Learning Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian at Source Languages, Department of Historical Studies, CEU
Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian belong to the South Slavic branch of languages. These are the standard languages used in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia. Despite some lexical differences, these languages are mutually intelligible because they share a common phonological, morphological, and syntactical core. Therefore, even if students choose to focus solely on Bosnian, Croatian, or Serbian, they will still be able to understand, communicate, and read contemporary sources in all three languages.
Goals and Learning Outcomes
This course is suitable for those who have very basic or no previous knowledge of Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian. The Beginner I course will focus on developing basic reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills, with particular emphasis on the text comprehension skills required for scholarly research. The course will also cover basic grammar points such as the grammatical gender of nouns, cases (nominative, genitive, accusative, locative), present tense, personal pronouns, possessive pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, adverbs of place and time, and comparison of adjectives and adverbs. In terms of source material, the course will primarily use texts, poems, and excerpts from 20th-century Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian literature and newspapers. However, in addition to these mandatory readings that closely follow the development of necessary grammatical and reading comprehension skills, we will also include historical sources that will be adapted to align with the interests of the class participants and their respective research fields.
Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian belong to the South Slavic branch of languages. These are the standard languages used in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia. Despite some lexical differences, these languages are mutually intelligible because they share a common phonological, morphological, and syntactical core. Therefore, even if students choose to focus solely on Bosnian, Croatian, or Serbian, they will still be able to understand, communicate, and read contemporary sources in all three languages.
Goals and Learning Outcomes
This course is suitable for those who have very basic or no previous knowledge of Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian. The Beginner I course will focus on developing basic reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills, with particular emphasis on the text comprehension skills required for scholarly research. The course will also cover basic grammar points such as the grammatical gender of nouns, cases (nominative, genitive, accusative, locative), present tense, personal pronouns, possessive pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, adverbs of place and time, and comparison of adjectives and adverbs. In terms of source material, the course will primarily use texts, poems, and excerpts from 20th-century Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian literature and newspapers. However, in addition to these mandatory readings that closely follow the development of necessary grammatical and reading comprehension skills, we will also include historical sources that will be adapted to align with the interests of the class participants and their respective research fields.
- Instructor: Dunja Milenkovic