More than just a slight difference
I lived in Bosnia for twelve years, and I think there is more than just a slight difference between the languages -
definitely more than between British and American English. Some words are spelled differently and the alphabet is
different in Serbia. Some of the words are pronounced very differently in Beograd then they are in Sarajevo or in
Dubrovnik.
Here are some examples:
beautiful: lepo (Serbian), lijepo (Bosnian), lipo (Croatian)
river: reka (Serbian), rijeka (Bosnian), rika
(Croatian)
song: pesma (Serbian), pijesma (Bosnian), pisma (Croatian)
Sent by: Semir
Comments
Slight difference, but not major basically I won't have problems understanding speaker from Bosnia, Serbia or Croatia, what I can't say for Macedonian or Slovenian
The arguments on any language legitimacy can be debated by many people from different point of VIEW. In particular on languages which have strong similarity.
They are all EXACTLY the exact same language. To say that differences in the spelling or pronunciation of words indicates a difference in language (especially in such a region) is a study in propaganda, not linguistics.
I must say that i agree most with Robin's mentality. This conversation, interesting as it may be, is somewhat unnecessary due to levels of cultural and lingual diffusion and diversity in the world. Although, most areas have a distinguished vernacular, there are then many various dialects and false cognates to wade through once you've learned the standards of the language. Aside from English, French differenciation between Quebec and Paris is a good example. Some of the words are very different but it is still the same language.
Ha, just compare "ich" and "ik" in German or how some Americans pronounce monosyllabic words with stressed "o" (i.e. "boss" sounds as "bus", etc). We have some dialects in Russian, too. For example, the proper pronunciation of unstressed "o" and "a" is a vague sound -- something between "o" and "a". But in regions near the Volga they always pronounce unstressed "o" in a very clear way, while in the North Caucasus (as well as in now independent Transcaucasian republics) they always pronounce unstressed "o" as clear "a". E.g. the word "moloko" (milk) they pronounce as "malako".
Your examples are misleading. Words like 'Lijepo' or 'Rijeka' are not just Bosnian but also Croatian and Montenegrin. They are part of the Ijekaski dialect. 'Lipo', etc, is the ikavski dialect and confined to some parts of Dalmatia. Only Serbs in Serbia itself use the ekavski dialect (and not even all of them!). All Serbs in Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro speak ijekavski.
I think Semir took a very simplistic view. The Croatian language has many dialects (ijekavski, kajkavski, ikavski) as no doubt does Serbian. Croatians from Medimurje would have a hard time understanding someone from the islands. His argument is not a very good one.
Most Serbs don't even speak Belgrade "ekavica" or Standard Serbian. I was in Zlatibor in Western Serbia, they talk similar to Serbs from the Banija region of Croatia! This was a surprise for me. They would also use lijepo, pjesma, ... so I don't see your point. It's all the same in Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian.
lipo, rika and pisma is not grammatically correct, it is just a difference in accent, actually - croatian way of saying these words is the one described like bosnian
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