Language and identity in the Balkans : Serbo-Croatian and its disintegration / Robert D. Greenberg. - Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2004. - x, 188 p. : maps ; 25 cm ISBN 0-19-925815-5

Shelf mark EURAC-Library: ES 129 G798

After Yugoslavia collapsed in 1991 Serbo-Croatian disintegrated. Using his first-hand observations before and after communism, Robert Greenberg describes how the languages of Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia, and Montenegro came into being and shows how their genesis reflects ethnic, religious, and political identity.

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 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.

Table of contents:
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

Review: http://www.sfs.nphil.uni-tuebingen.de/linguist/issues/15/15-3522.html#1

More titles on minority languages, language policy and linguistic minorities see:
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