Linguistic separatism
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Linguistic separatism refers to the attempts of linguists or politicians to create an independent language from a dialect by splitting off the written language. In a broader sense, this can also occur as the result of natural processes: Dutch, for example, developed from a Frankish dialect (Low Franconian).
The most examples of linguistic separatism would be the split-up of Serbo-Croatian into separate Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian "languages". Similarly, the Moldovan language has undergone a similar process. The demarcation from other languages is mostly for political reasons.
On the opposite end of the spectrum are attempts to unify several languages as a common standard language. One fruitless example of such an attempt is the assertion that, Czech and Slovak are two pluricentric (pluri-areal) varieties of a single "Czechoslovakian language". As an example of a more successful attempt, one could view the "unification" of the various linguistic varieties of Italy or of Germany into single standard languages, although these are basically formalisations of the speech of a small area.
Linguistic nationalism is often closely linked to linguistic separatism. This term refers to the efforts of a linguistic community to define the language of another (relatively smaller) people, which is more or less related to their own, as a dialect or variety of their own language. In history, such trends have been found in Greece towards Ancient Macedonian, at one time in Italy towards the Ladin and Friulian languages, or in Russia towards Ukrainian and above all Belarusian (at one time, "Russian" was even used as a general term for all East Slavic languages, considered a pluricentric language with 5 areal varieties). In Slovakia, scientifically unsupported opinions have emerged: in Moravia, Slovak dialects were spoken in the past; today, Slovak impact still exists there, primarily in small areas in east Moravia.
