Introduction to the Croatian and Serbian Language  
Thomas F. Magner
Pennsylvania State University Press
This is a completely reworked edition of a textbook that has won acclaim over the years and has been used in universities from coast to coast.The language has traditionally been called Serbo-Croatian, although it is also referred to as Serbian or Croatian. There are two main variants of the language; Croatian (Western) and Serbian (Eastern). This book is unique in its equal treatment of the two principal variants. Such even-handed treatment requires the presentation of the two alphabets in use (Latin and Cyrillic), the representation of lexical items specific to each variant (e.g., Serbian hleb, 'bread,' and Croatian kruh), a presentation of pronunciation differences (e.g., Serbian sneg, 'snow,' and Croatian snijeg), and a clear indication of syntactic differences (e.g., Serbian ja hocu da pisem, 'I want to write,' and Croatian ja hocu pisati).The language presented is correct and colloquial since the user will typically be a beginner, not ready for belles-lettres. The correctness of usage has been established through consultation with Serbian and Croatian academic experts.Conversations for imitation are fresh and lively, and texts are down-to-earth ('Sport in Yugoslavia,' 'Student Life in Zagreb,' etc.). A dictionary is provided at the end both for help with the lessons and for independent use, as in tourism or self-study.The grammar is presented in modern fashion, using the techniques of applied linguistics and benefiting from the author's long experience in teaching the language.