those three divisions are all basically dialects of Croatian, not Serbian. Both standard Croatian and Serbian are based on the štokavian dialect.

The dialects also have a further classication: ekavian, ikavian, and ijekavian. These are names after how the old Slavic vowel _jat_/_yat_ is pronounced. Ikavian dialects pronounce it as “i,” ijekavian dialects pronounce it as “ije/je” and ekavian pronounce it as “e.” Standard Serbian is stokavian/ekavian while Standard Croatian is stokavian/ijekavian (my previous example of _mleko/mlijeko_ shows this difference.)  
\*There is a fourth dialect, Torlak(ian), that is sometimes included as major division of the Serbo-Croat dialect map. This is spoken in Southeast Serbia and is sometimes considered a dialect of Bulgarian. It’s interesting, as, like Bulgarian and Macedonian, it apparently has also abandoned the Slavic case system.

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**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cyrillic-versus-latin-alphabet-in-serbia-various-qs/550654/22 "2010-08-20T21:56:45Z")

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> [@Lemur866](#):
>
> Even though nobody actually goes to church, kind of like in Northern Ireland.

All my cousins in NI go to mass more regularly than anyone I know in Dublin, although might be more indicative of the urban/rural divide than anything else.

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