Filologija, No. 84, 2025.
Conference paper
Hints for the Croatian Language Development Strategy and for Future Croatian Language Policy
Mislav Ježić
Abstract
The paper provides an overview of the topics to which the scholarly conference "The Future of Croatian Language Policy" is dedicated. First, it presents definitions of the terms Croatian language, Croatian standard language and Croatian literary language, and explains why we need all three terms, and not just one or two, for three different concepts, because these distinctions also determine what kind of language manuals we need for the future. This has been discussed by our leading linguists, such as Radoslav Katičić, Dalibor Brozović and Stjepan Babić, and the paper offers a systematic and purposeful solution. Secondly, the paper briefly discusses three criteria for the uniqueness or identity of a language: the genetic, the typological, and the cultural or value-sensitive criterion. This third criterion was introduced into the discussion by Radoslav Katičić, and it introduces a lot of order into the classification of languages, especially literary and standard ones. This paper illustrates how, precisely due to the confusing diversity of historical names for the Croatian language (Slavonic, Illyrian, Croatian), the unique cultural identity of the Croatian language, which has grown out of its history and which clearly defines it as a separate language, can be systematically outlined by philology. The third and fourth topics of the paper briefly address the relationship between the modern Croatian language and the linguistic heritage of its literature and literacy, and the relationship between the standard language and Croatian dialects. These two issues are crucial for the preservation and further development of the Croatian language in accordance with the Croatian cultural tradition and with the tasks set before Croatian linguists by the new Croatian Language Act. In the fifth part od the paper, in order to understand how to care for the future of the Croatian language, the difference between two linguistic processes is explained, namely between language change and language development, which are often confused in linguistics, and without this distinction it is impossible to understand what the task of linguists and speakers of the Croatian language is in order to nurture and develop it according to current and future needs. And the sixth part is devoted to the care of the Croatian language abroad, among Croatian emigrants and foreigners, and especially among future immigrants to Croatia. It draws attention to the need to properly care for the Croatian language, given that Croatia was historically a country of emigration, and today, as an independent state and member of the European Union, it is becoming a country of immigration. The future Croatian language policy must be able to respond to all these challenges.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
339766
URI
Publication date:
24.11.2025.
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