Abstract
Border region research has recently made its way into various different disciplines and is becoming increasingly useful for sociolinguistics. Nevertheless, in the context of the languages represented in Southeastern European Studies, it is still rather rare today and heretofore non-existent in the Albanian context. This can be explained by the fact that the pivotal research object –state borders– as well as the languages discussed are often used as political and ideological tools. Often, the language situation of a given border region is not taken into account at all, for the sake of preserving the image of linguistic –and thereby national– unity. This paper will show the results of a study in the Albanian-Macedonian border region of Dibra/Debar, which has been divided forroughly 100 years into two parts, situated East and West of the geopolitical border. The central question is to what extent the state border has exerted influence on local dialects, local standard languages, language behavior, and perception of language among the local population.
Highlights
Linguistic border region research is a relatively young field, overlapping with linguistic disciplines of rich traditions, in particular with pluricentrism
We find the word Kren ‘horseradish’ in Austria as well as in Bavaria (Ammon 1996: 162-164). This is exactly where pluricentric theories reach their limits, because regarding language borders or dialect borders as zones does not correspond to state borders that appear as linear
This makes it difficult to define distinctions as part of a variety in pluricentrism, especially in regions that run along state borders, as can be seen with the example of Kren
Summary
Linguistic border region research is a relatively young field, overlapping with linguistic disciplines of rich traditions, in particular with pluricentrism. We find the word Kren ‘horseradish’ in Austria as well as in Bavaria (Ammon 1996: 162-164) This is exactly where pluricentric theories reach their limits, because regarding language borders or dialect borders as zones does not correspond to state borders that appear as linear. This makes it difficult to define distinctions as part of a variety in pluricentrism, especially in regions that run along state borders, as can be seen with the example of Kren. In public debates in the West, state borders in Southeastern Europe are often perceived as a by-product of the Yugoslav dissolution This political development has caused ongoing changes for the language situation in the Balkans, with new standard languages and language identities being created. This confines developments to the side of the border with the urban center, while the rural side is neglected
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