The Bunjevac dialect (bunjevački govor) or Bunjevac language[1] (bunjevački jezik) is a Štokavian dialect used by members of the Bunjevci community. The speakers live in parts of the autonomous province of Vojvodina in Serbia as well as in eastern parts of Croatia. The accent is purely Ikavian, with /i/ for the Common Slavic vowel yat. Its speakers largely use the Latin alphabet, as is illustrated in their locally published newspaper.
In the 2002 census results published by the Statistical Office of Serbia, Bunjevac was not listed among main languages spoken in Serbia, but those that declared that language to be Bunjevac are listed in category "other languages". For example, in the municipality of Subotica, the number of those listed as speaking "other languages" (presumably Bunjevac) is 8,914. [1]
The status of the Bunjevac dialect / language is vague, and it is considered a dialect of Croatian by some Croatian linguists. According to the 2002 census in Serbia, some members of the Bunjevac ethnic community declared that their native language is Croatian or Serbian. This doesn't mean that they don't use this specific dialect, merely that they don't consider it sufficiently distinct from the aforementioned standard languages to register as speakers of a separate language. However, those Bunjevci who declared in census that Bunjevac is their native language consider it as separate language.
In the old Austro-Hungarian censuses (for example one from 1910), Bunjevac was declared as a native language of numerous citizens (for example in the city of Subotica 33,247 people declared Bunjevac as their native language in 1910). During the existence of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, members of the Bunjevac ethnic community mostly declared themselves as speaking Serbo-Croatian.
Today, there is wish among the Bunjevac ethnic community for affirmation of their dialect / language. The Bunjevačke novine is a Bunjevac language monthly newspaper published in Subotica. The Radio Television of Vojvodina broadcasts TV programme ("Spektar" TV magazine) in Bunjevac. There are also demands for school classes in Bunjevac.