What's in a Language Name? The Case of Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian
This course examines various phenomena related to the Serbo-Croatian language, on the one hand, and, on the other, to the Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian languages. Concepts such as language death and language birth are explored. The relationship between dialect and language is analyzed. Notions of language politics, language standardization, and language codification in general and specifically in the Balkans are considered. Structures of Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian are briefly addressed for purposes of making linguistic comparisons. No prior knowledge of the language(s) is necessary since most readings are general and students may work on any language(s) of their choice.