THE CONTEMPORARY LANGUAGE SITUATION IN MONTENEGRO

This study provides a brief overview of the current linguistic situation in Montenegro. We show that, in this southeastern European country, language varieties are spoken that share the core features of the principal languages of Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, all of which fall within the Shtokavian dialect continuum. At the same time, Montenegro exhibits several distinctive features that set its linguistic profile apart. One of the most striking characteristics is the variability in language naming conventions among the population. Although the official designation is Montenegrin, the same Shtokavian varieties are also referred to—depending on regional, political, or personal factors—as Serbian, Croatian, or Bosnian. This multiplicity of labels, applied to what are often linguistically identical or near-identical varieties, distinguishes Montenegro’s linguistic reality from that of its neighbors, where language descriptors tend to align more predictably with ethnic and national identities. We take up this question and illuminate it in light of the most recent data from the 2023 census, while contextualizing the demographic interrelations among linguistic, ethnic, and religious identities. Furthermore, we discuss the specific conditions encountered by the official language upon its implementation in the public sphere. In this context, we address the role of the Latin and Cyrillic scripts, which, although granted equal legal status, are distributed unevenly in practice. In sum, we conclude that all these peculiarities have given rise to the highest degree of ethno-linguistic plurality within the territory of former Yugoslavia, which context fundamentally distinguishes Montenegrin from all other standard languages within the Shtokavian continuum. KEYWORDS: Montenegro, Shtokavian, linguistic typology, standard language, variety linguistics, language and identity, language in the public sphere