Примењена лингвистика у част Ранку Бугарском - Језик у

JEZIK U UPOTREBI / LANGUAGE IN USE
formulation, however, is any mention of Bosnia, the ‘no man’s land’ which is
sandwiched between Serbia and Croatia.
Bosnian, of course, is the third component, the third string in our trilingual
speaker’s bow. Much of the trauma of Yugoslavia’s breakup came from the tension
between the indisputable fact of Bosnia’s existence and the passionate desire
of many Serbs and Croats that it cease to exist. Despite the fact that a Bosnian
medieval kingdom had existed before the coming of the Ottoman Turks, many
Serbs and Croats associate Bosnia primarily with Islam, and continue to nurture
a sense of betrayal at the fact that so many of their co-nationals chose to embrace
Islam some five centuries back. Matters are complicated by the fact that Slavic
Muslims make up less than half the population of Bosnia, and that many non-
Muslim Bosnians also consider the fact of “Bosnian-ness” to be a major part of
their identity.
In terms of language, the issue is exacerbated by the disparity between
Serbian and Croatian on the one hand, and Bosnian on the other. Prior to the formation
of Yugoslavia Serbs and Croats had each developed a clearly delineated
mode of cultural expression associated with a concrete national-ethnic identity.
By contrast, the Bosnian sense of identity referred primarily to a physical location,
and to the complexities of a necessary (and functioning) multiculturalism.
There is evidence of a unified Bosnian sense of cultural identity dating from the
late 19th century; ironically, however, it is the work of outsiders, the product of a
Habsburg campaign to drive a wedge between Serbs and Croats in order to deflect
a growing desire for South Slavic unity.
So long as Yugoslavia remained a viable state, it was not necessary for
Bosnians to assert linguistic independence, since Serbo-Croatian (both as label
and concept) described very well the amalgam of Serbian and Croatian elements
that characterized Bosnian speech. When the fight between Serbs and Croats began
to tear the country apart, however, Bosnian identity was put on the line: Bosnians
had either to align themselves with one of the two major sides, or to develop
a third, concrete identity based specifically on that which was neither Serb nor
Croat. Muslims chose the second of these alternatives, of course, and this Bosniak,
or Muslim-based, identity is now central to the Bosnian language, despite
the fact that many Bosnians still feel that the essence of their identity transcends
religious affiliation and is still connected with the somewhat mysterious sense of
Bosnia as a special undefinable place.
What about Montenegrin – should it not be part of the equation? In the
course of time it may well be, but at present there are good reasons why the joke
is never phrased in terms of the ‘instant quadrilingual’. Consider the hypothetical
(and highly unlikely) case of a velvet divorce: if Serbo-Croatian had split peace-
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