LANGUAGE POLICY IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA AND ITS ETHNO-LINGUISTIC CONTEXT: DO LANGUAGES CAUSE INTER-ETHNIC TENSION IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA?

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-26
Author(s):  
Azamat Akbarov ◽  

After the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1991, the new independent state of Bosnia and Herzegovina was inundated by a horrible ethnic conflict, which led to inhumane violence and mass killings that ended with genocide. The Bosnian war resulted in the death of about 100,000 people, over half of whom were Bosnians. Two decades later, the violence has stopped, but the conflict in Bosnia has not yet come to an end; hasty social segregation, undertaken as a result of the 1995 Dayton Accords, which intended an immediate stopping of the violence, is still in force. The current distribution of population and languages is evidence of this segregation. Two different ethnic minorities live in two Bosnian political units, the Srpska Republic and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Serbs in the first and Bosnians in the second. In these circumstances, which are very sensitive, the government was recently worried that the ordinary publication of statistical data on ethnic groups might lead to violence. The languages representing these two groups are important indicators of social presence and power. Signboards in the main streets of the capital cities of both countries (Sarajevo in the Federation and Banja Luka in Serbian Republic) were scrupulously photographed for the purpose of assessing the presence of Serbians and Bosnians. The presence of the English language in Bosnia was also documented. An assumption was made that the linguistic majority would correspond to the ethnic majority in both main streets, and that English would be used in advertising. The number of photos in which each language was used was calculated to determine the frequency and the situations in which the languages are commonly used. An analysis of these results showed that English is the second most used language in both streets after Bosnian, while comparatively little presence of the Serbian language in both streets showed that the language environment in Bosnia does not facilitate peace and making peace.

Author(s):  
M. Marcellino

The linguistic situations and conditions in Indonesia are quite complex by their own natures as more than seven hundred vernaculars with their various dialects from a great number of ethnic groups have been used as media of communication in the country. Accordingly, the success of English teaching in Indonesia cannot be freed from the students' cultural backgrounds, values, customs, and beliefs as well as the political standpoint of the government regarding this foreign language. English language teaching has then undergone more than four changes in its curriculum since the country's independence and brought no significant impact upon the learning outcomes. This study reveals the substantial unconstructive influence of the students' cultures and the non-conducive language environment affecting their language acquisition. Other aspects related to the teachers' performance and class preparations equally contribute to the ineffective classroom interactions. This study offers some practical suggestions to cope with those problems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 108-132
Author(s):  
Osman Sušić ◽  

