Language Research

The existence of three languages is itself a subject of discussion and not yet resolved.

There is little (5-10%) difference between the Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian languages, but over the past decade the basic function of language as a means of communication has been pushed aside in favor of its symbolic function. However, every speaker in Bosnia Herzegovina is polyglot or multi-lingual, meaning each speaks three languages.

In these troublesome times, the fear of not being sufficiently Croat, Bosniak or Serbian has opened the door to a norm that is decided not by linguists but by politicians. As an illustration, Professor Josip Baotic, a linguist working at the Language Department of the University of Sarajevo, mentions the case of the Serb language in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina have rejected the very feature that unites all Serbs: their Ijekavski speech. Ijekavski is common to all the Serbs of Bosnia-Herzegovina (though not to all Croats or all Bosniaks, since the latter two peoples speak both Ijekavski and Ekavski), yet they have given it up in favor of Ekavski in order to be Serbs.

Professor Baotic also tells a story of a village in northern Bosnia, where the locals are discussing writers. They argue about whether the Latin or the Cyrillic script is better. These seven men spend some time in hot dispute and in the end, unable to resolve the issue, they start to fight. When they are taken before a magistrate, it turns out that five of the seven are so far from literate that they cannot even sign their own names. That is the language problem in this country: the 90% who argue about its languages know nothing of the subject, but merely fear the names associated with them.

Ivo KomÐic has described how, when he visited Croat refugees in Munich, the first thing he was asked was what language their children would be educated in if they returned to Bosnia. His answer to such queries had to be (as appropriate): "In the Croat language... in Serb... in Bosnian". The truth is that these people have no idea what language is. They have simply been frightened with the notion that their children will be taught in, say, a weird Bosnian language that they believe to be imported from Turkey - so they are afraid that their child will become a Muslim, or a Serb, or a Croat.

A current issue in the field of education is of the possibilities and obstacles leading up to a common education system for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

There is a problem with the return of refugees and displaced persons. Some Bosnian, Serb, and Croat political leaders still discourage displaced persons of their own ethnicity from returning to areas where they would be in the minority. During the three years since signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, many more minorities have fled Sarajevo than returned.