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Bor ders of Lan gu a ge Iden tity in the Bal kan Pe nin su la*
sum marY: In the Bal kans, the so-cal led Bal kan iden tity and Bal kan cul tu re ha ve been
for med in the spa ce of in-bet we en ness or in a third li mi nal spa ce (Gol dsworthy, 2000:27).
As Re i sen le it ner (2001:9) po ints out, “pla ces may thus no lon ger be the cle ar, uni que support
for iden tity, and are cer ta inly no lon ger tied to the po li ti cal bor der li nes of na ti ons,
yet they still re so na te thro ug ho ut the ima gi na ti ons of com mu ni ti es”. The Bal kan na ti ons
are still using the ir edu ca ti o nal systems and re li gion as key facts for na ti o nal, cul tu ral
and lin gu i stic de ter mi na tion, denying ot her cul tu ral prac ti ces and mi no rity lan gu a ges (or
less used lan gu a ges) spo ken in the ter ri tory of the Bal kan sta tes. Even to day in Gre e ce,
Al ba nia and Bul ga ria, for in stan ce, ex pres si on of lin gu i stic, cul tu ral, na ti o nal or et hnic
iden ti ti es of lo cal non-Gre ek, non-Al ba nian and non-Bul ga rian com mu ni ti es co uld not be
easily ac hi e ved, mostly be ca u se the go vern ments of the afo re men ti o ned sta tes and the ir
of fi cial lan gu a ge and edu ca tion po li ci es still ha ve a tin ear for the ir ne eds. In ot her words,
the con cept of na ti o nal en dan ger ment as well as that of the ro man tic vi ew of „one nation,
one lan gu a ge, one ter ri tory“, which hel ped the con struc tion of Bal kan na tion sta tes
at the turn of the 19th to 20th cen tury, are pre do mi nant in a gre a ter de gree. The truth is
that lin gu i stic bor ders in the Bal kans ha ve not yet been esta blis hed, of ten be ing de termi
ned by the ele ments of et hni city and/or re li gion, as seen in Bo snia and Her ze go vi na
and its two en ti ti es, both of which ha ve been trying to im po se and cre a te new lan gu a ge
forms, i.e. lan gu a ges, from one com mon lan gu a ge, as pro ven pos si ble in the ca se of Molda
vian lan gu a ge and its se pa ra tion and dis tin ction from the Ro ma nian lan gu a ge.
We are of the opi nion that the the ory of mul ti li te racy co uld be seen as one of the cru cial
po ints in the furt her de ve lop ment of cul tu ral and lan gu a ge co o pe ra tion in the Bal kans. By
fo ste ring it in a bi lin gual and/or a mul ti lin gual way, the mo dern Bal kan sta tes wo uld ha ve
an op por tu nity to strengthen the ir pre sent co o pe ra tion (eco no mic, po li ti cal, cul tu ral etc.)
and to par ti ci pa te in the ex chan ge of world know led ge. To ac hi e ve the se aims it wo uld be
ne ces sary to de ve lop co or di na ted bi lin gual and/or mul ti lin gual edu ca ti o nal po li ci es and
pro gram mes which wo uld fo ster in ter cul tu ral com pe ten ce in le ar ners, as well as bi lin gual
and mul ti lin gual mul ti li te racy. This wo uld be a star ting po int for the cre a tion of fu tu re
mul ti lin gual, i.e. mul ti li te ra te, com mu ni ti es all over the Bal kan Pe nin su la. Furt her mo re,
one co uld pre su me that such ap pro ach wo uld con tri bu te to for ming a new mul ti mo dal
way of thin king in the Bal kans. Alt ho ugh a full re a li za tion of this idea re qu i res ti me and
de ter mi na tion by all of fi cial in sti tu ti ons to pro vi de the qu a li fi ed hu man re so ur ces, we are
con vin ced that the of fi cial sup port and pro mo tion of chan ges, even the smal lest ones,
wo uld ha ve an im por tant im pact on youn ger ge ne ra ti ons, espe ci ally on the ir un der standing
and ap pre ci a tion of cul tu ral and lin gu i stic di ver sity that sur ro unds the spe a kers of
na ti ve lan gu a ges.
KEY WORDS: Bal kans, lan gu a ges, iden tity, bor der, mi no ri ti es, so ci ety, gro ups, cul tu re,
mul ti li te racy, in te gra tion.
predrag.mutavdzic@fil.bg.ac.rs, akampouris@upatras.gr, scabura@gmail.com
* This paper was a part of the project by the Ministry of Science and Technological Development of the
Republic of Serbia, number 178002, “Languages and Cultures in Time and Space“.
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