Author(s): Paul-Louis Thomas / Language(s): Bosnian,Croatian,Serbian
Issue: 1/2012
Osipov and Thomas, authors of a new Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian grammar written in French, have been confronted with several problems discussed in this paper: – The name of the language, a single linguistic system with four marginally different standards: we chose the abbreviation BCMS. Since the disintegration of Yugoslavia, different grammars have been published for the Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian languages; nevertheless, we find common grammars for such polystandardized languages as English, Spanish, or French, with priority given to one variant; conversely, we attempt to cover all four varieties of the BCMS language equally. – The presentation of variants, geographical as well as due to recent evolutions of the linguistic system. We present variants in writing (Latin and Cyrillic), phonetics (Ekavian, Jekavian, different accentuations), morphology, syntax (e.g. the infinitive or the conjunction da with the present), while taking into account lexical differences in our examples. – This grammar tries to be both descriptive and prescriptive, as it is intended for French speakers; because of this we have emphasized, more than in local grammars, the problems most difficult for native French speakers, such as definite and indefinite adjectives, numerals, verbal aspect, preterite tenses, and word order (particularly the placement of enclitics).
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