Language and Identity in the Balkans

Serbo-Croatian and Its Disintegration
Erscheinungsjahr 2004
ISBN: 978-0-19-925815-4
Verlag: OUP Oxford

Buch, Englisch, 200 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 420 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-Croatian language into four languages on the path towards mutual unintelligibility 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 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.

Zielgruppe

Scholars in social science and humanities fields with an interest in South-eastern Europe, identity issues, and sociolinguistic topics, the policy community and individuals involved with the many NGO's active in the Balkans, students in classes involving the Serbo-Croat language, Balkan history, contemporary Balkan politics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Greenberg, Robert D.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Einzelne Sprachen & Sprachfamilien
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Ideologien Nationalismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Soziolinguistik
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Soziologie von Migranten und Minderheiten
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Sprachsoziologie

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

Über Autor(innen)

Robert Greenberg is Associate Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1991 where he taught 1991-1992. He then taught at Georgetown University before taking up his current position in 1994.