Serbian and Croatian Language

Serbo-Croatian, Croatian-Serbian, Serbian or Croatian, Croatian or Serbian, are different denominations of the same language which has phonetic and lexical peculiarities.

Phonetical Discordances
In addition to the different reflection of the proto-Vowel vowel “jat” (ě), which has already been mentioned, there are other phonetic differences between Serbian and Croatian:

The veiled aspirate h is hardly felt by the Serbs and in its place, when it does not fall, the labio-dental sonorous v : kuvati (cooking), suv (dry) for kuhati , suh is often used . In place of the uz prefix the Serbs sometimes have the archaic prefix va: vazduh (air), vaskrsnuti (resurrect) for uzduh, uskrsnuti . The Serbian sometimes maintains the ancient link št and does not continue it, as for the Croatian, in ć : sveštenik (priest), opština (Municipality), for sve ćenik, općina . In Serbian the r at the end of the word often falls: takođ e (likewise), veče (evening) for takođ er , večer. Instead of a t , Serbs sometimes use the prepalatal ć : prolećni (spring) for proljetni . Where phonetic variations, depending on different civilizations, traditions and linguistic sensibilities, are most evident, it is in the adaptation of foreign voices. This is how, for example, while in certain Croatian proper names the consonant b appears , in Serbian ones the consonant v appears :Babilon-Vavilon, Bizant-Vizant. Similarly there is a k in Croatian and an h in Serbian in the types of voices kirurg-hirurg , kr š ćanin-hrišćanin ; or there is a z in Croatian and an s in Serbian in the types of voices konzul-konsul , perzijski-persijski , etc. [1]

Morphological and Syntactic Discordances
Not numerous, but morphological and syntactic discrepancies are also characteristic.
In Serbian the infinitive of the verb tends to disappear completely and to be replaced by + indicative . [2] Thus, for example: the form of the future ja ću da dođ em (I will come) for ja ću doći (Croatian ) or the imperative form nemoj da govori š (not to speak) for nemoj govoriti (Croatian).

Nouns do not often agree in gender and while Croats use the masculine forms for svezak (booklet), arhiv (archive), teorem (theorem), Serbs have the corresponding feminine forms, therefore  sveska, arhiva, theorem, or, conversely, in place of the Croatian pojava (phenomenon), there is the Serbian pojav.

In verbs taken from foreign languages, Croats use the ending -irati and Serbs – isati or – ovati , therefore grupirati (to group), bombardirati (to bomb) in front of grupisati, bombardovati.

Lexical
discordances Major discrepancies appear in the lexicon:

From the examples given above, the most marked tendency of the Croatian in favor of the “casts” is evident, where the Serbian prefers the “loans” and, in general, the greater refractoriness, to the loans, of the Croatian (see the names of the months, exemplary on the Latin-Greek ones in Serbian, but of Slavic origin in Croatian); moreover the terms of Greek origin, particularly those of ecclesiastical use or proper names, come in Serbian directly from Greek (therefore they have the phonetic form they had in this language in the Middle Ages), while in Croatian they penetrate through Latin mediation, and therefore have the phonetic form that Latin had taken at the beginning of the Christian era (eg. Croatian Barbara , Serbia Varvara ; Croatian Bethlehem , Serbs Vitlejem, etc