Montenegrin language

The municipalities (Montenegrin: opštine / општине, singular: opština / општина) are the first level administrative subdivisions of Montenegro. The country is divided into 25 municipalities including the Old Royal Capital Cetinje and the Podgorica Capital City. Podgorica is divided into one subdivision called city municipality (Montenegrin: gradska opština / градска општина, plural: gradske opštine / градске општине), forming the most basic level of local government.

Cetinje (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Цетиње, pronounced [t͡sětiɲe]) is a town in Montenegro. It is the former royal capital (Montenegrin: prijestonica / приjестоница) of Montenegro and is the location of several national institutions, including the official residence of the president of Montenegro.

According to the 2023 census, the town had a population of 12,460 while the Cetinje Municipality had 14,465 residents. Cetinje is the centre of Cetinje Municipality. The city rests on a small karst plain surrounded by limestone mountains, including Mount Lovćen, the legendary mountain in Montenegrin historiography. Cetinje was founded in the 15th century and became a cradle of the culture of Montenegro. Its status as the honorary capital of Montenegro is due to its heritage as a long-serving former capital of Montenegro.

The Old Royal Capital Cetinje (Montenegrin: Prijestonica Cetinje / Пријестоница Цетиње) is one of the municipalities of Montenegro. Due to its former status as the capital of the old Kingdom of Montenegro, it is known as the "Old Royal Capital" (Prijestonica / Пријестоница), which is also translated in English as "Royal Town". Its center is the town of Cetinje and its territory, which covers an area of 910 km, is bordered by the Lovćen and Lake Skadar national parks. In 2023, the municipality of Cetinje had a population of 14,494.

Serbo-Croatian, also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually intelligible standard varieties, namely Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin.

South Slavic languages historically formed a dialect continuum. The region's turbulent history, particularly due to the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, led to a complex dialectal and religious mosaic. Due to population migrations, Shtokavian became the most widespread supradialect in the western Balkans, encroaching westward into the area previously dominated by Chakavian and Kajkavian. Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs differ in religion and were historically often part of different cultural spheres, although large portions of these populations lived side by side under foreign rule. During that period, the language was referred to by various names, such as "Slavic" in general, or "Serbian", "Croatian" or "Bosnian" in particular. In a classicizing manner, it was also referred to as "Illyrian".

Lake Skadar or Lake Scutari (Albanian: Liqeni i Shkodrës, pronounced [liˈcɛni i ˈʃkɔdrəs]; Montenegrin: Скадарско језеро, Skadarsko jezero, pronounced [skâdarskɔː jɛ̂zɛrɔ]) – also called Lake Shkodër lies on the border of Albania and Montenegro, and is the largest lake in Southern Europe. It is named after the Albanian city of Shkodër which lies at its southeastern coast. It is a karst lake.

The Montenegrin section of the lake and surrounding land have been designated as a national park, while the Albanian part constitutes a nature reserve and a Ramsar site.

Montenegrins (Montenegrin: Crnogorci / Црногорци, lit. 'People of the Black Mountain', pronounced [tsr̩nǒɡoːrtsi] or [tsr̩noɡǒːrtsi]) are a South Slavic ethnic group that share a common ancestry, culture, history, and language, identified with the country of Montenegro.

Montenegrins are mostly Orthodox Christians; however, the population also includes Catholics, Muslims and irreligious people. The Montenegrin language is the official language of Montenegro.

Serbian is the standard variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and co-official in Montenegro and Kosovo. It is a recognized minority language in Croatia, North Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

Serbian is based on the most widespread dialect of Serbo-Croatian, Shtokavian (more specifically on the dialects of Šumadija-Vojvodina and Eastern Herzegovina), which is also the basis of standard Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin varieties. Reflecting this shared basis, the Declaration on the Common Language of Croats, Bosniaks, Serbs, and Montenegrins was issued in 2017. The other dialect spoken by Serbs is Torlakian in southeastern Serbia, which is transitional to Macedonian and Bulgarian.

Arabic has had a great influence on other languages, especially in vocabulary. The influence of Arabic has been most profound in those countries visited by Islam or Islamic power.

Arabic loanwords have made into many languages as diverse as Abkhaz, Afrikaans, Amharic, Albanian, Armenian, Assyrian, Azerbaijani, Balochi, Bengali, Berber, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chechen, Circassian, Croatian, English, French, Georgian, Greek, Gujarati, Hausa, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Kazakh, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Malay, Mongolian, Montenegrin, Nepali, Odia, Ossetian, Pashto, Persian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romani, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sicilian, Spanish, Sindhi, Somali, Swahili, Tagalog, Tajik, Tatar, Tigrinya, Turkish, Turkmen, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uyghur, Uzbek, Visayan, Wolof, Xhosa, Yoruba, Zulu, as well as other languages in countries where these languages are spoken. Other languages such as Maltese and Nubi derive from Arabic, rather than merely borrowing vocabulary. Arabic words were being used from the Iberian Peninsula all the way to Maritime Southeast Asia prior to the spread of European international words.

