Примењена лингвистика у част Ранку Бугарском - Језик у

Vera Vasić: APPLIED LINGUISTICS IN HONOUR OF RANKO BUGARSKI
site direction, as author and editor of works informing the world about linguistic
issues in his own country (e.g. Language Planning in Yugoslavia and Language
in the Former Yugoslav Lands, volumes coedited with Celia Hawkesworth). Had
it not been for these translations, had Bugarski not known what should at any
given time be required reading for those embarking on the study of linguistics or
already active in the field, regardless of their narrower philological orientation,
had he not been willing to aid them by selecting, editing and translating major
works, the interests of many would have developed in another, probably more
traditional, direction. One must recall that this was the period before the Internet,
a time when numerous newly founded philological departments were forming
their nuclear libraries, facing great difficulties in enlarging their funds. In view
of all this, the phrase mediating role should actually be replaced with missionary
role. This is another major reason for preparing a special volume honouring
Ranko Bugarski.
The significance of participating in the activities of AILA for this scholar
himself could also be assessed in the light of topics he was concerned with in
those years and thereafter. From the mid 1970s a turn can be observed in his
work, partly consonant with the then dominant linguistic paradigms, from the
study of language structure to that of language use. Showing little sympathy for
a strict partition of the domains of particular linguistic disciplines, and even less
inclined towards the demarcation of so-called theoretical vs. applied approaches
(as suggested by the title of one of his books, Towards the Unity of Linguistics),
he concentrated more on language in use, in books such as Linguistics on Man,
Language in Society, and Linguistics in Application; the title of the present volume
reflects this emphasis. In order to be what its very name implies, linguistics
must necessarily concern itself also with the speaking man – that is, with speech
communities. The relations between languages and their speakers are examined
in many of his works, including the books Languages, Writing, Language in Context,
Language in a Social Crisis, Slang – A Linguistic Study, Language and Culture,
and Europe in Language. That linguistics can hardly be a “pure”, value-free
science is shown by his books Language from Peace to War, Facets of Language
– Sociolinguistic Topics, New Facets of Language – Sociolinguistic Topics, and
Language and Identity. In fact, his political stance and sense of civic honour have
led him during the last two turbulent decades to address topics which many chose
to ignore, thus upholding linguistics in its proper sense as the science of language
and its users.
In his case, to be a professor has meant engaging in the supervision of 46
MA theses and 12 PhD dissertations (the full list is appended to his Biography
below), and examination board membership for some further 30 MAs and 20
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