Declaration on the Common Language

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Press conference
about the Declaration on the Common Language

The Declaration on the Common Language (

polycentric type.[1]

Contents of the Declaration

The Declaration states that

International project "Languages and Nationalisms"

The Declaration followed the international project Languages and Nationalisms,

linguists, journalists, anthropologists and others.[29][30] Numerous audiences were also included.[31][32] The titles of debates
on the conferences were:

The book Language and Nationalism (left) inspired the project Languages and Nationalisms (right).
Series of international expert conferences Languages and Nationalisms in 2016
Place Titles of debates Date
Podgorica Does every people in Montenegro speak a different language? 21 April
What is the purpose of increasing language differences? 22 April
Split Does anarchy threaten if we do not prescribe how to speak? 19 May
What if Croats and Serbs have a common language? 20 May
Belgrade Who is it that steals the language? 5 October
The ideology of the correct language 6 October
Sarajevo Political manipulations of the topic of language 23 November
Proofreaders as nationality-imposers 24 November

The creation of the Declaration

More than thirty experts participated in the drafting of the Declaration, half of whom were linguists

language policy in all four countries.[40] They entitled the text Declaration on the Common Language[41] and gave it for rewriting to professional linguists,[35] so that the Declaration was redrafted in Zagreb in the following months and can therefore be called the "Zagreb Declaration."[42]

As a continuation of the project Languages and Nationalisms, a committee of experts of different nationalities from all four countries was formed that worked on the final version of the Declaration on 16 and 17 January 2017 in Zagreb.[40] After the meeting, the text was sent to some twenty consultants, whose proposals are then embedded in the final form of the text.[43]

Presentation of the Declaration

Collecting signatures for the Declaration

The Declaration on the Common Language, with more than two hundred signatures of prominent intellectuals[44][45] from Croatia,[46] Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia was simultaneously presented to the public on 30 March 2017 in Zagreb, Podgorica, Belgrade and Sarajevo, where a press conference was held and two panel discussions with titles "What is a common language?" and "Language and the Future". Then the Declaration was opened for signing to other people.[47] Over the next few days, more than 8,000 people signed it.[48] Two months later, in the framework of the 10th Subversive Festival in Zagreb, a round table on the Declaration, titled "Language and Nationalism", was held.[49][50] Then a debate[51] "About the Declaration on the Common Language and Other Demons" was held at the Crocodile Literature Festival in Belgrade.[52][53] After that, in Novi Sad, a panel discussion "Whose is Our Language?" at the Exit festival[54][55][56] and a forum "What are the Achievements of the Declaration on the Common Language?" at the International Literary Conference Book Talk were organised.[57] In Montenegro, there was a round table on the Declaration in the framework of the 7th Njegoš's Days.[58] At the end of 2017, a discussion "What to do With the Language: Who speaks (or does not speak) the common language?" was organised at the 6th Open University in Sarajevo.[59]

Series of panel discussions on the Declaration in 2017
Place Discussion title Event Date
Sarajevo What is a Common Language?[a] Presentation of the Declaration 30 March
Language and the Future[b]
Who Speaks (or does not Speak) the Common Language?[c] Open University 10 November
Zagreb Language and Nationalism[d] Subversive Festival 19 May
Belgrade About the Declaration on the Common Language and Other Demons[e] Krokodil Literary Festival 18 June
Novi Sad Whose is Our Language?[f] Exit Festival 8 July
What are the Achievements of the Declaration on the Common Language?[g] Literary Conference Book Talk 29 September
Kotor Declaration on the Common Language[h] Njegoš's Days 1 September
EU countries,[61][62][63][64] and then at the universities in Japan.[60][65][66] On the occasion of the second anniversary of the Declaration, two round tables were held:[67] in Vienna "Language and Nationalisms: Do We Understand Each Other?"[68] and in Zagreb "One Language or Several Languages: Discussion on the Declaration on the Common Language", organized by the Union of Student Associations of the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb,[69][non-primary source needed] which later also organized a plenary lecture on the Declaration at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb.[70][unreliable source?
]

Text and signatories

Text

Source: Novosti[41]

Faced with the negative social, cultural and economic consequences of political manipulations of language in the current language policies in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia, we the undersigned issue the following

DECLARATION ON THE COMMON LANGUAGE

The answer to the question whether a common language is used in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia is affirmative.

This is a common standard language of the polycentric type – one spoken by several nations in several states, with recognisable variants, such as German, English, Arabic, French, Spanish, Portuguese and many others. This fact is corroborated by Štokavian as the common dialectal basis of the standard language, the ratio of same versus different in the language, and the consequent mutual comprehensibility.

The use of four names for the standard variants – Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian – does not imply that these are four different languages.

Insisting on the small number of existing differences and on the forceful separation of the four standard variants causes numerous negative social, cultural and political phenomena. These include using language as an argument justifying the segregation of schoolchildren in some multiethnic environments, unnecessary "translation" in administration or the media, inventing differences where they do not exist, bureaucratic coercion, as well as censorship (and necessarily also self-censorship), where linguistic expression is imposed as a criterion of ethnonational affiliation and a means of affirming political loyalty.

