Language and Identity in the Balkans Serbo-Croatian and Its Disintegration [Paperback]

Against a backdrop of the ethnic strife in the Balkans and the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1991, Robert Greenberg describes how the languages of Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia, and Montenegro came into being and shows how their genesis reflects ethnic, religious, and political identity. His first-hand observations before and after Communism offer insights into the nature of language change and the relation between language and identity.

Robert Greenberg's book is, first and foremost, a strong scholarly analysis of the linguistic history and evaluation of Serbo-Croatian. However it contains much more than the story of this language and its breakup into Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian, and, ultimately, Montenegrin. It is likewise a humanistic exposition of the acuity and profundity with which people react to a challenge to their identity and ethnicity through the naming of the language they speak. The book is beautifully written, with an elegant style and a probing manner. The book's value is truly substantial and far-reaching for both the specialist and the novice. --Anthropological Linguistics

This is...the first monograph to discss the disintegration of the unified Serbo-Croatian language as a result of rising nationalism and conflicts in the area. ... A huge amount of research has gone into Greenberg's fine book...an important contribution to Balkan studies and South Slavic linguistics. --Slavic and East European Journal

A treasure trove of information about the painful and confusing process of the former Yugoslavian successor states' linguistic self-definition. ... The value of this work extends beyond its narrow subject: by implication, the material presented here bears on linguistic issues in US Anglo-Hispanic tensions. Recommended. --Choice

A coherent, detailed, and original contribution to scholarship in South Slavic studies, Balkan studies, sociolinguistics in general, and the intersection ofl.