Bunjevac dialect
| Bunjevac | |
|---|---|
| bunjevački | |
| Native to | Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary |
Native speakers | 3,319 (2022) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | bunj1247 |
| South Slavic languages and dialects |
|---|
The Bunjevac dialect (bunjevački dijalekt), also known as Bunjevac speech (bunjevački govor), is a Neo-Shtokavian Younger Ikavian dialect of the Serbo-Croatian pluricentric language, preserved among members of the Bunjevac community living mostly in region of Bačka of northern Serbia; Bács-Kiskun County (particularly in Baja and surroundings) of southern Hungary. It is also found in Croatia (Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Lika-Senj County, Split-Dalmatia County, Osijek-Baranja County, Vukovar-Srijem County); and in Bosnia-Herzegovina. They presumably originate from western Herzegovina. Their accent is purely Ikavian, with /i/ for the Common Slavic vowels yat.
Bunjevac dialect is one of the official languages in the City of Subotica, since 2021. That same year, Croatia added the Bunjevac dialect to the list of protected intangible cultural heritage. Within the Bunjevac community itself as well as between Serbia and Croatia there is an ongoing debate about the status of Bunjevac speech.