Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian language summary

Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian language (BCMS), term of convenience that refers to the forms of speech employed by Serbs, Croats, Montenegrins, and Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims). The term is a successor to Serbo-Croatian language, which came into being in the 19th century and was supported by the politically unified Yugoslav kingdom (1918–41) and communist Yugoslavia (1945–91). With the breakup of Yugoslavia, the new countries that came into existence began establishing independent language-usage standards. Among linguists and authors outside the region, the term Serbo-Croatian language gave way to BCS (“Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian”) and then to BCMS; locally, those in Croatia refer to it as Croatian, in Serbia as Serbian, and so on. Vocabulary and pronunciation differences exist among the four but form no substantial barrier to communication. The Croats and Bosnians use the Latin alphabet; the Serbs and Montenegrins of present-day Serbia and Montenegro privilege Cyrillic. Much disagreement over BCMS revolves around the definition of the word language and differences between standard languages and local dialects.