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On a pathway of identity: from 'Serbo-Croatian' to the Croatian language

As one of the twenty‐four recognized languages of the European Union, Croatian is spoken by the Croats in their motherland, the Republic of Croatia, it is an official language in Vojvodina (Serbia), in Burgenland (Austria) and in the region of Molise (Italy), whereas it is a co‐official language in Bosnia‐Herzegovina and in the communities in Carașova and Lupac (Romania). Additionally, the Croats in Montenegro (especially in Bay of Kotor), in Slovakia, Czechia, and Hungary (especially in Baranya County) use it as a minority language, it is also spoken in Kosovo (especially in Janjevo and Letnica), and, for instance, it is spoken by approximately 60, 000 Croats in the territory of the United States of America due to an expanded diaspora. What is more, its inscriptional history dates as far back as to the 7th century. Nonetheless, a persistent negation of Croatian identity and a linguistic de‐Croatization was continued by certain antagonistic circles even subsequent to the declaration of Croatian independence in 1990. By virtue of a joint solicitation by the Croatian (National and University Library, Croatian Standards Institute) and Serbian institutions (National Library of Serbia, Institute for Standardization) launched to the Library of Congress, the Croatian language was finally distinguished from the Serb language in a librarian and terminological way by the ISO’s allocation of mandatory new codes on September 1, 2008. However, the paper testifies to many proofs that this disambiguation has not been completed, as individual printed materials still attribute Croatian as a variant of the “Serbo‐Croatian language, ” especially those from the Anglo‐American speaking area.

Croatian language ; de-Croatization ; disambiguation ; ISO ; Serb language

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