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Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, a Grammar: With Sociolinguistic Commentary
Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, a Grammar analyzes and clarifies the complex, dynamic language situation in the former Yugoslavia. Addressing squarely the issues connected with the splintering of Serbo-Croatian into component languages, this volume provides teachers and learners with practical solutions and highlights the differences among the languages as well as the communicative core that they all share. The first book to cover all three components of the post-Yugoslav linguistic environment, this reference manual · Thorough presentation of the grammar common to Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian, with explication of all the major differences
· Examples from a broad range of spoken language and literature
· New approaches to accent and clitic ordering, two of the most difficult points in BCS grammar
· Order of grammar presentation in chapters 1–16 keyed to corresponding lessons in Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, a Textbook
· "Sociolinguistic commentary" explicating the cultural and political context within which Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian function and have been defined
· Separate indexes of the grammar and sociolinguistic commentary, and of all words discussed in both
· Examples from a broad range of spoken language and literature
· New approaches to accent and clitic ordering, two of the most difficult points in BCS grammar
· Order of grammar presentation in chapters 1–16 keyed to corresponding lessons in Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, a Textbook
· "Sociolinguistic commentary" explicating the cultural and political context within which Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian function and have been defined
· Separate indexes of the grammar and sociolinguistic commentary, and of all words discussed in both
464 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 19, 2016
"Da bi stvarno naučio jedan jezik čovek mora da ide u zemlju gde se taj jezik govori."
Did I gain insight and knowledge on how the language "works"? Yes.
Did I learn how the Case / Declension system works? Yes.
Do I remember it all? No.
Do I feel like I now know double or even triple of what I knew before I read this book? Yes.
Were some things too in-depth and complicated for me? Was I, at times, lost? Yes.
Was it worth reading? Yes.
It has a decent socio-historical section at the end, for anybody who doesn't know the complicated history of the language(s).
Did I gain insight and knowledge on how the language "works"? Yes.
Did I learn how the Case / Declension system works? Yes.
Do I remember it all? No.
Do I feel like I now know double or even triple of what I knew before I read this book? Yes.
Were some things too in-depth and complicated for me? Was I, at times, lost? Yes.
Was it worth reading? Yes.
It has a decent socio-historical section at the end, for anybody who doesn't know the complicated history of the language(s).
September 15, 2013
Ronelle Alexander is the author of Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, a Textbook, one of the first textbooks for American universities that taught what was formerly "Serbo-Croatian" as a set of three distinct but closely related languages. This reference grammar is designed to accompany that textbook. It is divided into two parts. The first twenty chapters are the reference grammar proper, that is, all the paradigms and information about uses of the cases and tenses. If the Bosnian, Croatian or Serbian forms differ from one another, each possibility is given (even if it is something as minor as an ekavian/ijekavian distinction). The second part is titled a “sociolinguistic commentary”, general description of the three varieties -- or four, rather, as Montenegrin is also mentioned. Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian each get their own chapter, and we learn about the history of the language, the first figures to standardize it, and its continuing evolution after the breakup of Yugoslavia.
The discussion of everything is really long-winded and contains much that ought to go into a textbook of the language and not a grammar that one wants to quickly consult when unsure of paradigms. Also, I really dislike the format of this book: it is gigantic to the point of unweldiness, and the paperback binding is cheap and not durable enough for something designed for taking back and forth between home and classroom. Studying Serbian, I found that an introductory textbook together with Routledge’s Serbian: An Essential Grammar was enough to get me to the level where I could make use of reference grammars written directly in Serbian (or Bosnian or Croatian). If you have access to Alexander’s grammar at a library, then reading the chapter on the tonal accent – which gets a decent five pages here when it gets as little as half a paragraph elsewhere – and Part Two will prove instructive. However, it’s hard to recommend a purchase.
The discussion of everything is really long-winded and contains much that ought to go into a textbook of the language and not a grammar that one wants to quickly consult when unsure of paradigms. Also, I really dislike the format of this book: it is gigantic to the point of unweldiness, and the paperback binding is cheap and not durable enough for something designed for taking back and forth between home and classroom. Studying Serbian, I found that an introductory textbook together with Routledge’s Serbian: An Essential Grammar was enough to get me to the level where I could make use of reference grammars written directly in Serbian (or Bosnian or Croatian). If you have access to Alexander’s grammar at a library, then reading the chapter on the tonal accent – which gets a decent five pages here when it gets as little as half a paragraph elsewhere – and Part Two will prove instructive. However, it’s hard to recommend a purchase.
March 25, 2019
Worth it for this amazing sentence alone:
Would have been an easy 5 stars if the rest of the sociolinguistic commentary was this "spicy" hehe.
Very solid grammar though. Intuitively structured, thoroughly cross-referenced and full of well-chosen examples.
Exhaustively nuanced too, though I've read reviews elsewhere that said the "pitch accent" sections were underdeveloped... *yawns in regional monotone* I shudder to think what "overdeveloped" would have looked like 😅
Although the literal meaning of "odmah" is “immediately”, the real-world time frame can be quite long, and depends on the context.
Would have been an easy 5 stars if the rest of the sociolinguistic commentary was this "spicy" hehe.
Very solid grammar though. Intuitively structured, thoroughly cross-referenced and full of well-chosen examples.
Exhaustively nuanced too, though I've read reviews elsewhere that said the "pitch accent" sections were underdeveloped... *yawns in regional monotone* I shudder to think what "overdeveloped" would have looked like 😅
January 9, 2020
This book is very detailed but it explains everything clearly without too much linguistic terminology.
Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian are easily identifiable long-side each other so you don't get confused or boggled down with the details. Serbian is always given in both Latin and Cyrillic scripts. There is very Socio-linguistic section after the grammar that explains the history of the language(s) and lots of maps to show where the different dialects are spoken, this last section also has a history of the different countries. This is much more than just a grammar book, it is a great reference book for grammar. I would recommend this to anyone studying Serbian, Bosnian or Croatian.
Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian are easily identifiable long-side each other so you don't get confused or boggled down with the details. Serbian is always given in both Latin and Cyrillic scripts. There is very Socio-linguistic section after the grammar that explains the history of the language(s) and lots of maps to show where the different dialects are spoken, this last section also has a history of the different countries. This is much more than just a grammar book, it is a great reference book for grammar. I would recommend this to anyone studying Serbian, Bosnian or Croatian.
December 16, 2020
This helps explain the red lessons book. Fascinating sociolinguistic commentary at end. Excessively verbose for the typical student. Tempted to edit the text to make it more useful and accessible.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews