1883 – an Attempt at Language Standardization in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Fate of Dlustuš's primer ; Godina 1883. – pokušaj jezične standardizacije u Bosni i Hercegovini i sudbina Dlustuševe Početnic

Abstract

The paper discusses an attempt at language standardization in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the beginning of the Austro-Hungarian rule over these former Ottoman provinces. The year 1883 was crucial for phonemic orthography, which, with some variations, has remained in use to this day. Dlustuš's manuscript of the Primer will be used to demonstrate the changes that were made and how orthography in Bosnia and Herzegovina changed. In order to understand what exactly happened, the following years must be considered as well: 1850 – the year of the launch of the first magazine intended for Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosanski prijatelj) and the acceptance of the Illyrian language concept; 1866 – the year of the opening of the official printing office and the imposition of Karadžić's reformed Cyrillic alphabet and predominantly phonemic orthography, and 1878 – the year of the establishment of a new government and the return to the previous linguistic tendencies based on Latin script and morphophonemic orthography. Only by considering all these events, one can understand why the new government made a linguistic turn in relation to the initial years of its rule.