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<h1 class="gmail-title">Serbia Proposes Law Changes to Halt Cyrillic’s Decline</h1>
<div class="gmail-lead"><p>Amid fears that the national script is losing out
to Latin letters, Serbia’s Culture Ministry is proposing changing the
law to better protect its use.</p></div>
<div class="gmail-author">Maja Zivanovic</div>
<div class="gmail-source">BIRN</div>
<span class="gmail-location">Belgrade</span>
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<td><img src="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/file/show//Images/Images.New/Cyrillic%20640.jpg" alt=""></td>
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<p>Photo: Pxhere</p>
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<p>Against a background of fears that Latin letters are taking over,
Serbia’s Ministry of Culture has proposed toughening the law on the use
of the Cyrillic script, creating a Council for the Serbian Language –
and imposing fines for those who do not respect Serbia’s “mother
script”. <br><br>“The situation is worrying due to the dominant use of
Latin in all segments. This is due to the spirit of the times, to
historical circumstances and to a decades-long globalization process
that has made the Latin script the world’s dominant script,” the
ministry said in written response to BIRN. <br><br>It added that the
modern media and the internet had “imposed Latin as a letter of
universal communication, which influences young people unconsciously to
turn to Latin characters”.<br><br>Serbia’s 2006 constitution calls
Cyrillic the country’s official alphabet, which means that all
communications between public institutions, but also between them and
the public, must be in Cyrillic.<br><br>The only exception to this rule is official communications with national minorities. <br><br>Cyrillic
is used almost universally in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria and
Macedonia [except in mainly ethnic Albanian areas] and in Montenegro and
Bosnia’s mainly Serbian entity, Republika Srpska.<br><br>Serbian Culture Minister Vladan Vukosavljevic <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbia-defending-cyrillic-alphabet-media-06-05-2017" target="_blank">warned </a>in June 2017 that the use of the Cyrillic alphabet was in danger in Serbia because of globalisation.<br><br>He announced then that his ministry and the government would introduce changes to the law defend the ancient script. <br><br>In June, the Serbian capital, Belgrade, <a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbian-capital-introduce-benefits-for-cyrillic-friendly-companies-06-29-2018" target="_blank">adopted </a>a decision to reward companies that promote the use of Cyrillic.<br><br>The
ministry explained to BIRN that proposed changes would precisely define
the term “official use” of language and script, noting the obligation
to use Cyrillic in all communications between state authorities and
local government, schools and faculties, in print and electronic media,
as well as in enterprises and institutions. <br><br>It would have to be
used also in transactions between legal entities where at least one
party is a domestic legal entity, and on all markings of enterprises and
similar entities, including “the company name, headquarters, activity,
the names of goods and services, instructions for use, information on
the characteristics of goods and services, warranty conditions, offers,
invoices, accounts and certificates”.<br><br>The amendments, it added,
also envisage the establishment of the Council for the Serbian Language,
which will coordinate activities related to implementing the Law on
Official Use of Languages and Alphabets and the implementation of
language policy. <br><br>The ministry said the Council will analyze and
give opinions on the state of the official language and script in Serbia
and in the Serbian-language area, provide suggestions about creating
and implementing language policy, submit proposals for the development
of the official language and script as well as make suggestions for the
regulation of other issues in the field.<br><br>Fines are proposed for
those responsible in institutions, organizations or companies that “act
contrary to the provisions of the Law”.<br><br>The ministry said the
proposal to amend the Law on Official Use of Languages and Alphabets
would soon be in regular parliamentary procedure and put to MPs.<br><br>It
insisted that it was not “a culturally responsible position” to be
indifferent about the use of Cyrillic or Latin – and complained that
some people had come to “use the Latin script as a symbol of [their]
openness and European affiliation”. <br><br>“Do they know that the EU is
a community of peoples with their peculiarities, and that the Cyrillic
alphabet is one of the equal scripts in it [the EU]?” it asked.<br><br>“If
we accept that it is not important, Cyrillic is in danger, because it
won’t be used, which will lead to its disappearance … The language and
script are what we are,” it concluded.<br><br><strong>Read more:</strong><br><a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbian-capital-introduce-benefits-for-cyrillic-friendly-companies-06-29-2018" target="_blank"><em>Serbian Capital to Reward Companies Using Cyrillic</em></a><br><a href="http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbia-defending-cyrillic-alphabet-media-06-05-2017" target="_blank"><em>Serbia to ‘Fight to Save’ Cyrillic Alphabet</em></a></p></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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