Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian

[Robert Beard]

Jouko Lindstedt  recently wrote:
>
>Isn't this the typical situation almost _always_ when we have
>neighbouring related languages? The isoglosses do not coincide with the
>Dutch/German political boundary, or in fact wiht _any_ of the South Slavic
>political boundaries. So, is there only one South Slavic language, from
>Slovene to Bulgarian -- no clear isogloss bundles anywhere?
>

 There are ways in which this situation is handled but they are not being
applied in Yugoslavia.While the edges of isoglosses may be vague, it is not
the case the people of Amsterdam and those of Berlin or Vienna speak a
single mutually comprehensible language.   The same is true of the folks in
Belgrade and those in Prague, those in Warsaw and those in Moscow.  It is,
however, the case that the people of Zagreb and Belgrade speak one and the
same  mutually comprehensible language, just as the people of Mississippi
and Long Island do.  The problem is not a question of language(s); the
problem is that the people speaking this language cannot decide on a
center, on a capital.  And that is a purely political question.  It has
nothing that I can see to do with linguistics, perhaps not even with
sociolinguistics.

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Robert Beard
   Telephone: 717-524-1336
Russian & Linguistics Programs
 Fax: 717-524-3760
Bucknell University
     Lewisburg, PA 17817
RUSSIA AND NIS Web Site:         http://www.bucknell.edu/departments/russian
MORPHOLOGY ON THE INTERNET:             http://www.bucknell.edu/~rbeard
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