Unification and Division in Former Yugoslavia Through the Prism of the Standard Language Norm

The article examines the relationship between the standard language norm, national identity, and political processes in the territory of former Yugoslavia from the Vienna Literary Agreement of 1850 to the Declaration on the Common Language of 2017. Using a historical-linguistic and sociolinguistic approach, it traces the major stages of language codifi- cation and language policy, as well as the ways in which standard language norms have been institutionalized, contested, and reinterpreted in different political contexts. Particular attention is paid to the Novi Sad Agreement of 1954, subsequent language declarations, and the processes of national standardization following the dissolution of Yugoslavia. The analysis of contempo- rary educational language practices in Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina demon- strates that official normative differentiation coexists with a high degree of communicative permeability and functional bilingualism. On the basis of historical and sociolinguistic evi- dence, the article argues that attempts at supranational language codification have repeatedly generated political resistance, whereas the coexistence of separate state-based standard lan- guages founded on the common Shtokavian dialect continuum provides more sustainable condi- tions for maintaining linguistic autonomy, mutual intelligibility, and regional cooperation.