On the external standardization of the language of Serbs

Abstract

The weakening of the SFRY (Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia) which was followed by its dissolution, had an impact on a wide range of issues, one of them being the degradation of the so called Serbo-Croatian language. Not only did the external political influences contribute to the dissolution of the SFRY, but they also play a part in the linguistic profiling of new standard varieties today. However, as the dissolution of Yugoslavia couldn't have been imagined without consequences for Serbs primarily, the transformation of the 'Serbo-Croatian' language into a series of new language norms-successors of the old ones, cannot take place without challenging the rights of the great number of Serbs who live outside of Serbia. These are the rights that primarily refer to the linguistic and social identity - therefore the national identity. The best illustration of this are the external influences in the domain of linguistic engineering today, and these influences can basically be divided into extensive (e. g. commercials, radio and TV programmes) and intensive (textbooks, handbooks etc). The aim of this study is the analysis of those different kinds of pressures put on the standard variety of the language of Serbs. From the domain of the extensive influences (commercials) there is an example of the instruction given on a tube of toothpaste (Vademecum laboratories, Perfection 5 - Schwarzkopf & Henkel, Dusseldorf - Germany), and as an example of the intensive influences of this type, there is an American textbook (R. Alexander, E. Elias-Bursa} Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, a Textbook, With Exercises and Basic Grammar, The University of Wisconsin Press, 2006). Both of these language materials proved to be highly compatible when it comes to the characteristics that should become an integral part of the standard language variety of Serbs, and apparently only the Serbs who live in Serbia. Among the language characteristics which are 'typically Serbian' the most prominent are: ekavian dialect ('lepa deca', not: 'lijepa djeca'), the 'da + prezent' construction ('moram da citam', not: 'moram citati'), the prepositional form 'sa' ('sa limunom', not: 's limunom'), as well as many other characteristics like interrogative sentences beginning with da li ('Da li si student?', not 'Jesi li student?') etc. As it follows the newly formed political borders in the area of the former SFRY, the contemporary linguistic engineering has engaged itself in creation of the new standard language varieties, including the one (or should we say, primarily the one) that belongs to the Serbs. However, the Serbs don't have the need for the re-standardization of their language (which became widely familiar to the European community since the 17th century, and it underwent the process of standardization at the beginning of the 19th century owing to the work of Vuk Karadzic) after the dissolution of SFRY, especially if it would be carried out from the outside and not take into account all the entities of this nation, e. g. the Serbs in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro etc. Because it is those Serbs who have always contributed significantly to the culture, science, and the overall identity of the Serbs generally, doing an immense favor to the European and even the world culture, and science in general. That is why the European culture - if it seeks to remain multiethnic and democratic - and other cultures similar to her, must allow the Serbs to preserve their cultural and national identity, wherever they may live - and the best proof of this will be its attitude towards the standard language variety which was established by Serbs almost two centuries ago.