Montenegrin or Serbian?
Though Montenegrin is the official language in Montenegro, Serbian is spoken by a larger percentage of the population due largely in part to the shared history between the two countries (The World Factbook, 2018). In fact, there is an ongoing debate amongst linguists (2007) regarding whether or not Montenegrin is just a dialect of Serbian, and if it is necessary to differentiate between the two languages, at all (What Language?).
The differentiation between Montenegrin and Serbian began after Montenegro and Serbia became independent of each other, and the government in Montenegro sought to promote a national language for their young country. If Serbians spoke Serbian, the government's thought process went, Montenegrins should speak "Montenegrin." Those in favor of differentiating between the two languages have sought to do so "...by adding two or three new letters to the alphabet for specifically Montenegrin consonants, but those are not widely used" (Browne, 2016). As far as the government in Montenegro is concerned, the "matter was settled in 2010 when it published a Montenegrin grammatical code and declared Montenegrin the official language of the country’s broadcasting and education systems" (Poulsen, Lampe, & Allcock, 2018).
Despite the government's best efforts, however, most natives claim that there is no difference between the two languages, and both names are used to describe them, interchangeably. Furthermore, Montenegrin/Serbian is also referred to as Serbo-Croatian, and is part of the Balto-Slavic family according to August Schleicher's Proto-Indo European family tree model of language. Montenegrin/Serbian uses the Cyrillic alphabetic script, which "was developed by St. Cyril 1100 years ago, and is derived from Greek" (Rowe and Levine, 2016, p. 308). The Cyrillic alphabet is also used in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine, to name a few. Unlike other Cyrillic alphabets, however, "no single Montenegrin/Serbian Cyrillic letter ever denotes a consonant-plus-vowel sequence" (Browne, 2016).
The differentiation between Montenegrin and Serbian began after Montenegro and Serbia became independent of each other, and the government in Montenegro sought to promote a national language for their young country. If Serbians spoke Serbian, the government's thought process went, Montenegrins should speak "Montenegrin." Those in favor of differentiating between the two languages have sought to do so "...by adding two or three new letters to the alphabet for specifically Montenegrin consonants, but those are not widely used" (Browne, 2016). As far as the government in Montenegro is concerned, the "matter was settled in 2010 when it published a Montenegrin grammatical code and declared Montenegrin the official language of the country’s broadcasting and education systems" (Poulsen, Lampe, & Allcock, 2018).
Despite the government's best efforts, however, most natives claim that there is no difference between the two languages, and both names are used to describe them, interchangeably. Furthermore, Montenegrin/Serbian is also referred to as Serbo-Croatian, and is part of the Balto-Slavic family according to August Schleicher's Proto-Indo European family tree model of language. Montenegrin/Serbian uses the Cyrillic alphabetic script, which "was developed by St. Cyril 1100 years ago, and is derived from Greek" (Rowe and Levine, 2016, p. 308). The Cyrillic alphabet is also used in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine, to name a few. Unlike other Cyrillic alphabets, however, "no single Montenegrin/Serbian Cyrillic letter ever denotes a consonant-plus-vowel sequence" (Browne, 2016).
The National Anthem of Montenegro with English Subtitles
Montenegrin / Serbian English
According to Rowe and Levine's A Concise Introduction to Linguistics (2016), "although the percent of native speakers of English is declining relative to the total world population, the number of people throughout the world speaking some variety of English as a second language is increasing" (p. 359). Montenegro is part of Braj Kachru's "Expanding Circle" of English.
P H O N O L O G I C A L F E A T U R E S:
Consonants-
Certain vowels are pronounced differently in Montenegrin/Serbian, based primarily on tone and length:
L E X I C A L F E A T U R E S:
S Y N T A C T I C F E A T U R E S:
E X A M P L E O F M O N T E N E G R I N / S E R B I A N E N G L I S H:
From Meier, C., Meier, P., & Paul, D. (n.d.). International Dialects of English Archive: Montenegro 1.
English spoken by a native Montenegrin/Serbian speaker:
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:
AGE: 32
DATE OF BIRTH: 3/21/1985
PLACE OF BIRTH: Bijelo Polje, Montenegro
GENDER: Male
ETHNICITY: Caucasian/Montenegrin
OCCUPATION: Lounge technician for Royal Caribbean International
EDUCATION: Partial college degree in applied computer studies
AREAS OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS:
The subject has spent about a year on a Royal Caribbean ship sailing from the United States (Florida) to the Bahamas.
OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:
He lived in his hometown in Montenegro (Bijelo Polje) for the first nineteen years of his life; he then moved to Podgorica, the capital of the country, and lived there for eleven years. The subject learned English partially by watching English-language cartoons. He also speaks a little German.
RECORDED BY: Sarah Maria Nichols
DATE OF RECORDING: 12/12/2017
ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:
When I was, uh, little kid, like sss — I had, uh, 6 years old, when we got a satellite dish. And, uh, I started watching foreign programs. Uh, I — mainly I watched Cartoon Network, and, uh, I watched the same cartoons as I watched, uh, that, th — as I watched on our television programs, in our language, that were synchronized. And that way I could learn some of my first English words, because I was watching the same cartoons in original English language. And, uh, that’s how I started learning English. By the age of nine, when we were — when I was with my mother and my brother on our summer vacation — on the coast — there were — there was a basketball team for — from Sheffield, England, that was there playing a game with the local team. And, uh, after the game they, they handed out to the audience some stuff with their — with the logo of the, of their team. And, uh, when I, I saw that they were hanging [handing] out yoyos, and it — and then, I approached the team players and asked in English do they have any more yoyos left for me? And, uh, the guy said he was sorry that they ran out of yoyos, but he gave me a badge. Uh, during that time, my mother was — she was amazed because she didn’t know that I can speak English. And, uh, until then, she was — she wasn’t really happy wit [with] me watching that much cartoons and everything, but, when she saw that I am learning English by watching cartoons, after that she, she let me watch cartoons all that — all I wanted. And that’s how I — that’s my first English teacher.
[Subject speaks Serbian]: Drago mi je što mogu da pomognem mojoj prijateljici Sari. Nadam se da će nekome biti od koristi ovaj snimak što sam napravio.
[English translation: I’m glad that I’m able to help out my friend Sarah. I hope this recording that I made is going to be useful to somebody.]
TRANSCRIBED BY: Sarah Maria Nichols
DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION: 12/13/2017
SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:
This subject, a friend of mine, was nice enough to make sure that the letters I used in his language were correct. He also informed me that the people of Montenegro do not have their own language. They merely speak a dialect of Serbian.
P H O N O L O G I C A L F E A T U R E S:
Consonants-
- [w] is often pronounced as [v] in Montenegrin/Serbian English
- [d] is often pronounced as [t] in Montenegrin/Serbian English
- [θ] is often pronounced as [t] or [d] in Montenegrin/Serbian English
- [r] is pronounced as more of a tap or flap in Montenegrin/Serbian English
- [s] is often pronounced [z] or [ʒ] in Montenegrin/Serbian English
Certain vowels are pronounced differently in Montenegrin/Serbian, based primarily on tone and length:
- e - non-tonal, short vowel
- eː - non-tonal, long vowel
- ě - rising tone, short vowel
- ěː - rising tone, long vowel
- ê - falling tone, short vowel
- êː - falling tone, long vowel
L E X I C A L F E A T U R E S:
- A common lexical feature of Montenegrin/Serbian English is that of mixing adjectives and adverbs.
- For example, rather than "He finished his meal quickly," Montenegrin/Serbian English speakers might say "He finished his meal quick."
S Y N T A C T I C F E A T U R E S:
- Verbs are often deleted in Montenegrin/Serbian English.
- For example, rather than "They are generous," Montenegrin/Serbian English speakers might say "They generous."
- The present tense is often used instead of the past tense in Montenegrin/Serbian English.
- For example, rather than "We were better," or "I said," Montenegrin/Serbian English speakers might say "We was better," and "I say," respectively.
