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Declaration on the Common Language

The Declaration on the Common Language (Serbo-Croatian: Deklaracija o zajedničkom jeziku / Декларација о заједничком језику) was issued in 2017 by a group of intellectuals and NGOs from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia who were working under the banner of a project called "Language and Nationalism".[1] The Declaration states that Bosniaks, Croats, Montenegrins and Serbs have a common standard language of the polycentric type.[1]

Press conference about the Declaration on the Common Language
Great interest of television companies in the Press conference about the Declaration

Before any public presentation, the Declaration was signed by over 200 prominent writers, scientists, journalists, activists and other public figures from the four countries.[2][3] After being published, it has been signed by over 10,000 people from all over the region.[4] The Declaration on the Common Language is an attempt to counter nationalistic factions.[5] Its aim is to stimulate discussion on language without nationalism and to contribute to the reconciliation process.[6]

Contents of the Declaration

The Declaration states that Bosniaks, Croats, Montenegrins and Serbs have a common standard language of the polycentric type.[7][8] It refers to the fact that the four peoples communicate effectively without an interpreter due to their mutual intelligibility, which is a key notion when talking about languages.[9][10] Furthermore, it points out that the current language policy of emphasizing differences has led to a number of negative phenomena,[6][11][12] and linguistic expression is imposed as a criterion of ethnonational affiliation and a means of affirming political loyalty.[13][14] The Declaration states that language and people do not have to coincide, and that each state or nation may independently codify its own variant of the common language, and that the four standard variants enjoy equal status.[15][16] The Declaration calls for abolishing all forms of linguistic segregation and discrimination in educational and public institutions.[17][18] It also advocates for the freedom of individual choice and respect for linguistic diversity.[19]

International project "Languages and Nationalisms"

The Declaration followed the international project Languages and Nationalisms,[20][21][22] (founded by two German foundations: Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst and Allianz Kulturstiftung), within which conferences were held in the four countries during 2016, thus providing an insight into the current situation and problems.[23][24] The project was inspired by the book Language and Nationalism,[25][26][27] and was organized by four non-governmental organizations from each of the countries included: P.E.N. Center Bosnia-Herzegovina from Sarajevo, the Association Kurs from Split, Krokodil from Belgrade and the Civic Education Center from Podgorica.[28] An interdisciplinary series of expert conferences in Podgorica, Split, Belgrade and Sarajevo took place under participation of 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
PlaceTitles of debatesDate
PodgoricaDoes every people in Montenegro speak a different language?21 April
What is the purpose of increasing language differences?22 April
SplitDoes anarchy threaten if we do not prescribe how to speak?19 May
What if Croats and Serbs have a common language?20 May
BelgradeWho is it that steals the language?5 October
The ideology of the correct language6 October
SarajevoPolitical manipulations of the topic of language23 November
Proofreaders as nationality-imposers24 November

The creation of the Declaration

More than thirty experts participated in the drafting of the Declaration, half of whom were linguists[33] of different nationalities from the four states.[34] The process of writing lasted for several months.[35] The initiative emerged just after the last conference in Sarajevo, when young people from Bosnia-Herzegovina[36][37][38] who experienced the educational segregation in the so-called "two schools under one roof"[39] came up with the idea of composing a text that would encourage change of the 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
PlaceDiscussion titleEventDate
SarajevoWhat is a Common Language?[a]Presentation of the Declaration30 March
Language and the Future[b]
Who Speaks (or does not Speak) the Common Language?[c]Open University10 November
ZagrebLanguage and Nationalism[d]Subversive Festival19 May
BelgradeAbout the Declaration on the Common Language and Other Demons[e]Krokodil Literary Festival18 June
Novi SadWhose is Our Language?[f]Exit Festival8 July
What are the Achievements of the Declaration on the Common Language?[g]Literary Conference Book Talk29 September
KotorDeclaration on the Common Language[h]Njegoš's Days1 September
Snježana Kordić's plenary lecture on the Declaration[1] at a conference in Japan 2018[60]

During 2018, a series of plenary lectures on the Declaration was held at conferences at the universities of various 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:

Greville Corbett

Ivana Bodrožić

Mirjana Karanović

Rajko Grlić

Željko Komšić

Svetislav Basara

Jurica Pavičić

Vedrana Rudan

Olja Savičević Ivančević

Dejan Jović

Igor Štiks

Nadežda Čačinovič

Ivan Ivanji

Lenka Udovički

Filip David

Ognjen Sviličić

Vladimir Arsenijević

Srećko Horvat

Rada Iveković

Štefica Galić

Pjer Žalica

Snježana Kordić

Dubravka Ugrešić

Ante Tomić

Noam Chomsky

Boris Dežulović

Dragan Markovina

Enver Kazaz

Viktor Ivančić

Oto Horvat

Maja Herman Sekulić

Tomislav Jakić

Željko Ivanković

Svetlana Lukić

Dejan Tiago Stanković

Nihad Hasanović

Srđan Srdić

Vesna Teršelič

Ivan Klajn

Borka Pavićević

Jasna Šamić

Slobodan Šnajder

Senahid Halilović

Daša Drndić

Edvin Kanka Ćudić

Rade Šerbedžija

Biljana Srbljanović

Dubravka Stojanović

Srđan Tešin

Isidora Žebeljan

Aleksandar Zograf

Mima Simić

Siniša Malešević

Rastko Močnik

Drago Pilsel

Peter Trudgill

Vladimir Veličković

Srbijanka Turajlić

Ermin Bravo

Nenad Veličković

Ranko Bugarski

Dritan Abazović

Izudin Bajrović

Jasmila Žbanić

Danko Šipka

Balša Brković

Asim Mujkić

Florian Bieber

Jasna Diklić

Vesna Pešić

Goran Marković

Vladislav Bajac

Stevan Filipović

Igor Kusin

Feđa Stojanović

Tatjana Bezjak

Dragoljub Mićunović

Stanislava Staša Zajović

Goran Dević

Miloš Okuka

Lana Bastašić

Igor Galo

Faruk Šehić

Zvonimir Jurić

Nicholas Evans

Srđan Karanović

Zdravko Grebo

Lana Barić

Aleksandar Novaković

Maša Kolanović

Signatories about the Declaration

Health warning "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

References

External links

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