Towards the Study of Slovene

Abstract

The paper which follows considers a number of topics relating to the formal study of the Slovene language and explores causes for past neglect, the question of need and audience, and several aspects concerning pedagogical materials. Although comments are framed and discussed within the context of the English speaking world. conclusions are nonetheless pertinent at a broader level. The end of the twentieth century is fast approaching, and the study of the Slovene language in the English speaking world remains practically virgin territory. This is all particularly sad in view of the fact that the Freising Fragments represent not only the oldest datable Slavic manuscript (ca 1000 A.D.) but the first written record of Slovene as well. I The reasons for the failure of a large number of scholars to tum their attention to the preparation and dissemination of pedagogical materials for Slovene are obvious enough. Slovenia is a small nation whose native speakers. both at home and abroad, number far less than three million. As such, the language has been relegated to the unfortunate status of a 'minority language' both among its sister Slavic languages and among the languages of the world. Scholars tend to devote their research efforts to the study of numerically stronger languages for which the reward. both in terms of audience and possibilities for financial support. are greater. Additionally. research of a pedagogical rather than theoretical nature is held in considerably lower regard in the academic community, and is less likely to lead to professional promotion. Scholars willing to risk their careers on the creation of pedagogical aids are. in their own turn, attracted by the prestige of working with languages of highly visible cultuires. The languages of smaller nations, particularly those that are part of larger political federations, thus remain ignored, and their cultures are interpreted within larger socio-political entities. Reflecting on the relationship between politics and language, George Shevelov has commented on the predicament experienced by several 'minor' Slavic nations through the ages. He proposes that the difficulty in gaining visibility is directly related to an absence of political clout within the dominant system. Their lack of a substantial voice in self-determination has also delayed the process of establishing and stabilizing a standard literary language. Thus the languages and cultures of a number of Slavic peoples remain relatively invisible within and without the Slavic world. c The preceding are universal problems to which the Slovene lands have not been immune. Smaller nations face a kind of double diaspora. On their native soil they are perpetually concealed in larger federations. and in emigration they emerge, at best, as 'ethnics.' Interest in ethnics throughout the English speaking world reached a peak in recent decades, and was probably felt most strongly in the United States. This awakening has, however, served primarily the larger minorities. What chance could Slovenes stand, for example. against minorities numbering in the millions such as Jews. Poles or Italians, all of whom in their turn were vying for the limelight amidst black, feminist and gay socio-political movements? Thomas Magner has written about immigrant cultures in America, concluding that the surfacing of ethnic awareness in the I 960s and 1970s ... has been a kind of death spasm and that ethnic groups, to the extent that they are definable, are now subsiding and disappearing.' Whether or not Magner's gloomy predictions are true. the study of a 'minor minority' language need not be doomed from the outset. Indeed. language instruction is an issue separate from ethnic questions. and possibilities for the study of Slovene (or any