Montenegrin language

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Montenegrin language (Cyrillic: Црногорски језик, Latin: Crnogorski jezik) is the name given to the Ijekavian-Štokavian dialect, spoken in Montenegro. Some Montenegrins refer to their specific dialect as a language on its own, while others consider it a variant of the Serbian language. As of 2006, there is an ongoing controversy on this issue.

[edit] Dialect to Language Name Mapping

The table below shows the relationship between the Serbo-Croatian language dialects and the names their native speakers might call them.

[edit] Official status and speakers' preference

The language issue is a debated issue in Montenegro. In the previous census of 1991, the majority of Montenegrin citizens declared themselves as speakers of the then official language: Serbo-Croatian. According to the constitution of Montenegro, the official language of the republic, since 1992, is Serbian of the Ijekavian standard. After World War II and until 1992, the official language of Montenegro was Serbo-Croatian. In the late nineties and early twenty-first century, organizations promoting Montenegrin as a distinct language appeared.

On the last census in 2003, 21.53% of the population of Montenegro declared that Montenegrin is their native language, while 63.5% of the population declared that Serbian language is their mother tongue. Comparing those figures with ethnic preference of the population (32% declared themselves as Serbs, while 42% as Montenegrins), it would turn out that a majority of ethnic Montenegrins also call their language Serbian. It is not known whether the percentages have changed since (As of 2006).

Some people might compare the situation with Montenegrin language with the position of Croatian and Bosnian languages, and even come to the conclusion that position of Montenegrin parallels the positions of the others. However, there are significant differences between the three: while Croatian and Bosnian are standard languages and official languages, there is no accepted standard for Montenegrin and it is not official anywhere (the official language of the Republic of Montenegro is still Serbian).

[edit] Linguistic considerations

Montenegrins speak subdialects of Shtokavian dialect of Serbo-Croatian language:

• East Herzegovinian dialect (in the west and northwest, similar to the one spoken in most of Eastern Herzegovina and Dubrovnik area) and
• Zeta-South Sandzak dialect (spoken in the rest of the country).

Their borders are blurred due to migration of population and influence of standard language, based on Eastern Herzegovinian; the principal difference is in accentuation. The vocabulary of the dialect has some distinct features, but words different from other dialects are few (e.g. "sjutra" is used in Montenegro instead of "sutra", which is used in standard Serbian, Bosnian or Croatian).

Proposed Montenegrin language alphabet, which contains 3 more letters than Serbian-Croatian counterpart — Ś, Ź, and З

Some other characteristics are:

• Using što for interrogative form of what (as in Croatian, and unlike Serbian šta).
• Supine or "short infinitive" ("Oli pjevat?") instead of standard "full infinitive" ("Hoćeš li pjevati?").
• The group a + o gave a ("ka" instead of "kao", reka for rekao), like in other Shtokavian and Chakavian vernaculars along the Adriatic coast. The much more common contraction in other Shtokavian vernaculars is ao->o.
• The reflex of long jat, ije, is bisyllabic, while it is diphthongal in of most other ijekavian areas (and even considered a separate phoneme by some Croatian linguists^[2]). For example, the distinction can be clearly heard in the opening verses of national anthems of Montenegro and Croatia. However, Montenegrin form is standard Ijekavian form in Serbian (Ijekavian) standard, while monosyllabic variant is considered as dialectism.
• Few "hyper-ijekavisms" (words keeping a jat reflex from a non-existing or elsewhere differently evolved original) (nijesam, tije, ovije, ovijema, tijema and kisjelo^[3], where the rest of shtokavian area uses nisam. te, ove, ovima, tema and kiselo).
• Hyper-iotations (đe for gdje, đevojka for djevojka, đeca for djeca, lećeti for letjeti, ćerati for tjerati, ćeskoba for tjeskoba etc). Unlike other shtokavian dialects, the iotation affects sounds [s] and [z] to a much greater extent, yielding /ʃʲ/ or /ç/ for /sj/, and /ʒʲ/ or /ʝ/ for /zj/ ^{[citation needed]}. (/çɛdi/, /çɛkira/, /kiçɛɔ/, /paçɛ/, /iʝelitsa/ etc.). Some proponents of Montenegrin language propose amending of the alphabet with letters Ś and Ź representing those sounds.
• Sound [ʣ], The sound is very rarely used. Allocated letter in the newly proposed Montenegrin alphabet is З.

Those features present just a general overview, as not all of them are confined to Montenegro, and not all of them are universally spoken in the country itself. In other words, their isoglosses don't match the country borders.

