South Slavic Languages - Writing Systems

Writing Systems

Languages to the west of Serbia use the Latin script, while those to the east and south use Cyrillic. Serbian officially uses the Cyrillic script, though commonly it is the Latin script which is in greater use. Most newspapers are written in Cyrillic, while most magazines are in Latin; books written by Serbian authors are written in Cyrillic, while books translated from foreign authors are usually in Latin. On television, writing as part of a television programme is usually in Cyrillic, while advertisements are usually in Latin. The division is partly based on religion – Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Macedonia (which use Cyrillic) are Orthodox countries, while Croatia and Slovenia (which use Latin) are Catholic The Bosnian language, used by the Muslim Bosniaks, also uses the Latin. The Glagolitic alphabet was also used in the Middle Ages (most notably in Bulgaria and Croatia), but gradually disappeared.