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THE MISUSE of LANGUAGE: SERBO-CROATIAN, 'CZECHOSLOVAKIAN' and the BREAKUP of STATES Srdjan M. Jovanovic Department of Communica

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THE MISUSE of LANGUAGE: SERBO-CROATIAN, 'CZECHOSLOVAKIAN' and the BREAKUP of STATES Srdjan M. Jovanovic Department of Communica East European Quarterly Vol. 45, No. 3-4 pp. 143-163, September-December 2017 © Central European University 2017 ISSN: 0012-8449 (print) 2469-4827 (online) THE MISUSE OF LANGUAGE: SERBO-CROATIAN, 'CZECHOSLOVAKIAN' AND THE BREAKUP OF STATES Srdjan M. Jovanovic Department of Communication and Media Lund University Abstract Language, besides being known as the best form of communication known to man, is also known to serve as a marker of (national) identity. In countries such as Yugoslavia, Serbo-Croatian, as the language used by the majority of the population, saw itself splinter into allegedly different languages from the 1990s onwards, from the breakup of the Yugoslav state, as it was used as a separating factor for the strengthening of national identities. In Czechoslovakia, on the other hand, even though the state boasted two separate languages (however genetically close), linguistic nationalism did not find a fertile ground to flourish with the breakup of Czechoslovakia. This article explores the linguistic, political and societal differences and similarities between linguistic and political issues in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, comparing the diverging policies of language as a defining factor of national identity. Keywords: Serbo-Croatian, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, breakup, linguistics Introduction The breakups of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovhakia are topics that have been tackled by many an academician, from various points of view and divergent disciplines (Rogel 1998; Lucarelli 2000; Ramet 2005; Oberschall 2000; Eyal 2003; Innes 1997; Young 1994; Bookman 1994; Rychlik 2011; Buchtikova 1995; Vlachova and Rehakova 2004; Kolumber 2012; Jovic 2003; Banac 1984; Jovanovic 2017a). While nodding to the many worthwhile contributions analyzing the social, political, economic and other instances that have contributed to the historical developments in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, this article wishes to explore some of the less analyzed instances that contributed to the breakup of Yugoslavia in comparison with former Czechoslovakia. We are talking about Author’s correspondence e-mail: [email protected] The Misuse of Language language, its use and misuse, and how linguistic differences (or lack thereof) were intentionally blown out of proportions in the areas where Serbo-Croatian was spoken as a native tongue in order to foster conflict, while it never happened in Czechoslovakia, even though linguistic differentiation between Czech and Slovak was and is real. The discursive, forced creation of alleged linguistic differences between variants of Serbo-Croatian have fueled the conflict in former Yugoslavia by creating difference where there was, essentially, none. If new states were to be created, divisions had to be made, and language was a useful tool/object. At the same time, Czech and Slovak – separate languages by themselves, even though they are closely related – have not been used as discursive support for the breakup of Czechoslovakia, even though they could have been, having in mind that in Czechoslovakia, there exists a delineation that follows national/ethnic lines. In Kamusella’s words (though he concentrated on Czechoslovakia mostly, not on Yugoslavia), ‘nationalisms were able to come to the political fore, but they now had the traditional ethno-linguistic goals in mind which precipitated the break-up of Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia along ethno-linguistic lines’ (Kamusella 2001: 243), stressing the impact that linguistic policy had in the breakup of states. So-called ‘linguistic nationalism’ (Wright 2000) entered the fray. We see the relevance of the topic at hand in the fact that comparative research to the linguistic situation in former Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia has not been conducted, beside several pages in Kamusella’s volume (2009) that concentrated primarily on Central Europe. A parallel exists between linguistic issues in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, as they both boasted several languages used in daily practice. Yet ‘another casualty of these wars [in the 1990s Yugoslavia] was Serbo-Croatian split into three new languages, Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian’ (Kamusella 2009: 37), while the attempts of ‘unifying’ Czech and Slovakian existed in the early 20th century and the creation of the common state, yet never took root. Kordic noticed that social scientists and historians tend to fail to connect the importance of language to feelings of national identity leaving the issue to sociolinguists. Thus, the similarities and differences in the use of language within the breakups of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia rarely come to the fore. Whilst there was a (pseudo)linguistic ‘split’ in former Yugoslavia, with the newly formed local languages used as a means to a nationalist, conflict-inspiring end, there was an unsuccessful idea of a united ‘Czechoslovak’ language that would reflect the Czech-Slovak unity. 