Ethnolinguistic policy in socialist Yugoslavia

Sa？etak In this article the main stages of Croatian literary language development in the period of formation and disintegration of Yugoslavia (1940. ？ 1990.) are considered on the example of Croatian-Serbian ethno-linguistic relations. Extralinguistic attempts to join the Croatian and Serbian languages in Serbo-Croatian language through joint standardization and unification of orthographies and dictionary, the lack of Croatian ethnolinguonym and the restriction of linguistic rights to use their own language caused a wave of protests in Croatia. The result of ethno-linguistic protests was creation and publication of the Declaration on the name and status of Croatian literary language (Deklaracija o nazivu i polo？aju hrvatskog knji？evnog jezika) in 1967, which was signed by 18 scientific-educational institutions and cultural societies. The failure of the joint language planning is largely associated with the fact that insufficient account is taken of the general trends in socioeconomic, political and language development, as well as the history of interethnic relations of the two peoples, the right for own development and name of the Croatian language. Internal disintegration, the collapse of Yugoslavia and the formation on the postyugoslavian space of the new states affected the language situation, divergent development and functioning of the language of Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks and Montenegrins. The search for mutually acceptable solutions on the settlement of ethno-linguistic differences, standardization and codification of literary languages of the ethnic groups named by signing Novi Sad (1954) and Zagreb (1986) agreements had not led the parties to a common linguistic harmony. Literary Croatian and Serbian languages in the current sociolinguistic situation in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro acquired their own legal status and began to develop independently