Demographics of Croatia
Croatian replaced Latin as the official language of the Croatian government in 1847. The Croatian lect is generally viewed as one of the three standard varieties of the Shtokavian dialect of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language. Croatian is written using the Latin alphabet and there are three major dialects spoken on the territory of Croatia, with the Shtokavian idiom used as the literary standard. The Chakavian and Kajkavian dialects are distinguished by their lexicon, phonology, and syntax.
Minority languages of Croatia
During Napoleon I's invasion of Croatia in the early 19th century, a large portion was of the country was converted into the Illyrian Provinces ("Provinces illyriennes)" and incorporated as a French province in 1809. French rule established the official language of the autonomous province to be French followed by Croatian, Italian, German, and Slovene. According to a study commissioned by France's Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, 10% of Croatian speak French.