Language

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Language Identity in the Balkans

• Ch 4
• Montenegrin A mountain out of a mole hill?

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4.0 Introduction

• In Montenegro, a Western variant of
  Serbo-Croatian was spoken that
• Was usually written only in Latin
• Included many Croatian elements (phonological)
• Lexically similar to (Western) Serbian
• Montenegrin was omitted in 1954 Novi Sad
  Agreement 1974 Montenegro constitution only
  provided recognition of a Montenegrin idiom, a
  subvariant of the unified language

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4.0 Introduction, contd.

• 1994 -- idea of a separate Montengrin emerges
  once Serbo-Croatian no longer exists
• 1997 -- Montenegrin language gains steam with new
  president and secessionist aims
• 2003 federation gives Montenegro more authority,
  and they may assert Montenegrin
• In order to declare a new language, it is
  necessary to show how it is distinct from other
  languages, and Montenegrin has focused on
  differences from Serbian -- not yet recognized as
  much as Bosnian

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4.1 Montenegros dialects and its literary
traditions

• Historically an integral part of Serbian Orthodox
  speech community
• Neo-štokavian/ijekavian dialect is identical to
  that spoken by some Serbs, and is the one chosen
  by Vuk
• Montenegrin identity creation since 1945
• Recognition as nation of Yugoslavia and
  increased local political control, failure to
  agree on a narrative of a separate historical
  identity, and Serbs reject such a narrative since
  it would appropriate culture/literature they
  consider Serbian

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4.1.1 The sociolinguistics of dialect geography

• Montenegrin dialects (all are ijekavian)
• Northwestern neo-štokavian/ijekavian (this
  version chosen as basis for a Montenegrin
  standard, despite overlaps with Bosnian,
  Croatian, and Serbian)
• Southeastern Old štokavian/ijekavian (relatively
  distinct)
• But Montenegrin dialects do not correspond to
  political boundaries, they extend into Serbia
  Albania

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4.1.2 The literary traditions in Montenegro

• 19th c štokavian/ijekavian epic poetry (esp. by
  Njegoš) are claimed Montenegrin by separatists,
  but considered Serbian classics, however
• these writings cannot be definitively identified
  as exclusively Montenegrin or Serbian in form or
  content

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4.2 Montenegros two factions

• Two opposing trajectories for Montenegrin
  language planning
• Pro-Serbian, Neo-Vukovite advocate ijekavian as
  a standard Serbian variant
• Pro-Montenegrin (Nikcevic) allege that Vuk was
  trying to make all of štokavian Serbian and thus
  deny rights of Croats, Bosniacs, Montenegrins

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4.2.1 The Neo-Vukovites

• 1990s Montenegrin Serbian linguists agree that
  Montenegrin dialects belong to Serbian speech
  territory, and have discredited the claims of the
  Neo-Vukovites
• Montenegrin separatists think Neo-Vukovites have
  sold out to Serbs
• But if Neo-Vukovites are excluded from Serbian
  linguistic discussions, they may join separatists

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4.2.2 Nikcevic and his supporters

• Separatists supported by writers groups
• Montenegrin separatists have made false claims
  about the origin of Montenegrin (Polabian,
  Polish)
• It is likely that there will be continued
  emphasis on a separate Montenegrin

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4.3 The proposed standard

• Nikcevic has made bizarre claims about the origin
  of Montenegrin, but he has also done a lot to
  codify a new Montenegrin standard
• He focuses mainly on features specific to
  Montenegrin, ones that motivate modifications of
  orthography

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4.3.1 New letters and new pronunciations

• Nikcevic argues that new jotations create three
  extra consonants in Montenegrin dialects
• But these sounds
• Are rare and not clearly phonemes
• Are shared with contiguous Serbian dialects

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4.3.2 The expansion of ijekavian features

• Nikcevic incorporated ijekavian endings (in Gsg,
  Gpl, Lsg -- found in Njegošs writings) into his
  Montenegrin standard, even though they are not a
  regular feature of most Montenegrin dialects
• Ultimately Nikcevic created an artificial
  language -- it was distinct from Serbian, but too
  alien for Montenegrins to accept it

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4.4 Conclusions

• Pressures that motivated distinction of
  Montenegrin
• Bosnian Serbs decreed use of ekavian, leaving
  Montenegrins as last with mandated ijekavian
• Status-quo linguists downgrading of ijekavian
  and promotion of Matica srpska pravopis
• Pro-independence Montenegrin president in 1997
• Predictions
• There will probably be an independent Montenegrin
  in the future, though not Nikcevics version
• Overall, trend is to create ethnic successor
  languages to the non-ethnic unified Serbo-Croatian