Language Names and Norms in Bosnia and Herzegovina by Kirstin J. Swagman A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Anthropology) in the University of Michigan 2011 Doctoral Committee Associate Professor Alaina M. Lemon, Chair Professor Judith T. Irvine Professor Sarah G. Thomason Associate Professor Barbra A. Meek Acknowledgements This dissertation owes its existence to countless people who provided intellectual, emotional, and financial support to me during the years I spent preparing for, researching, and writing it. To my dear friends and colleagues at the University of Michigan, I owe a debt that can hardly be put into words. To the ladies at Ashley Mews, who were constant interlocutors in my early engagements with anthropology and remained steady sources of encouragement, inspiration, and friendship throughout my fieldwork and writing, this dissertation grew out of conversations we had in living rooms, coffee shops, and classrooms. I owe the greatest thanks to my Bosnian interlocutors, who graciously took me into their homes and lives and tolerated my clumsy questions. Without them, this dissertation would not exist. I want to thank the many teachers and students who shared the details of their professional and personal lives with me, and often went above and beyond by befriending me and making time in their busy schedules to explain the seemingly obvious to a curious anthropologist. I owe the greatest debt to Luljeta, Alexandra, Sanjin, and Mirzana, who all offered support, encouragement, and insight in countless ways large and small. Daniel, Peter, Tony, Marina, and Emira were also great sources of support during my fieldwork. From Thanksgiving dinners to road trips to Montenegro, they ii were a welcome taste of home in a far away place and a valuable collegial network during a challenging professional time. I had the pleasure of getting my graduate training in a supportive and nurturing environment at the University of Michigan. My professors encouraged my ideas and gave me the freedom to explore them. The staff, led by Laurie Marx, smoothed countless administrative and financial hurdles, making possible the years of study necessary to produce this dissertation. The coursework and research for this dissertation was funded by the generous support of the University of Michigan Department of Anthropology, the US/ED Language and Area Studies Fellowship, The American Council for Teaching and Research Title VIII Southeast European Language Program, the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad grant, and the National Science Foundation Dissertaion Improvement grant. My parents, Ann and Bill, have always been supportive of my academic pursuits, even when they seemed intangible or unrealistic. This dissertation is a result of them constantly pushing me to pursue excellence and telling me that I can do whatever I want to do. Finally, Tayt and Taylor lived with me during the writing of this dissertation and graciously put up with my turning chairs into bookshelves and floor space into library stacks. Their patience, love, and support have meant more to me than anything in the past five years. I love you both. iii Preface: A Note on Usage A number of terms in this dissertation have varied usages or spellings. I have tried to be consistent with usages common among Anglophone scholars. In some cases, I have deferred to American English spellings such as Herzegovina, although I use Hercegovina when citing passages in one of the local languages. In keeping with the way most of my interlocutors referred to ethnic groups within Bosnia, I use Bosnian (bosanski adj. or bosanac n.) for Bosnian Muslims. When I wish to be clear that I am referring to Bosnian Muslims as an ethnoreligious group or when mirroring language used by my informants, I occasionally also use Bosniak (bošnjački adj. or bošnjak n.). Likewise, I refer to the Bosnian language exclusively as Bosnian (bosanski) rather than Bosniak (bošnjački) unless quoting someone else’s usage. In general, I refer to the South Slavic standard languages as my interlocutors referred to them—as Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, or Montenegrin. I also refer to these languages as B/C/S (Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian) when referring to the language system rather than the separate official standards. Again, I have tried to mirror the usage of my interlocutors here as much as possible. When writing about language use or policy during the Yugoslav era, I use the terms Serbo-Croatian or Bosnian-Herzegovinian standard- iv language idiom (bosansko-hercegovački standardno-jezikčki izraz)—a term developed by linguists in the Socialist Federal Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Unless otherwise noted, all translations in this work are my own. With the exception of some accent patterns that do not really enter into my analysis in this work, words in Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian are all pronounced the same. Following is a brief guide to pronunciation in B/C/S: č ch (hard) as in church ć tch (soft) as in catch c ts as in cats š sh as in wish ž zh as in leisure dj similar to j as in jet (soft) dž similar to dg as in judge (hard) nj as in canyon lj as in million j y as in yes See Appendix A for more details on the phonology of B/C/S. