Croatia, the War, and the Future

A rather large number of people have messaged me during the past week about my last article regarding the newly proposed Croatian Language Act in Croatia and most asked the question regarding the usage of the Serbian language words mixed with Croatian ones.  

Former Yugoslavia had instilled as its official language the “hybrid” language called Serbo-Croatian (with Cyrillic writing) or Croatian-Serbian (with Latin writing). In this language Serbian and Croatian language words and expressions could be mixed and, hence, cross-contamination of these languages occurred to the point where the Western World thought that there was no, or only minute, difference between the Serbian and the Croatian languages. Between 1945 and late 1960’s the official se of Serbo-Croatian language had crept in where the Serbian language increasingly swallowed the Croatian, threatening extinction of the Croatian language, which had led to concern for the Croatian language to such a high point that in 1967 a group of Croatian linguists, dissatisfied with the recently published dictionaries and spelling rules in which, in accordance with the Novi Sad agreement from Serbia, the language was called Serbo-Croatian/Croatian-Serbian ( and – admittedly very gradually – an effort was made to achieve that Croats speak a language that will only be a local variant of the Serbian language), went on to compose and proclaim a Declaration on the name and position of the Croatian literary language (within Yugoslavia).   The 1967 Declaration included the following wording:

And so it was, when I graduated from the University of Zagreb and started my first job in a public school in Croatia that integrated children with special needs, I was given a choice to use either the Croatian or the Serbian, but not a mixture of the two, in my official capacity as an Educational Psychologist and Pedagogue!  

“1) Establish clear and unambiguous equality of the four literary languages: Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian, and Macedonian by constitutional regulation. For this purpose, the wording of the SFRY Constitution, Article 131, should read as follows: ‘Federal laws and other general acts of federal bodies are published in the authentic text in the four literary languages of the people of Yugoslavia: Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Macedonian. In official business, the bodies of the federation must adhere to the principle of equality of all languages of the people of Yugoslavia.’   Adequate wording should ensure the rights of national languages in Yugoslavia.   The current constitutional provision on the ‘Serbo-Croatian or Croatian-Serbian language’ with its impreciseness enables these two comparative names to be understood in practice as synonyms, and not as a basis for the equality of both Croatian and Serbian literary languages, equally among themselves, as well as in relation to the languages of other Yugoslav nations. Such ambiguity enables the Serbian literary language to impose itself as a single language for Serbs and Croats by the force of reality. That the reality is really like that is proven by numerous examples, among them the most recent Conclusions of the Fifth Assembly of the Union of Composers of Yugoslavia. These conclusions were published side by side in the Serbian, Slovenian and Macedonian versions as if there was no Croatian literary language at all or as if it were identical to the Serbian literary language.   The undersigned institutions and organisations believe that in such cases the Croatian people are not represented and are placed in an unequal position. Such a practice cannot in any case be justified by the otherwise undisputed scientific fact that the Croatian and Serbian literary languages have a common linguistic basis.  

2) In accordance with the above requirements and explanations, it is necessary to ensure the consistent use of the Croatian literary language in schools, journalism, public and political life, on radio and television whenever the Croatian population is involved, and that officials, teachers, and public workers, regardless of where they came from, they officially use the literary language of the environment in which they operate.   We submit this Declaration to the Parliament of the Republic of SRH/ Socialist Republic of Croatia, the Federal Assembly of the SFRY/ Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia and our entire public, so that during the preparation of changes to the Constitution, the stated principles will be unambiguously formulated and, accordingly, their full application in our social life will be ensured.”  

Much of the community at large in Croatia continued to speak the so-called Serbo-Croatian/ Croatian-Serbian and particularly so because communist party officials where Serbian language prevailed were in the majority, school and company directors were appointed by the communist party, Yugoslav Army officials holding posts were mainly of Serb nationality.      

If for the purposes of this article we exclude the World War Two period within which the Ustashe took power as they proclaimed n 10 April 1941 the independence of Croatia from any Yugoslavia and insisted on the official usage of pure Croatian language, in the realm of Serbian linguistic pressures, it needs to be pointed out that during the 20^th century, from the end of the First World War, Croatia was forced to belong to all forms of Yugoslavia, firstly to the Kingdom headed by Serb Monarchy and then to the communist form of Yugoslavia and both were authoritarian and dictatorial, the latter totalitarian also.   The authoritarian ideologies and their implementation merged into everyday living in Croatia: Serbian hegemony, Serbian monarchist absolutism, Belgrade-centred communism (and socialism). Serb-led Kingdom of Yugoslavia and communist Yugoslavia used language as their political tool, wielding supremacy of the Serbian one over all others that existed within Yugoslavia. This can be characterised as linguistic violence.  

As 94% of Croatian voters voted in May 1991 for independence of Croatia from Yugoslavia it was the time again in Croatia’s history, that alertness to the need of only the Croatian language as official language grew high. Not only would Croatia be liberated from communist Yugoslavia pressures but also its language – that was the ideal. Croatian language words and expressions lost or forgotten during decades of Serbian language pressures in communist Yugoslavia began surfacing in ordinary everyday conversations, in the media and in political speeches and public appearances. It felt like a rebirth of a most beautiful language to most Croats. Dictionaries of Differences between Croatian and Serbian language words were published and became almost bestsellers in many Croatian community circles both in Croatia and in the diaspora.  

After President Franjo Tudjman’s death in December 1999 the former Yugoslav communist party members and operatives took power and, hence, the importance of the Croatian language as the standard official language became a non-importance. Increasingly Serbian language words and expressions crept back into the public domain almost to the same level as before 1967 when the Declaration about Croatian literary language was made and insisted upon within communist Yugoslavia. From year 2000 linguistic violence in Croatia had been at an alarming rise, causing distress in many Croatian citizens. This linguistic violence had been permitted to continue for the past two decades without sanctions or comments of corrective nature from officials.     

