The Impact of Language Policy to The National Identity: A Case Study of Standardization of Serbo-Croatian

• Main Authors: Chuang, Hui-Chin, 莊慧瑾
• Other Authors: Lin, Shih-Hui
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/efhh9e

碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 斯拉夫語文學系 === 107 === The thesis aims to, on the one hand, figure out how language policies have influenced national identity in Yugoslavia, and investigate the collapse of the Serbo-Croatian language. The Serbo-Croatian language was a cultural invention of nationalism during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Under the influence of romanticism, south Slavic scholars began to trace back who they were and tried to reconstruct their identity and to build their nation. Sharing the same spirit, Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić and Croatian linguist Ljudevit Gaj reformed both Serbian and Croatian languages, as an approach to demonstrate their independent national identity to other Europeans. In 1850, the term “Serbo-Croatian” was coined and had existed until the end of the twentieth century. However, the term “Serbo-Croatian” was eventually collapsed and divided into “Serbian,” “Croatian,” “Bosnian,” and “Montenegrin.” The names of these languages also embody their “state-nations.” The thesis reaches a conclusion that language is a key to unite people; however, when the civil war broke out in 1990s, the name of this unified “language” had nonetheless become a critical site of struggles. This particular case study demonstrates how nationalism and national identities have affected language policies, instead of the other way around. It is important to emphasize that while a nation endeavors to create its “language,” such a linguistic formation would simultaneously construct its creator. The thesis is to provide a case study of Yugoslavia, we can see how nationalism affects language policy, but at the same time how language policy makes impact on national identity. I hope this paper can bring some insights for Taiwan's current language policy and language planning.