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………ii Preface: A Note on Usage…………………………………………………………….iv List of Figures………………………………………………………………….........viii List of Abbreviations……………………………………………………………........xi List of Appendices…………………………………………………………….............x Chapter One: Introduction…………………………………...………………………..1 Language Ideologies and Boundaries: Construction, Maintenance, and Erasure………………………………………………… … ….7 Ideologies of Standardization and State-Building……………….....…9 Linguistic Anthropology of Education and Institutions……….……..17 Experts and Intellectuals: Defining the Nation……………………....20 Evolution of Research Questions: Language Variation in the Classroom…………………………………………..………..25 Research Design: A Comparison of Four Schools in Three Cities…………………………………………………………28 Methodologies: Challenges and New Opportunities……………….………………………..……….32 Paradigms for Bosnia: Post-Conflict or Post- Socialist?..................................................................................34 Summary of Following Chapters: Roadmap for Readers…………………………………………...…………..40 Chapter Two: State Structures and Language Policy: Persistent Questions and Diverse Solutions………………………………………..……………………………43 What Is Bosnian? Two Dominant Perspectives…….………… …….46 Who Are the Bosnian Muslims? ………......………………………...49 Migrations, States, and Demographic Changes……………………...54 Questions of Hybridity and Purism……………………………..……58 The Austro-Hungarian Era and Kallay’s Bošnjastvo ……..…………61 Toward a United Yugoslavia: Tito’s Brotherhood and Unity……….65 Language During the Two Yugoslav States…..……………………..68 The Dissolution of Yugoslavia…………………………..…………..78 Conclusion: Linguistic Boundaries and State Borders……………....84 Chapter Three: Representational Conflicts: Experts and the Creation of Linguistic Borders……………………………………………………………………….85 “As is our Country, So is our Language:” The Experts Have Failed………………………………………………………....90 Politicization vs. Authenticity: The case of H …………..…………..93 vi Ljiljan Debates: Patriotism, Authenticity, and Representativeness...101 Linguistic Chaos: Discourses of Nostalgia and Normalcy ………...109 Conclusion……………………………………………………….....117 Chapter Four: Segregated Education and Curricula Reforms: Learning to Live Together?.......................................................................................................119 History of Schooling in Bosnia: A History of Stalemates?...............122 Pre-Yugoslav Schooling…………………………………....122 Yugoslav Era……………………………………………..…125 War Schooling In Bosnia…………………………………...132 The State in Schools, Schools and the State……………………..…146 Diverging Ideologies: Emerging Generational Gap?.........................147 Mapping the Linguistic onto the Social: From Regional to National Variation…………………………………………..………..152 Language History and Development in the Curricula……………...155 Conclusion……………………………………………………..…...160 Chapter Five: Creating Linguistic Order: Ideologies of Pedagogy, Language, and Correction………………..…………………………………………………161 Ideologies of Pedagogy……………………..………………………164 Evaluating Language in the Classroom…………………………….175 Mistakes that Matter: Linguistic Forms………………………….…180 Social Differences that Matter: What Language Indexes…………..188 “A Man Is Worth as Many Language as He Speaks:” Language as Resource………………...………………………………..…196 Conclusion……………..…………………………………………...199 Chapter Six: Blurring Linguistic Boundaries: Ideologies of Pluralism and the Monolingual Norm……………………………………………………….…201 Whose Linguistic Community?.........................................................207 Redefinition………………………………………………....208 Indexical Indeterminacy………………………………..…...214 Teachers’ Linguistic Practices……………………………………...219 Unstandardization………………………………………..…………230 Conclusion: Free Linguistic Choice?.................................................240 Chapter Seven: Effects of Segregated Education on Language Practice and Ideology………………………………………………………………….....242 Ethnographic Comparisons…………………………………………249 Unstandardization…………………………………………………..252 Appendices………………………………………………………………………….256 Bibliography……………………………………………………………..…………267 vii List of Figures Figure 2-1 Bosnia and Surrounding States ……………….………..….….…51 Figure 2-2 The Bosnian Krajina or Frontier ……………..…………..….….56 Figure