Thousands of words in the vocabulary that were used in the public space of Croatia were not part of the standard Croatian language, and they testify that the Croatian speakers in the past times of the former Yugoslavia thus represent grabbing words from the pool that was part of the standard Serbian language, and less from other languages from the neighbourhood and other world languages. For example, Italian, Hungarian, English, Turkish, German, etc.  

A good number of linguists in the Croatian-Serbian language area (not in Croatia!) during the Yugoslav era claimed that Turkisms were in principle part of the standard common Croatian-Serbian language, and that Germanisms were not, which was wrong – the layered Croatian history was not considered nor was the history of the Croatian language. Thus, the policy of communist Yugoslavia exerted pressure related to the history of the Second World War for its own benefit, not Croatia’s.  

And so, for example’s sake, I will list here some words of Serbian language vocabulary I personally noticed, with distress I might add, being used in various Croatian Parliament discussions during April, May, June and first half of July 2023 when I was there and watched on television or internet Croatian Parliament live. Suffice to say I personally was shocked at the volume of Serbian language used there with ease and practically no sanctions or corrections. It took my mind back to the times of former Yugoslavia and the pollution of the Croatian language with foreign words but particularly with the words from the Serbian language. This begged the question: was Croatia not successful in its victory over Yugoslav and Serb aggression to gain independence from Yugoslavia? Of course it was! It must, therefore, insist on its own identity as a nation, which includes the official language. Hence, I became one of many to strongly support the current proposal for a new Croatian Language Act that would introduce standards for official language in all public institutions in Croatia including the parliament.     

The list of words or expressions from the Serbian language currently used frequently in Croatian official public places includes the following – set out in the fashion where the Serbian version is put first, then Croatian, then its meaning in the English language (without synonyms):  

Da li – Je li, Jel – Is it, Instovremeno – Istodobno – At the same time, Porodica – Obitelj – Family, Hiljada – Tisuća – Thousand, Štampa – Tisak – Print/Press, Neophodno – Potrebno – Essential,  All months of the year have different nemes in Croatian language from those of Serbian, Muzika – Glazba – Music, Pimena – Dopisi, podnesci – Written Correspondence, Podudaran – Sukladan – Compatible, Pogibija – Stradanje – Suffering, Pojasniti – Objasniti – Explain, Poklon – Dar – Gift, Pokoljenje – Naraštaj – Generation, Pokretan – Pomičan – Ambulant, Oolovni – Trošen – Used, Poništenje – Ukinuće – Abrogation, Prilog – Privitak – Attachment, Glasati – Glasovati – Vote, Pažnja – Pozornost – Attention, Povrjeđen – Ranjen – Wounded, Prema – Po, Spram – To, According to, Momentalno – Trenutačno – Momentarily, Pretežno – Većinom – Mostly, Prethodni – Prijašnji – Previous, Prigoda – Prilika – Circumstance, Prisustvo – Nazočnost – Attendance, Čas – Trenutak – Moment, Avion – Zrakoplov – Aeroplane, Aerodrom – Zračna luka – Airport, Advokat – Odvjetnik – Lawyer, Gvožđe – Željezo – Iron (as in metal), Material – Tvorivo, Gradivo – Matter, Pelcovanje – Cijepljenje – Vaccination, Podesiti – Prilagoditi – Adapt, Pošto – Jer – As, Because, Pristanište – Luka – Port, Prosto – Jednostavno – Simple, Priroda – Narav – Nature, Dopadati se – Sviđati se – Likeable, Maternji – Materinski – Motherly, Gotovo – Skoro – Almost, Ručak – Objed – Lunch, Saučešće – Sućut – Condolence, Strava – Užas – Horror, Suština – Srž – Core, Širom – Diljem – Throughout, Tačka – Točka – Full Stop, Tokom – Tijekom – During, Učestvovati – Sudjelovati – Participate, Ukoliko – Ako – Unless, Upečatljiv – Znakovit – Distinct, Upozorenje – Upozorba – Warning, Utanačiti – Dogovoriti – Agree, Settle, Vrtiti – Okretati – Spin, Zastava – Barjak, Stijeg – Flag, Zavjera – Urota – Conspiracy, Zucnuti – Pisnuti – Utter, Bauljati – Teturati – Stager, Bespotreban – Suvišan, Nepotreban – Surplus, Unnecessary, Čulo – Osjetilo – Sense, Sensory organ, Čuven – Glasovit – Renowned, Ćutati – Šutjeti – Be Silent, …  

The result over the decades of the pollution of the Croatian language in Croatia particularly with the vocabulary and expressions of the Serbian language ones has made the need for an official language in Croatia to be legislated for. That language to be the Croatian one. The continued usage in many public places of the hybrid language that the invented Serbo-Croatian one was, leaves many people in Croatia at a loss and confused and certainly does nothing to cement the victory of the Homeland War in the 1990’s into a Croatian identity. Throughout the past decades when the internet became widely available even the so-called online dictionaries of the Croatian language fail miserably; the Croatian language equivalents of many words are simply not there, but Serbian are! The frequently used by many Google translations cannot be trusted as, more often than not, these are also in line with the extinct and politically concocted Serbo-Croatian/ Croatian-Serbian language. I trust that in line with the passing of the Croatian Language Act during the coming months a much-increased compilation and publication of Dictionaries of Differences between Serbian and Croatian vocabulary will see the light of day, just as they did during 1990’s when Croatia strongly pursued its self-determination, independence, and identity. Ina Vukic