1196 | 593 | The Political Status of Croatian Language in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Despite making up only 15% of the country’s population (2013 population census), Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina have a status of a ‘constitutional nation’ (the status they share with the other nations: Bosniaks and Serbs). Croatian language, likewise, has an official status and legal protection in the country. However, there is a large gap between what is written in the legal documents and the situation in reality. Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina are the only nation in Bosnia and Herzegovina without public broadcasting service in their own language, whereas in many counties with a Bosniak majority, there is no available elementary school education in the Croatian language. Furthermore, the Bosniak cultural elite continuously denies the existence of the Croatian language in Bosnia and Herzegovina, describing it as a part of the Bosniak (‘Bosnian’) language. _x000D_
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This presentation aims to describe the aforementioned problems with the legal and political position of the Croatian language in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since Croatian is mutually intelligible with Serbian and Bosniak languages to a high degree, certain space will be given to the explanation of the symbolic and practical-political importance of the status of Croatian as an independent language for the Croatian community in the country. Those topics will be explained in the context of the wider political crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the implications they might have in future conflicts in that Balkan country. _x000D_

Leo Marić
Independent historian

ID Abstract: 593

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