Albanians in Montenegro (Albanian: Shqiptarët e Malit të Zi; Montenegrin: Албанци у Црној Гори, romanized: Albanci u Crnoj Gori) are ethnic Albanians who constitute 4.97% of Montenegro's total population. They are the largest non-Slavic ethnic group in Montenegro.

Albanians are particularly concentrated in southeastern and eastern Montenegro alongside the border with Albania in the following municipalities including Ulcinj (73.5% of total population), Tuzi (62.6%), Gusinje (34.4%), Plav (9.4%), and Rožaje (5.1%).

Podgorica Capital City (Montenegrin: Glavni grad Podgorica / Главни град Подгорица) is one of the territorial subdivisions of Montenegro. The seat of municipality is the city of Podgorica. Podgorica municipality covers 10.4% of Montenegro's territory and is home to 29.9% of the country's population. It is the nation's administrative centre and its economic and educational focus.

The Montenegrin alphabet is the collective name given to "Abeceda" (Montenegrin Latin alphabet; Абецеда in Cyrillic) and "Азбука" (Montenegrin Cyrillic alphabet; Azbuka in Latin), the writing systems used to write the Montenegrin language. It was adopted on 9 June 2009 by the Montenegrin Minister of Education, Sreten Škuletić and replaced the Serbian Cyrillic and Gaj's Latin alphabets in use at the time.

There is a one-to-one correspondence between the two alphabets, and words are usually spelled so that they work in both.

The Zeta Plain (Montenegrin: Zetska ravnica / Зетска равница, pronounced [zɛ̂ta]) is a fertile lowland in Montenegro. It stretches from Podgorica in the north to the Skadar Lake in the south. It is the biggest plains area in Montenegro, with an average elevation around 40 m (130 ft) above sea level.

The name "Zeta" derives from an early root meaning "harvest" or "grain" (modern words žetva and žito). Confusingly, Zeta River flows not through the Zeta Plain but through another significant valley in Montenegro, Bjelopavlići.

The Blue Palace (Montenegrin: Плави дворац, romanized: Plavi dvorac) was built as the heir's palace in Cetinje, Montenegro. Today the Blue Palace is the official residence of the President of Montenegro.

It was built in 1894–1895 in late Empire style as the residence of Crown Prince Danilo of Montenegro, then heir-apparent to the throne. The building was a model for the construction of other buildings for the members of the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty throughout Montenegro. During the interwar period in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the building housed the Cetinje Gymnasium, while in the era of the Socialist Republic of Montenegro it was converted into a gallery and museum.

The tribes of Montenegro (Montenegrin and Serbian: племена Црне Горе, plemena Crne Gore) or Montenegrin tribes (Montenegrin and Serbian: црногорска племена, crnogorska plemena) are historical tribes in the areas of Old Montenegro, Brda, Old Herzegovina and Primorje.

Most tribes were formed in the 15th and 16th centuries, during and after the Ottoman conquest of the medieval state of Zeta, where they replaced former administrative units known as župas. As a result, the tribal territories also became basic geopolitical units of larger divisions of the Ottoman Empire, such as the Vilayet of Montenegro, the eastern parts of the Sanjak of Herzegovina and parts of the Sanjak of Scutari. From the late 14th century to the 18th century, some tribes were also under the rule of Venetian Albania. In the 18th century, many tribes became part of the Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro and after 1858 most of them were united into the Principality of Montenegro.

The Sanjak of Montenegro (Montenegrin and Serbian Cyrillic: Санџак Црне Горе, romanized: Sandžak Crne Gore; Turkish: Karadağ Sancağı, literally Sanjak of the Black Mountain) was a province (sanjak) of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan Peninsula roughly corresponding to modern Montenegro. It was created in 1514 from the borders of the former Zeta, ruled by the Crnojevići, which had earlier been organized into the Sanjak of Scutari in 1499.

The Parliament of Montenegro (Montenegrin: Skupština Crne Gore / Скупштина Црне Горе) is the unicameral legislature of Montenegro. The Parliament currently has 81 members, with each member elected to a four-year term. Following the 2006 independence referendum, the Parliament declared and ratified the independence of Montenegro on 3 June 2006. Members of the Parliament are elected using proportional representation.

Shtokavian or Štokavian (/ʃtɒˈkɑːviən, -ˈkæv-/; Serbo-Croatian Latin: štokavski / Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: штокавски, pronounced [ʃtǒːkaʋskiː]) is the prestige supradialect of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language and the basis of its Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian standards. It is a part of the South Slavic dialect continuum. Its name comes from the form for the interrogative pronoun for "what": što. This is in contrast to dialects that are exclusive to Croatian language: Kajkavian and Chakavian (kaj and ča also meaning "what").

Shtokavian is spoken in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the southern part of Austria's Burgenland, much of Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. The primary subdivisions of Shtokavian are based on three principles: one is different accents (whether the subdialect is Old-Shtokavian or Neo-Shtokavian), second is the way the old Slavic phoneme yat has changed (Ikavian, Ijekavian or Ekavian), and third is the presence of the Young Proto-Slavic isogloss (Schakavian or Shtakavian). Modern dialectology generally recognises seven Shtokavian subdialects.