144 Srdjan M. Jovanovic The article commences by elaborating on the necessary theory related to language planning, policy and identity, after which it positions the issue in a short historic context, coupled with the linguistic, theoretical differentiations of the languages at hand (and the ever-present question of the differentiation between language and dialect, up to a point). It afterwards presents specific language policies and discursive features of the language-breakup of Serbo- Croatian, the ideas of a unified ‘Czechoslovak’ languages, as well as the impact of these ideas to the breakup of Yugoslavia and the failure of Czechoslovak as a unifying factor (as well as the lack of linguistic nationalism within the Czech/Slovak split). Language planning, policy and identity in theory and practice Language can be seen as a crucial part of one’s (often national) identity, as we ‘present ourselves to others through our choice of language or language variety’ (Wodak 2012: 216), being that language ‘assumes the character of a clear identity marker’ (Blommaert and Verschueren 1998: 358). Thus, speaking a certain language or dialect can prove to be crucial in the construction and comprehension of local national identities, prompting some scholars to see identity even as a function of language (Joseph 2004: 20). Having in mind the currently accepted paradigm of constructivism in regards to national identity and the ‘fluidity and arbitrariness of nationality’ (Joseph 2004: 93), it is a matter of the social construction of national identity by which language can be ‘promoted’ to the pedestal of the nation. This is conducted via language planning and language policy. Language planning is defined as ‘the methodical activity of regulating and improving existing languages or creating new common, regional, national or international languages’ (Tauli 1974: 56), whilst language policy – closely related – is a ‘body of ideas, laws, regulations, rules and practices intended to achieve the planned language change in the society, group or system’ (Kaplan and Baldauf 1997: xi). As it is, ‘the typical language policy that existed in most nation- states coincided of national languages in congruence with national state ideologies’ (Shohamy 2006: 51), and in the wake of the sudden eruption of a number of nation-states after the breakup of Yugoslavia, appropriate language policies were created in order to forcefully ‘bend’ Serbo-Croatian’s ‘administrative successors’ (Bugarski 2005: 137) to conform to the newly created nation-states. On the other hand, the idea of ‘unifying’ Czech and Slovakian into ‘Czechoslovakian’ came into existence even before the lifetime of the state of Czechoslovakia – as to confirm the unity – yet the attempt failed. 145 The Misuse of Language It is of some importance to realize that ‘the exercise of language planning leads to, or is directed by, the promulgation of a language policy by government (or other authoritative body or person)’ (Kaplan and Baldauf 1997: xi), as language policy can be said to possess an almost strict top-down property. Governmental apparatchiks, together with nationally-minded linguists, are the subjects of language policy, and its following reception by the language’s speakers. ‘It is by a variety of overt and covert mechanisms, used mostly (but not exclusively) by those in authority, that languages are being manipulated and controlled so as to affect, create and perpetuate “de facto” language policies, i.e. language practices’ (Shohamy 2006: xv); both in the case of Yugoslavia and the forced dismembering of Serbo-Croatian, as well as in the idea of ‘Czechoslovakian’, these attempts were overt rather than covert, as it was of importance to openly propagate language as an identity marker. Thus ‘language has become an essential tool for manipulation, especially within the nation-state’ (Shohamy 2006: 43), it ‘turned from an open and free system to a tool of imposition, manipulation and colonialization, mostly used by ideologues and politicians with the support of linguists and educationalists’ (Shohamy 2006: 23). Having in mind that ‘language planning cannot be understood without reference to its social context’ (Cooper 1989: 3), an interdisciplinary conjoining of history (or any social science, for that matter, that would tackle the topic) with sociolinguistics is seen as necessary (Jovanovic 2017a). But a decade ago, this was voiced by Kamusella, who spoke how nationalist linguists failed to grasp the political, whilst political scientists and historians were often seen in need of a stronger linguistic background (Kamusella 2009: xii), pleading for a broader
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