Declaration on the Common Language: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Snjezana Kordic keynote presentation Hokkaido University.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|[[Snježana Kordić]]'s [[Keynote|plenary lecture]] on the ''Declaration''<ref name="Kord2024"/> at a [[Academic conference|conference]] in Japan 2018<ref name="KordJapan"/>]]During 2018, a series of [[Keynote|plenary lectures]] on the ''Declaration'' was held at [[Academic conference|conferences]] at the universities of various [[EU countries]],<ref>{{cite web|date=25 September 2018|title=U Austriji održana konferencija o jeziku i nacionalizmu|trans-title=A Conference on Language and Nationalism Took Place in Austria|language=sh|url=https://www.tacno.net/kultura/u-austriji-odrzana-konferencija-o-jeziku-i-nacionalizmu/|___location=Mostar|publisher=Tačno.net|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224170555/https://www.tacno.net/kultura/u-austriji-odrzana-konferencija-o-jeziku-i-nacionalizmu/|access-date=18 June 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=21 October 2018|title=U Pragu konferencija o jeziku|trans-title=In Prague, Language Conference|language=sh|url=https://www.tacno.net/nasi-u-svijetu/u-pragu-konferencija-o-jeziku/|___location=Mostar|publisher=Tačno.net|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224170607/https://www.tacno.net/nasi-u-svijetu/u-pragu-konferencija-o-jeziku/|access-date=18 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=17 June 2018|title=U Poznanju održana debata o jezicima i identitetima|trans-title=In Poznan, a Debate on Languages and Identities Was Held|language=sh|url=https://www.tacno.net/kultura/u-poznanju-odrzana-debata-o-jezicima-i-identitetima/|___location=Mostar|publisher=Tačno.net|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224170558/https://www.tacno.net/kultura/u-poznanju-odrzana-debata-o-jezicima-i-identitetima/|access-date=18 June 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Borba protiv nacionalizma: priznanje Snježani Kordić za osobu godine|trans-title=Fight Against Nationalism: Snježana Kordić – the Person of the Year|language=sh|url=http://ba.n1info.com/Kultura/a306670/Borba-protiv-nacionalizma-Priznanje-Snjezani-Kordic-za-osobu-godine.html|date=30 December 2018|archive-date=3 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190103233740/http://ba.n1info.com/Kultura/a306670/Borba-protiv-nacionalizma-Priznanje-Snjezani-Kordic-za-osobu-godine.html|url-status=live|___location=Sarajevo|publisher=[[N1 (TV channel)|N1]]|access-date=18 June 2019}}</ref> and then at the universities in Japan.<ref name="KordJapan">{{cite web|date=19 December 2018|title=U Japanu konferencije o jeziku i nacionalizmu|trans-title=In Japan, Conferences on Language and Nationalism|language=sh|url=https://www.tacno.net/kultura/u-japanu-konferencije-o-jeziku-i-nacionalizmu/|___location=Mostar|publisher=Tačno.net|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224172047/https://www.tacno.net/kultura/u-japanu-konferencije-o-jeziku-i-nacionalizmu/|access-date=18 June 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=10 December 2018|title=Poster of the Conference in Tokyo|url=http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/jp/seminors/src/Document/2018/181210presym.pdf|___location=Tokyo|publisher=[[Waseda University]]|archive-date=25 November 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125200425/http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/jp/seminors/src/Document/2018/181210presym.pdf|access-date=18 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=13 December 2018|title=Poster of the Conference in Sapporo|url=http://src-home.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/sympo/2018winter/images/2018winterposter.pdf|___location=Sapporo|publisher=[[Hokkaido University]]|archive-date=28 October 2019|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191028155330/http://src-home.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/sympo/2018winter/images/2018winterposter.pdf|access-date=18 June 2019}}</ref> On the occasion of the second anniversary of the ''Declaration'', two round tables were held:<ref name="Wien">{{cite web|date=25 March 2019|title=Novi Bečki dogovor?|trans-title=New Vienna Agreement?|language=sh|url=https://www.tacno.net/kultura/novi-becki-dogovor/|___location=Mostar|publisher=Tačno.net|archive-date=21 April 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421164340/https://www.tacno.net/kultura/novi-becki-dogovor/|access-date=18 June 2019}}</ref> in [[Vienna]] "Language and Nationalisms: Do We Understand Each Other?"<ref>{{YouTube|1mBDgUMvplM|Presentation of the Declaration in Vienna, 120 min}} {{in lang|sh}}</ref> and in Zagreb "One Language or Several Languages: Discussion on the Declaration on the Common Language", organized by the [[Students' union|Union of Student]] Associations of the [[Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb|Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Jedan jezik ili više jezika: rasprava o Deklaraciji o zajedničkom jeziku|trans-title=One Language or Several Languages: Discussion About the Declaration on the Common Language|language=sh|url=https://www.facebook.com/SavezStudentskihUdruga/videos/306274900055880|___location=Zagreb|website=Facebook |date=28 March 2019|access-date=18 June 2019}} 120 min</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=July 2019}} which later also organized a plenary lecture on the ''Declaration'' at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb.<ref>{{cite web|date=26 April 2019|title=UJEDINJENI FILOZOFSKI – MOZAIK RIJEČI: Interdisciplinarni skup Saveza studenata Filozofskog fakulteta u Zagrebu |url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/15IA04I2FMg4-E9Pi6XiWEzzXQnkTH7gi/view |access-date=18 June 2019 |via=Google Drive}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=December 2019}}

