The Eastern Herzegovinian dialect (Serbo-Croatian: istočnohercegovački/источнохерцеговачки or istočnohercegovačko-krajiški/источнохерцеговачко-крајишки) is the most widespread dialect of the Štokavian dialect system, both by territory and the number of speakers. It is the most prestigious of all Serbo-Croatian dialects, being the dialectal basis for all modern literary Serbo-Croatian registers: Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, and Montenegrin (the latter only partially codified).
It covers large areas of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro. It is also spoken in four villages in White Carniola, Slovenia (Miliči, Bojanci, Marindol and Paunoviči), the inhabitants of which are descendants of Uskoci. It is composed of two larger zones that are territorially separated:
As can be seen from the map, the southeastern zone is territorially compact and continuous, while the northwestern zone is broken, discontinuous and interspersed with areas where other Štokavian dialects are spoken.
Being spoken on such a large area, this dialect comes into contact with all of the dialects of the Štokavian diasystem apart from the dialects of Prizren-Timok zone, and also on northwest with the dialects of two other Western South Slavic diasystems: Čakavian and Kajkavian. It is also spoken in a few enclaves on Čakavian and Kajkavian areas, and in several contact points it borders with Slovene dialects. On the north it borders with Hungary, where it is also spoken in a few enclaves along the border near Danube, as well as on the outskirts of Budapest.[1]
On the south this dialect covers the area between the river of Neretva and River Dubrovačka inlet, the area of Dubrovnik and Dubrovnikan littoral, eastern half of the Pelješac peninsula, the island of Mljet, Konavle and Herzegovinian area, along the Adriatic cost all the way to Risno in the Bay of Kotor. On the territory of modern Monte Negro it covers Montenegrin (Old) Herzegovina with Grahovo, northern Plješivica, Župa, Lukovo, Drobnjaci, Uskoci, Rovci, Kolašin and Morača.[2]
During the turbulent period of Bosnian war 1992-1995, marked by large-scale migrations of the native population, Eastern Herzegovinian speeches have spread significantly on the area of Bosnia-Herzegovina. During the Croatian War of Independence 1991-1995 however, the number of Eastern Herzegovinian speakers significantly dropped, following the flight of some 300,000 Croatian Serbs all of which spoke the dialect. In the post war-period, as the refugees return to their homes, number of speakers at the territory of Croatia has been increasing steadily.[3]