We, the undersigned, hold that
  • the fact that a common polycentric language exists does not question the individual right to express belonging to different nations, regions or states;
  • each state, nation, ethnonational or regional community may freely and independently codify its own variant of the common language;
  • all four currently existing standard variants enjoy equal status, insofar as none of them can be considered a language, the rest being variants of that language;
  • polycentric standardisation is the democratic form of standardisation that is closest to actual language use;
  • the fact that what is involved is a common polycentric standard language enables its users to name it as they wish;
  • the standard variants of the polycentric language exhibit differences in linguistic and cultural traditions and practices, in the use of alphabets, in lexical stock, and on other linguistic levels; this may be demonstrated, inter alia, by the different standard variants of the common language in which this Declaration will be published and put to use;
  • the standard, dialectal and individual differences do not justify forced institutional separation; on the contrary, they contribute to the great richness of the common language.
Therefore we, the undersigned, call for
  • abolishing all forms of linguistic segregation and discrimination in educational and public institutions;
  • discontinuing the repressive and needless practices of language separation that are harmful to the speakers;
  • terminating the rigid definition of the standard variants;
  • avoiding the superfluous, senseless and costly "translations" in legal proceedings, administration and public information media;
  • the freedom of individual choice and respect for linguistic diversity;
  • linguistic freedom in literature, the arts and the media;
  • the freedom of dialectal and regional use;
  • and finally, the freedom of "mixing", mutual openness and interpenetration of different forms and expressions of the common language, to the benefit of all its speakers.

In Zagreb, Podgorica, Belgrade and Sarajevo, March 30, 2017[2]

Signatories

Noam Chomsky has signed the Declaration

The British sociolinguist Peter Trudgill notes that "linguists are well represented on the list of signatories."[2] The most famous linguist "Noam Chomsky has signed the Declaration on the common language", which has been particularly resounding.[71] The Declaration has been signed by "over fifty other linguists, including Anders Ahlqvist, Ronelle Alexander, Nadira Aljović, Bojan Anđelković, Boban Arsenijević, John Frederick Bailyn, Josip Baotić, Ranka Bijeljac-Babić, Ranko Bugarski, Vesna Bulatović, Daniel Bunčić, Costas Canakis, Greville Corbett, Oliver Czulo, Natalia Długosz, Ljiljana Dolamic, Nicholas Evans, Rajka Glušica, Radmila Gorup, Senahid Halilović, Camiel Hamans, Mirjana Jocić, Jagoda Jurić-Kappel, Dunja Jutronić, Dejan Karavesović, Jana Kenda, Ivan Klajn, Snježana Kordić, Svetlana Kurteš, Igor Kusin, Zineta Lagumdžija, Igor Lakić, Gordana Lalić-Krstin, Mia Mader Skender, Alisa Mahmutović, Olga Mišeska Tomić, Vladimir Miličić, Spiros Moschonas, Joachim Mugdan, Zoran Nikolovski, Miloš Okuka, Tatjana Paunović, Dušan-Vladislav Pažđerski, Mira Peter, Tanja Petrović, Enisa Pliska, Milena Podolšak, Luka Raičković, Katarina Rasulić, Marija Runić, Svenka Savić, Marko Simonović, Ljiljana Subotić, Danko Šipka, Dušanka Točanac, Neda Todorović, Aleksandar Trklja, Peter Trudgill, Mladen Uhlik, Hanka Vajzović, Vera Vasić, Elvira Veselinović, Đorđe Vidanović, Ana Ždrale, Jelena Živojinović."[72]

Signatories of the Declaration include:

Signatories about the Declaration

smoking kills" from Bosnia-Herzegovina repeats a phrase three times; twice in the Latin script and once in Cyrillic[73]

See also

Notes

a. ^ Participants: Borka Pavićević, Rajka Glušica and Snježana Kordić; Moderator: Sandra Zlotrg

b. ^ Participants: Ivana Bodrožić, Balša Brković and Asim Mujkić; Moderator: Igor Štiks

c. ^ Participants: Nerzuk Ćurak and Vladimir Arsenijević; Moderator: Žarka Radoja

d. ^ Participants: Tomislav Longinović, Viktor Ivančić, Snježana Kordić, Boris Buden and Mate Kapović; Moderator: Katarina Peović Vuković

e. ^ Participants: Teofil Pančić, Dragan Markovina, Snježana Kordić and Igor Štiks; Moderator: Vladimir Arsenijević and Ana Pejović

f. ^ Participants: Dragan Bjelogrlić, Snježana Kordić, Marko Šelić Marčelo, Vladimir Arsenijević and Vlatko Sekulović; Moderator: Milena Bogavac Minja

g. ^ Participants: Ivan Ivanji, Goran Miletić, Mirjana Đurđević, Srđan Tešin and Pero Zlatar; Moderator: Eržika Pap Reljin

h. ^ Participants: Rajka Glušica, Ivo Pranjković, Snježana Kordić, Ranko Bugarski, Vladimir Arsenijević and Svein Mønnesland; Moderator: Nikola Vučić

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External links