===Signatories===

==Text and signatories==

===Text===

Source: ''[[Novosti (Croatia)|Novosti]]''<ref name="Grozdanic"/>

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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

{{center|'''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<ref name="Trudgill"/>

}}

===Signatories===

[[File:Noam Chomsky portrait 2017.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Noam Chomsky]], one of the signatories of the ''Declaration'']]

The British [[Sociolinguistics|sociolinguist]] [[Peter Trudgill]] notes that "linguists are well represented on the list of signatories."<ref name="Trudgill">{{cite web|last=Trudgill|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Trudgill|date=30 November 2017|page=46|title=Time to Make Four into One|url=https://archive.org/details/PeterTrudgillTimeToMakeFourIntoOne2017|publisher=[[The New European]]|access-date=18 June 2019}}</ref> The most famous linguist "[[Noam Chomsky]] has signed the Declaration on the common language", which has been particularly resounding.<ref>{{cite web|last=Vučić|first=Nikola|title=Noam Chomsky potpisao Deklaraciju o zajedničkom jeziku|trans-title=Noam Chomsky Has Signed the Declaration on the Common Language|language=sh|url=https://ba.n1info.com/kultura/a250910-noam-chomsky-potpisao-deklaraciju-o-zajednickom-jeziku/|date=27 March 2018|archive-date=1 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501053244/http://ba.n1info.com/a250910/Vijesti/Vijesti/Noam-Chomsky-potpisao-Deklaraciju-o-zajednickom-jeziku.html|url-status=live|___location=Sarajevo|publisher=[[N1 (TV channel)|N1]]|access-date=18 June 2019}}</ref> 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."<!-- Do not delete the names of linguists because some deny that there are linguists among the signatories --><ref>{{cite journal|first=Snježana|last=Kordić|author-link=Snježana Kordić|title=Aldo Zanelli: ''Eine Analyse der Metaphern in der kroatischen Linguistikfachzeitschrift'' Jezik ''von 1991 bis 1997'' (book review)|url=https://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/935754.Politicka_misao_1_2018_129_133_Kordic-prikaz-Zanelli.pdf|journal=[[Politička misao]]|issn=0032-3241|oclc=1032613668|volume=55|issue=1, 2018|pages=131–132|___location=Zagreb|id={{CROSBI|935754}}. {{CEEOL|672926}}}}</ref>