Re: THEORY: Languages divided by politics and religion

On Wed, 24 May 2000, Danny Wier wrote:

> Some years ago, I was chatting with a Croatian.  I was telling him I didn't
> speak Serbo-Croatian but I know a little Russian.  (His name is Dmitri and
> he lives in Moscow.  No really.)
>
> I used the term Serbo-Croatian, and he was offended.  He emphatically stated
> that his language is Croatian -- not Serbo-Croatian, Yugoslavian or anything
> else.
I talked to a Serbian in our church at Easter who asked for a Bible
in "Serbo-Croatian" (that's what he called it; we were speaking
English, because I don't speak any Slavic language well enough to get
by) to read the Resurrection Gospel from. Would that be because
Serbians think they're on top, so they own the whole language (i.e.
they don't mind co-opting Croatian, while Croatians do mind being
co-opted)?

   Irina

--
           Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastynay.
irina@valdyas.org (myself) - http://valdyas.conlang.org (Valdyas)
          http://www.valdyas.org/irina/index.html (home)