Study on Language Situations of Bosnia as a Multilingual Space

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K02505
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Linguistics
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Keiko Mitani 東京大学, 大学院人文社会系研究科(文学部), 教授 (10229726)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: ボスニア / ボシニャク人 / クロアチア / セルビア / モンテネグロ / 中世南スラヴ圏

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research project examined various dimensions of contemporary and historical language situations in Bosnia and Hercegovina as well as in the neighboring regions.
The research uncovered the following findings. The territorial division of Bosnia, after the 1995 Dayton Agreement, into the Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina and the Republika Srpska has had a strong effect on people’s sense of belonging to a particular language community. The different language names of Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian have also had a strong hold on people’s perception of their language norms.
As for the historical dimensions, the research affirmed that throughout the medieval times, including the period of the Ottoman regime, Slavonic writings were copied and preserved in both Catholic and Orthodox monasteries. These manuscripts are valuable for the historical study of Slavonic languages and the study on literary culture of the South Slavic regions.

Free Research Field

スラヴ語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、ボスニアとその近隣地域の言語状況を事例として、国境の形成と民族分離的政策が言語意識にも反映し、本来は同じ言語だったものが、異なる規範意識や言語イデオロギーのもと、別々の言語と意識されるようになることを、明らかにした。
またボスニアにおいては、中世から近代に至るまで、キリスト教文献が作られ、独自の言語文化が形成されていたことを実証的に検証した。この地域で作られた文献は、南スラヴ文語史また言語文化史を研究する上で貴重な資料を提供するものである。