Usually the issues connected with the official language politics in Tito’s Yugoslavia are a constituent part of a significant and multicomponent problem – the national question in a multi-linguistic and multicultural socialist federation. Constitutional articles in all Yugoslav constitutions (1946, 1963 and 1974) guaranteed the rights of every Yugoslav citizen to use freely his/her national language and the equality of the languages and characters of all officially recognized Yugoslav nations. The predominant part of the national minorities in FPRY/SFRY had officially acknowledged and sponsored textbooks and broadcasts in their own languages. The main contradictions in the field of linguistic matters (with long-lasting political and ‘bloody’ consequences) may be found in two main thematic areas. Firstly, the equal position of Slovenian and Macedonian (later Albanian and Hungarian) compared to Serbo-Croatian. And secondly the insurmountable contradictions in the Serbo-Croatian speaking district on the nature and possible ‘variants’ of the spoken language. In comparing the major components of the language policies with the political practices which are actually directed towards enhancing multilingualism in the EU, this paper suggests what lessons can be learned from the Yugoslav experience.

This paper considers the issue of language policy and planning in Serbia, as managed by the main competent institution, the Serbian Language Standardization Committee, a trans-state, national institution dealing with vital issues of language policy and planning. Specifically, assuming a Bourdieusian perspective, it investigates the ideology behind the Committee’s policies, grounded in a series of language myths, and the way these policies influence professionals and everyday language users. The effects of a rigid, strict educational system and a standard language culture by educators are shown in detail focusing on the Torlak dialect in Southern Serbia. The Serbian case reveals a constant promotion of censorship and a heightened understanding of the benefits of self-censorship in the language market. This can be seen in the pressure exerted on certain speakers and the threat their mother tongue represents for their status in the labor market.

Not only are nations invented (imagined) into and out of existence, but languages and states are as well. Decisions on how to construct, change or obliterate a language are essentially arbitrary, and as such dictated by political considerations. The entailed language of politics (often accompanied by the closely related politics of script) is of more immediate significance in Central Europe than elsewhere in the world, because in this region language is the sole and fundamental basis for creating, legitimating and maintaining nations and their nation-states. Since 1918, the creation and destruction of ethnolinguistic nation-states in Central Europe has been followed (or even preceded) by the creation and destruction of languages so that a unique language could be fitted to each nation and its national polity. This article focuses on the politics of the Albanian language in Yugoslavia's Autonomous Province of Kosovo and in independent Kosovo with an eye to answering two questions at the level of language politics. First, what was the kind of Albanian standard employed in Kosovo before the 1968/1970/1974 acceptance of Albania's Tosk-based standard Albanian in Yugoslavia? Second, why is Kosovo the sole post-Yugoslav nation-state that has not (yet?) been endowed with its own unique (Kosovan) language?

The paper initially presents the Serbian legislative framework relevant to the use of minority languages. The ethnolinguistic vitality of the Hungarian-speaking population in Serbia is then analysed, particularly in the Serbian province of Vojvodina. The paper then focuses upon the sociolinguistic survey of Hungarian language use in Belgrade. The emphasis is placed upon the survey responses related to the awareness of language rights among the Hungarian speakers .

Turbulent social and political circumstances in the Middle South Slavic language area caused the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the formation of new countries in the 1990s, and this of course was reflected in the demise of the prestigious Serbo-Croatian language and the emergence of new standard languages based on the Stokavian dialect (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian and Montenegrin). The Yugoslav language policy advocated a polycentric model of linguistic unity that strived for equal representation of the languages of the peoples (Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian and Slovenian), ethnicities (ethnic minorities) and ethnic groups, as well as both scripts (Latin and Cyrillic). Serbo-Croatian, spoken by 73% of people in Yugoslavia, was divided into the eastern and the western variety and two standard language expressions: Bosnian and Montenegrin. One linguistic system had sociolinguistic subsystems or varieties which functioned and developed in different socio-political, historical, religious ...

In post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina language issues have been primarily used to forge national myths and boost ethnic divisions. Such role of language has left little room for linguistically informed education. Drawing on insights from fieldwork conducted in three high schools, this chapter analyses how linguistics could be incorporated into secondary education of Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to press for structural reforms in the domain of first/native language curriculum, with the ultimate goal of promoting dispassionate view of language, linguistic tolerance, and peaceful coexistence.