- Articles are often dropped in Montenegrin/Serbian English.
- For example, rather than "We are looking for an apartment," Montenegrin/Serbian English speakers might say "We are looking for apartment."
- Combination of dropping articles and using present instead of past tense
- For example, rather than "The baker who made the cake," Montenegrin/Serbian English speakers might say "The baker who make cake."
E X A M P L E O F M O N T E N E G R I N / S E R B I A N E N G L I S H:
From Meier, C., Meier, P., & Paul, D. (n.d.). International Dialects of English Archive: Montenegro 1.
English spoken by a native Montenegrin/Serbian speaker:
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:
AGE: 32
DATE OF BIRTH: 3/21/1985
PLACE OF BIRTH: Bijelo Polje, Montenegro
GENDER: Male
ETHNICITY: Caucasian/Montenegrin
OCCUPATION: Lounge technician for Royal Caribbean International
EDUCATION: Partial college degree in applied computer studies
AREAS OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS:
The subject has spent about a year on a Royal Caribbean ship sailing from the United States (Florida) to the Bahamas.
OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:
He lived in his hometown in Montenegro (Bijelo Polje) for the first nineteen years of his life; he then moved to Podgorica, the capital of the country, and lived there for eleven years. The subject learned English partially by watching English-language cartoons. He also speaks a little German.
RECORDED BY: Sarah Maria Nichols
DATE OF RECORDING: 12/12/2017
ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:
When I was, uh, little kid, like sss — I had, uh, 6 years old, when we got a satellite dish. And, uh, I started watching foreign programs. Uh, I — mainly I watched Cartoon Network, and, uh, I watched the same cartoons as I watched, uh, that, th — as I watched on our television programs, in our language, that were synchronized. And that way I could learn some of my first English words, because I was watching the same cartoons in original English language. And, uh, that’s how I started learning English. By the age of nine, when we were — when I was with my mother and my brother on our summer vacation — on the coast — there were — there was a basketball team for — from Sheffield, England, that was there playing a game with the local team. And, uh, after the game they, they handed out to the audience some stuff with their — with the logo of the, of their team. And, uh, when I, I saw that they were hanging [handing] out yoyos, and it — and then, I approached the team players and asked in English do they have any more yoyos left for me? And, uh, the guy said he was sorry that they ran out of yoyos, but he gave me a badge. Uh, during that time, my mother was — she was amazed because she didn’t know that I can speak English. And, uh, until then, she was — she wasn’t really happy wit [with] me watching that much cartoons and everything, but, when she saw that I am learning English by watching cartoons, after that she, she let me watch cartoons all that — all I wanted. And that’s how I — that’s my first English teacher.
[Subject speaks Serbian]: Drago mi je što mogu da pomognem mojoj prijateljici Sari. Nadam se da će nekome biti od koristi ovaj snimak što sam napravio.
[English translation: I’m glad that I’m able to help out my friend Sarah. I hope this recording that I made is going to be useful to somebody.]
TRANSCRIBED BY: Sarah Maria Nichols
DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION: 12/13/2017
SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:
This subject, a friend of mine, was nice enough to make sure that the letters I used in his language were correct. He also informed me that the people of Montenegro do not have their own language. They merely speak a dialect of Serbian.
English in Tourism
According to the World Factbook (2018), tourism brings in "three times as many visitors as Montenegro’s total population every year," providing many opportunities for English to be used as a contact language. This project is further proof of the prevalence of English use in Montenegrin tourism, as I was able to successfully secure an interview with a native Montenegrin by contacting employees at a resort there. In all of my interactions with the employees of the Mediteran Hotel and Resort located in Bečići, Montenegro, there was no language barrier; we were able to use English as a contact language very successfully. For more information, visit the "Interview" tab on this website.
The prevalence and use of English is reinforced in the tourism videos below, which aim to entice English speakers to visit Montenegro:
The prevalence and use of English is reinforced in the tourism videos below, which aim to entice English speakers to visit Montenegro: