Language and Identity in the Balkans

Serbo-Croatian and Its Disintegration
Erscheinungsjahr 2008
ISBN: 978-0-19-920875-3
Verlag: OUP Oxford

Buch, Englisch, 216 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 336 g

Language rifts in the Balkans are endemic and have long been both a symptom of ethnic animosity and a cause for inflaming it. But the break-up of the Serbo-Croat language into four mutually unintelligible languages within a decade is, by any previous standard of linguistic behaviour, extraordinary. Robert Greenberg describes how it happened. Basing his account on first-hand observations in the region before and since the communist demise, he evokes the drama and emotional discord as different factions sought to exploit, prevent, exacerbate, accelerate or just to make sense of the chaotic and unpredictable language situation. His fascinating account offers insights into the nature of language change and the relation between language and identity. It also provides a uniquely vivid perspective on nationalism and identity politics in the former Yugoslavia.

The new in paperback edition of this award-winning book includes new material covering the significant developments in the region since the book's first publication in 2004.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Greenberg, Robert D.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Ideologien Nationalismus
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Sprachsoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Einzelne Sprachen & Sprachfamilien
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Soziologie von Migranten und Minderheiten
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Kultur- und Sozialethnologie: Politische Ethnologie, Recht, Organisation, Identität
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Ethnolinguistik
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Soziolinguistik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- 1: Introduction

- 2: Serbo-Croatian: United or Not We Fall

- 3: Serbian: Isn't My Language Your Language?

- 4: Montenegrin: A Mountain Out of a Mole Hill?

- 5: Croatian: We Are Separate But Equal Twins

- 6: Bosnian: A Three-Humped Camel?

- 7: Conclusion

- 8: Postcript: Developments Since 2004

- Appendix

- Works Cited

- Index

Über Autor(innen)

Robert Greenberg is Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of New Haven and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Yale University. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1991 where he taught 1991-1992. He then taught at Georgetown University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before taking up his current position in 2003.