The Croatin and Bosnian language in BiH (1992–1995) in light of the theory of linguistic imperialism: Language policy in education

Abstract

V prispevku sta obravnavana hrvaški in bosanski jezik v Republiki Bosni in Hercegovini (RBiH) v obdobju od 1992 do 1995, in sicer z vidika jezikovnih pravic in jezikovne diskriminacije. Razprava se osredinja na teoriji lingvistične pravičnosti in lingvističnega imperializma v neposredni povezavi z vprašanjem maternega jezika v izobraževanju in pedagoški praksi. Ob vsebini pravnih dokumentov v prvi polovici devetdesetih let, ki se navezujejo na rabo jezika v šolstvu in širši družbi, je podana analiza družbene ureditve jezikovnih vprašanj ter različnih družbenih praks. Gre za analizo aktualnega zapostavljajočega, raznarodovalnega in ločevalnega modela izobraževanja v nasprotju z zaželenim povezovalnim, nerazlikovalnim in neločevalnim izobraževalnim sistemom.

The paper discusses the Croatian language and the Bosnian language in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1995) in the context of the discussion on language rights and in the context of the discussion on language discrimination, especially regarding the theory of linguistc justice and the theory of linguistc imperialism, which is also directly related to the issue of native language in education and pedagogical practice, both in the past and today. An analysis of the social arrangement of language issues is provided with concrete examples of the contents of legal documents in the first half of the 1990s, which is connected to the language in education and wider society, with a special analysis of the specific social practices. This is an analysis of the present practically existing discriminatory, assimilating and segregationist models of education, as opposed to a desirable integration, non-segregationist and non-discriminatory education system.