Alphabet

• Abeceda: A B C Č Ć D Dž Đ E F G H I J K L Lj M N Nj O P R S Š Ś T U V Z З Ž Ź

[edit] Language politics

Most mainstream politicians and other proponents of Montenegrin language simply state that the issue is chiefly one of self-determination and the people's right to call the language as they want, rather than an attempt to artificially create a new language when there is none. The Declaration of Montenegrin PEN Center^[4] states that "Montenegrin language does not mean a systemically separate language, but just one of four names (Montenegrin, Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian) by which Montenegrins name their part of Shtokavian system, commonly inherited with Muslims, Serbs and Croats". Introduction of Montenegrin language has also been supported by other important academic institutions, such as the Matica crnogorska.

Some proponents go further. The chief proponent of Montenegrin is Zagreb-educated dr Vojislav Nikčević, professor at the Department of Language and Literature at the University of Montenegro and the head of the Institute for Montenegrin Language in the capital Podgorica. His dictionaries and grammars are printed by Croatian publishers as the major Montenegrin publishing houses such as Obod in Cetinje, as always, opt for the official nomenclature specified in the Constitution (Serbo-Croat until 1992, Serbian after 1992)^[5]. Nikčević advocates amending of the Latin alphabet with three letters Ś, Ź, and З and corresponding Cyrillic letters Ć, З́ and S (representing IPA: [ç], [ʝ] and [ʣ] respectively)^[6].

Opponents acknowledge that these sounds can be heard by many Montenegrin speakers, however, argue that they are relatively rare and do not form minimal pairs, and so are not considered phonemes by that criteria. In addition, there are speakers in Montenegro who don't utter them and speakers of Serbian and Croatian outside of Montenegro (notably in Herzegovina and Bosanska Krajina) who do. In addition, introduction of those letters could pose significant technical difficulties (Eastern European code page ISO/IEC 8859-2 does not contain letter З, for example, and the corresponding letters were not proposed for Cyrillic).

Montenegro's prime minister Milo Đukanović declared his open support for the formalization of the Montenegrin language by declaring himself as a speaker of the Montenegrin language, in an October 2004 interview with Belgrade daily Politika. At one point during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, official Montenegrin government communiqués were officially given in English and Montenegrin. The Government has since switched back to Serbian. The official web page of the President of Montenegro states that it is provided in "Montenegrin-Serbian version" (Crnogorsko-srpska verzija). while the official website of the Government of Montenegro has an English and a Montenegrin version^[7].

In 2004, the government of Montenegro changed the school curriculum in such a way that name of the mandatory classes teaching the language was changed from "Serbian language" to "Mother tongue (Serbian, Montenegrin, Croatian, Bosnian)". This change was made, according to the government, in order to better reflect the diversity of languages spoken among citizens in the republic and to protect human rights of non-Serb citizens in Montenegro who declare themselves as speakers of other languages. ^[8]

This decision resulted in a dozen Serb teachers declaring a strike and a number of parents refusing to send their children to schools. The cities affected by the strike included Nikšić, Podgorica, Berane, Pljevlja and Herceg Novi.^[9].

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.plav.net/zavicaj/popis_2003.htm
2. ^ "Ije je je", Ivo Škarić, Vijenac, Matica Hrvatska
3. ^ According to Pravopis srpkog jezika, Mitar Pešikan, Jovan Jerković, Mato Pižurica, Novi Sad 1993, p. 137. old Slavic root had an alternate form kisel/kisĕl.
4. ^ Declaration of Montenegrin PEN Center on Constitutional State of Montenegrin Language
5. ^ Pravopis Crnogorskog Jezika, Vojislav Nikčević. Crnogorski PEN Centar, 1997
6. ^ Proposed Montenegrin alphabet, Montenet.org
7. ^ Official site of Government of Montenegro
8. ^ "Slobodan Backović potpisao odluku o preimenovanju srpskog u maternji jezik, Voice of America, 26 March 2004"
9. ^ (Serbian)"Počelo otpuštanje profesora srpskog", Glas Javnosti, 17 September 2004.

[edit] See also

• Dialect continuum
• Montenegrins
• Differences in standard Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian

[edit] External links

• "What Language Do Montenegrins Speak?", Aida Ramusovic, Transitions Online, 16 April 2003.
• (Serbian) "Govorite li crnogorski?", Violeta Arsenić, Vreme, 4 March 2000.
• Montenet.org: Language in Montenegro
• Standard Language as an Instrument of Culture and the Product of National History, Pavle Ivić
• Montenegrin language on Montenegrina

[edit] Examples of nomenclature

• Official government page with srpski or 'Serbian' at the bottom
• Official page of President of Montenegro with Crnogorsko-srpska verzija or 'Montenegrin-Serbian version' in top left corner
• Official page of Montenegrin Government with CRNOGORSKI or 'Montenegrin' in top left corner