Which dialects are spoken along Croatia’s coast, in northwestern Croatia, and inland Croatia?

Within the context of the Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian language, Croatia features three primary dialectal groups, which are categorized based on their respective words for "what" (kaj, ča, and što or šta).1

The distribution of these dialects across Croatia is as follows:

• Coastal Croatia: The Chakavian dialect is spoken along the Adriatic seacoast.1
• Northwestern Croatia: The Kajkavian dialect is used in the northwest, centered around the capital, Zagreb.1
• Inland Croatia: The Shtokavian dialect is spoken in the inland regions.1

While these regional dialects persist, the standard Croatian literary language is based on the Shtokavian dialect, which was adopted by 19th-century intellectuals to help unify the South Slavic regions.2