Not only are nations invented (imagined) into and out of existence, but languages and states are as well. Decisions on how to construct, change or obliterate a language are essentially arbitrary, and as such dictated by political considerations. The entailed language of politics (often accompanied by the closely related politics of script) is of more immediate significance in Central Europe than elsewhere in the world, because in this region language is the sole and fundamental basis for creating, legitimating and maintaining nations and their nation-states. Since 1918, the creation and destruction of ethnolinguistic nation-states in Central Europe has been followed (or even preceded) by the creation and destruction of languages so that a unique language could be fitted to each nation and its national polity. This article focuses on the politics of the Albanian language in Yugoslavia’s Autonomous Province of Kosovo and in independent Kosovo with an eye to answering two questions at ...

Hungary is a monolingual state in Central Eastern Europe, where the Hungarian language, as the official language, is spoken by the whole population, including persons belonging to national and linguistic minorities. On the territory of Hungary, in the course of history, there have always lived representatives of other cultures and speakers of other languages. Nevertheless, in terms of the ability of speaking more than one language, within the European Union, Hungary is left behind, according to the latest Eurobarometer survey. In this paper we will highlight some of the facts and problems undermining real multilingualism in Hungary.

The Serbian education policy does not allow the creation of a higher education institution in which the teaching is completely in Hungarian. However, the higher education research has shown that the main criterion in selection the higher education institution for Hungarian students in Vojvodina is its teaching language and geographical location. In minority higher education policy expressed the need to establish a Hungarian language university, but this initiative is only at the planning level. Discussions are related to the possible establishment of that institution in the Hungarian National Council, but in the near future, be sure that this initiative will not move on the path of realization. For this reason it is important to examine those institutions, i.e. faculties, which partially or completely conducted in Hungarian language education. Hungarian Faculty of Teacher Training in Subotica is the only higher education institution (faculty) where all subjects are taught in Hungarian. A special feature is that just only there form teacher who will teach the pupils on Hungarian. Considering the successful operation of the Faculty and taking into account the continuous expansion of the training offer, it’s important to know the history of the foundation, because, although it is a faculty, learning from its example might speed up the process of establishment a Hungarian language university or other faculty teaching in the minority language. To explore the method of foundation, in this case, expert interviews, document analysis, literature analysis and research on the internet come into play. Keywords: faculty, national minorities, higher education institutions, teacher training, training needs, training language.

Language education policy in Serbia, from early days of formal education (second half of the 19 th century) onwards has until recently been investigated as a top-down, institutional, managerial activity (Spolsky, 2009, Filipović, 2015, 2016, 2017a) which takes into account language and overall ideologies of policy planners/language managers (Filipović, 2015a; 2018; Djurić, 2016), their epistemological as well as personal and collective strategic interests. In this paper, we contrast the above approach (macro-level) with the micro-level language policy (Liddicoat & Baldauf, 2008) focusing on early childhood foreign language policy and planning as illustrative of the overall trajectory of Serbian language education policy. We analyze it against the backdrop of the general history of Serbian foreign language education policies, with emphasis on teaching of English as a foreign language in this country (due to its special status as the global lingua franca). We offer examples of good practices at the micro-level (i.e., of individual or group engagement) in form of language leadership (Filipović, 2015a; 2015b; 2016; 2017a; 2018) which might serve as guidelines for future purposeful and effective language policy and planning.

This article attempts to reveal how educational policies would influence the cultural identity and the socio-economic status of linguistic minorities. This study seeks to find an answer to the following questions: (i) does formal education in native language would slow down the linguistic assimilation of a minority, (ii) is there a correlation between choosing a particular educational program and expected economic advantage and, finally, (iii) how the concept of economic advantage will be interpreted in the various discourses. Using qualitative empirical data, this article presents the particular situation of a vocational high school education of Hungarian dispersed communities in Transylvania.

The paper focuses on the implementation of plurilingualism in language education policy in Serbia, based on Romanian as a case study. The aim is to clarify the place of neighbouring, regional or minority languages in education in L1, and L2 learning, in the multilingual and multicultural context of Serbia which borders Romania. Initially, the paper draws upon interdisciplinary studies on critical sociolinguistics and language education policy in EU, which are marked by language ideologies of linguistic and cultural diversity. Afterwards, the implementation of plurilingualism in Serbia is analysed, the results indicating several interpretations and underlying principles: from ideology of equality and plurality, to ideology of neoliberal economy. It is argued that the first one protects and promotes linguistic and cultural diversity in Serbia through education in minority languages as L1, while the latter one restricts the offer of L2s, in which these appear only at university level. The conclusion advocates for different stakeholders to take into account the missing educational and social value of learning community, regional or minority languages as L2s on all levels of education, and to promote it as beneficial for both minority and majority students, and society as a whole.

In the fi rst part of this report the emphasis is on the ethnic-linguistic composition of the country, based on the census data from 2002 compared with the census data from 1991. Th e rest of the report is primarily focused on the educational issues of linguistic minorities in Serbia. We present data concerning the educational level of the population, the legal-normative preconditions for the education of minorities and the expert treatment of the problems encountered in education in the languages of national minorities since 2001. Finally, we discuss the representation of minorities in education in their own language, some problems involved in education in minority languages and possible models for education in minority languages in the Republic of Serbia.

This paper gives an account of research into multilingualism and multiculturalism in a kindergarten attended by children from foreign families working at a local air base. The highly interdisciplinary research aims to explore the main question, i.e. how can kindergarten teachers, children, parents and educational specialists form the common linguistic, cultural and pedagogical basis in this very complex setting?

Contact languages are highly needed for individuals communicating with each other in each of the daily activities of life and to ensure vital existence living in multicultural-multilingual cities and states. Foreign languages particularly the native one, should be enabled for all individuals to learn while attending formal education because there it can teach according to the standard norms of all the foreign languages the natives and European languages. Each individual who is born and is developed in a multicultural community should use the same opportunity to develop skills such in a multilingual communication from processing benefit individually with the selection of the country's foreign language as an elective subject. Everything learned in childhood is beneficial for the future. This paper aims to illuminate the development of the languages in Gostivar and their institutionalisation within the educational institutions, where there are Albanians, Turks and Macedonians. Not every language has had the same fate, to be institutionalized on time. Languages in the 21st century are necessary for all individuals, that live in a multicultural social society. In this research were involved 70 students of VIII grade in elementary school, four principals and 30 language teachers, in total 104 surveyed from all communities of the city of Gostivar. All the data were collected, interpreted in tables and graphs were analyzed up to the findings, which reflected the conclusions and the recommendations. However, due to the limitations that our work imposes we will not be able to present all the reflected results.

Our present work is part of a longer research project on the political aspects of the Hungarian minority’s institutional system in Vojvodina, Serbia. In this paper, we consider the educational concepts of the present National Council of the Hungarian Ethnic Minority (MNT II) as our starting point. The coordinative language use of minority communities is generally accepted today. According to languagepolicy examinations, it is important to facilitate this language use by the educational system. The particular conditions and the effectiveness of its realization are more complex issues: they need a so-called horizontal perspective of policies. The political measures are largely dependent on, for example, the regional characteristics of the particular minority situation. Coordinative bilingualism is a stated goal to reach, concerning both majority and minority societies. However, it can be realized in the block and in the periphery 2 by differing methods. This difference is a major inte...

The present paper examines standard language ideologies in Serbia and Poland. We look closely at the weight that standard language ideology carries in both nation-states by analyzing those languages in them, which are not accorded the highest status: in Serbia — Bunjevac, and in Poland — Kashubian. We demonstrate how — in both Serbia and Poland — standard language ideology appears to be challenged on various grounds, yet it is almost indisputably enforced at the same time. In the end, we conclude that our examination is a contribution to the latest observations regarding the notion of language standardization, which notion appears to have been changing before our own eyes.

Education represents a fundamental pillar of Kosovo’s legal framework for the protection and promotion of the rights of communities including the right to receive public education in their own language. At current, there are two parallel education systems operating in Kosovo. One of them is run by the Government of Kosovo, more specifically the Ministry of Education, Science and Technologies (MEST), which provides education in Albanian, Turkish and Bosnian languages. The other is run by the Republic of Serbia and its Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development and provides education in the Serbian language. These two education systems in Kosovo do not recognize each other and there is no convergence between the systems at any level: they have been coexistingseparately since 1999. This study’s remit does not include the legal status of the parallel Serbian education system in Kosovo There is a remarkablelack of knowledge on the Serbian education system in Kosovo. No study thus far has mapped the exact outreach of Serbian-language schools in Kosovo or the conditions under which suchschools operate. In light of this, ECMI Kosovo’s missionis to outlinethe factual situation regardingthe current conditions of the Serbian education in Kosovo, and to map and assess its quality, challenges and shortcoming through measurable indicators inspired by EU educational standards. The goal is to address necessities by means of a detailed policy for the advancement of the education provided in the Serbianlanguage in Kosovo. The data collected isheterogeneous and revealssubstantial diversitybetween the four municipalities in the north of Kosovo and the Serb-majority areas scattered throughout the rest of Kosovo. It can be observed that schools in the four northern municipalities have better working conditions and equipment than the schools in the rest of Kosovo. The evaluation highlights serious concerns about infrastructural deficiencies and lack of space. In the south of the country schools are located in buildings not intended for this purpose. The biggest concerns are hygienic conditions and lack of indoor toilets, especially in the schools situated in the Gora region. The initiatives to assist Serbian-language schools in Kosovo have so far been fragmented and somewhat inconsistent. The northern municipalities benefit from proximity with Serbia and numerous opportunities for joint workshops, seminars and other initiatives. For this reason, ECMI Kosovo advocates for a coordinated action to support Serbian-language schools. Proper financial coordination among Kosovar authorities, the Serbian government and the international community would allow for an efficient use of both money and energy. This should be preceded by a political agreement between Belgrade and Pristina on this topic. A common plan should be drafted for long-term support and to create sustainable solutions.

A critical and complete estimation and evaluation of educational work is a complex and accountable process, but mostly it is the inevitable task of all participants in this process. The aim of this paper is to point out the significance of extensive social impact on foreign language selection and acquisition by using the method of theoretical analysis. In this paper we will present the importance of learning foreign languages (FL), their presence in the educational system of Republic Serbia, the position of the state language policy, as well as the current situation and the basic attitude of the society in the selection and study of FLs. The results of this analysis should contribute to a better insight into the nature of the factors that influence the acquisition and teaching of foreign languages.

Language has been a crucial element in constituting national identity throughout Slovenian history. The study of communication is therefore of key importance in estimating the vitality of the ethnic group. Because of the language policies and the asymmetry in the relationship between minority and majority languages, the decision to use the mother tongue among the Slovenian minority in Austria nowadays becomes an affirmation of Slovenian identity. This paper, based on two case studies in Austrian Carinthia, presents the use of language in everyday private and public situations.

The case study of the article is translanguaging as an educational strategy in preparation for the graduation exam in Romanian language and literature in a Hungarian school in Miercurea Ciuc/Csíkszereda, Romania. Romanian language competence scores are at the bottom of national rankings in this Hungarian-majority town in Szeklerland. Students who speak a minority language have their knowledge of the majority language evaluated in the graduation exam in Romanian language and literature based on the same criteria as first-language speakers', which has strong implications for their participation in Romanian society. The main research question of this ethnographically informed article is how translanguaging happens in a classroom where students' first language is being used with the aim of facilitating performance in their second language. The article argues that in the classrooms where the research was conducted, translanguaging is a strategy that negotiates between students' educational needs in the local environment and the expectation espoused by the state to perform as if they were monolingual Romanian speakers. Similarly, students use translanguaging to strategize between the curricular expectations and their language performance. Yet, I argue that in this case study the emancipatory potential of translanguaging is limited due to ethnolinguistic hierarchies that remain unchallenged.

In Austria there are two substantial Hungarian communities, namely the autochthonous minority of Burgenland and the more recent migrant groups in Vienna. Importantly, the latter have arrived in different waves and from various Hungarian-speaking regions of the Carpathian Basin, which clearly adds to the diversity of the community. In this respect, the Austrian context seems to be quite unique. Both Hungarians in Burgenland and Vienna are formally recognised minorities, yet due to the fact that Austrian minority rights are not harmonized on the various levels, the two groups do not enjoy the same level of protection, which is most dominant with regard to mother tongue instruction within the educational system and in the area of official language use. It is also due to these differences that the language use patterns of Hungarian-speakers in Burgenland greatly differ from those living in Vienna. It has further been argued that although the existing regulations of minority language protection in Austria are extensive, their implementation has not been achieved without shortfalls. Therefore, the aim of the present paper is to identify how regulations of minority language rights protection influence actual language use practices reported by the speakers themselves. The case study on the Hungarian-speakers in Austria was conducted within the international and interdisciplinary FP7 project ELDIA (European Language Diversity for All, www.eldia-project.org). The research, having a special focus on the legislative and institutional framework of language use and language use in practice, has shown that there are clear gaps between legal regulations and actual practices. It will be demonstrated that Hungarian-speakers have relatively little opportunity to use Hungarian in the public domains. The language use patterns reported by the informants show that the use of Hungarian is restricted mainly to the home context. Nevertheless, it will be argued that Hungarian has an exceptionally strong presence within the community for there is a clearly identifiable demand and willingness to use the Hungarian language and to develop it to the speakers changing needs.