engleski

Language policies vs. language use in 19th century court proceedings in Croatia,

Following the periods of absolutism and neo- absolutism, characterised by tensions and conflicts between the deeply conservative, centralized, multi-ethnic Habsburg state and emerging nationalist movements, the dual monarchy was established in 1867, as a constitutional union between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary. At the time, Croatia was divided between two parts of the Monarchy, Civil Croatia and Slavonia belonging to Hungary, and Istria and Dalmatia to Austria. The paper will outline multilingual policies on the highest state level granting equality to all nationalities and their languages on the one hand, and nationalist movements with their strong homogenizing tendencies focusing on a single standard language, on the other. Conflicting language policies on the national and supranational levels will be set against the actual language use in Croatia, primarily based on court proceedings. Our research will focus on the extent to which the legislative provisions on the right to court interpreting for defendants who were not proficient in the language of the court, as enshrined in the Civil Code of 1852 and Criminal Code of 1853, were actually implemented. In addition, we will analyze instances where the actual language use of lay persons involved in court proceedings, such as defendants and witnesses, „shines through“ the official language of court records. Thus, through analyses of the languages used in court records, historical language use will be reconstructed and examples from the emirical data will be examined.

Language policy, multilingualism, Habsburg Monarchy, Croatia, court proceedings

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