This paper covers the period from 1937 to 1945, the period of the establishment and works of the Serbian Cultural Club. The paper will discuss the political circumstances in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in wich Serbian Cultural Club was founded, as well as the program goals and its activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Special emphasis will be put on the period of the Second World War in the Bosnia and Herzegovina and the former common state and the activities of the Serbian Cultural Club in the Second World War. The work and achievement of the program goals of the Serbian Cultural Club in the Second World War will be presented through the work of the Exile Government in London and the activities of the Chetniks Movement in the Bosnia and Herzegovina and the former common state. The Serbian Cultural Club was formed as a form of political association and activity, which included politicians, public workers, scientists, members of various political organizations, representatives of state and parastate bodies and organizations, under the slogan "Serbs for Reunion". The club acted as a unique and homogeneous organization, regardless of the composition of the membership, with the goal of saving Serbia and Serbs. This most clearly expressed his overall activity, composition and degree of influence on state policy. The most important issues of state or Serbian nationalist policy for the interest of the Government were discussed in the Club, so the club had an extensive network of boards and several media. Professor and Rector of the University of Belgrade, Dr. Slobodan Jovanović, was elected the first president of the Serbian Cultural Club. He was the ideological creator of this organization (and he set out the basic tasks and goals of the Club). The vice presidents were Dr. Nikola Stojanović and Dr. Dragiša Vasić, and Dr. Vasa Čubrilović the secretary. Dr. Stevan Moljevic was the president of the board of the Serbian Cultural Club for the Bosnian Krajina, based in Banja Luka. According to Dinić, the initiative for the formation of the Serbian Cultural Club was given by Bosnian-Herzegovinian Serbs Dr. Nikola Stojanović, Dr. Vladimir Čorović, Dr. Vladimir Grčić and Dr. Slobodan Jovanović. The activities of the Serbian Cultural Club can be divided into two stages. The first from its founding in 1936 until the signing of the Cvetković-Maček agreement, and the second from 1939 to 1941. The program of the Serbian Cultural Club was a sum of Greater Serbia programs of all major political parties that operated in Serbia with the help of state institutions. The goals of the Serbian Cultural Club were mainly: expansionist policy of expanding Serbian rule to neighboring areas, denying the national identity of all other Yugoslav nations and exercising the right to self-determination. The program goals of the Serbian Cultural Club were to propagate Greater Serbian ideology. With its program about Greater Serbia and its activities, the Serbian Cultural Club has become the bearer of the most extreme Serbian nationalist aspirations. After the Cvetković-Maček agreement of August 1939, the Serbian Cultural Club demanded a revision of the agreement, calling for a Serbo-Croatian agreement based on ethnic, historical or economic-geographical principles. The adoption of one of these principles was to apply to the entire area inhabited by Serbs. The subcommittees of the Serbian Cultural Club in Bosnia and Herzegovina had the primary task of working to emphasize its Serbian character, and after the Cvetkovic-Macek agreement to form awareness that the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina should enter the Serbian territorial unit. With the prominent slogan "Wherever there are Serbs - there is Serbia", the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina were marked as the "vigilant guardian of the Serbian national consciousness". The leadership and most of the members of the Serbian Cultural Club joined the Chetnik movement as Draža Mihailović's national ideologues. The policy of the militant Greater Serbia program and Serbian nationalism of the Serbian Cultural Club was accepted as the program of Draža Mihailović's Chetnik movement. Some of Draža Mihailović's most important associates belonged to the Serbian Cultural Club. The main political goals of the Chetnik movement are formulated in several program documents. The starting point in them was the idea of a "Greater and Homogeneous Serbia", which was based on the idea that Serbs should be the leading nation in the Balkans.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Farzana Sharmin Pamela Islam

As 21st century is the era of modern technologies with different aspects, it offers us to make the best use of them. After tape recorder and overhead projector (OHP), multimedia has become an important part of language classroom facilities for its unique and effective application in delivering and learning lesson. Although in many parts of Bangladesh, a South Asian developing country, where English enjoys the status of a foreign language, the use of multimedia in teaching and learning is viewed as a matter of luxury. However, nowadays the usefulness and the necessity of it are well recognized by the academics as well as the government. The study aims to focus on the difference between a traditional classroom void of multimedia and multimedia equipped classrooms at university level by explaining how multimedia support the students with enhanced opportunity to interact with diverse texts that give them more in-depth comprehension of the subject. It also focuses on audio-visual advantage of multimedia on the students’ English language learning. The study has followed a qualitative method to get an in-depth understanding of the impact of using multimedia in an English language classroom at tertiary level. For this purpose, the data have been collected from two different sources. Firstly, from students’ written response to  an open ended question as to their comparative experience of learning  lessons with and without multimedia facilities; and secondly, through  observation of English language classes at a private university of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. The discussion of the study is limited to  the use of multimedia in English language classroom using cartoons, images and music with a view to enhance students’ skills in academic writing, critical analysis of image and critical appreciation of music. For this purpose, cartoons in English language, images from Google and music from You Tube have got focused discussion in this paper.


Author(s):  
Mirza Mehmedović

In the middle of the second decade of the twenty-first century, Bosnia and Herzegovina is at the crossroads of political, economic and cultural revitalization of the society as a country that declarative aims for application of European principles of political organization and the membership in the European Union. On this way there are many open issues that are the result of twenty years of political and economic stagnation or collapse of all elements that should be the foundation for the stabilization of a modern democratic society in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The internal reconstruction of the political system and the revitalisation of the institutions of the government or different holders of political reforms means at the same time the fulfilment of the conditions of accession to Euro-Atlantic integration. The development of a unified media policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the establishment of public media service in accordance with the requirements of the European Union and the interests of all citizens are the top issues among the many current challenges that we have to deal with in the future. But for Bosnia and Herzegovina it is not exclusively the interest of communicational research. It must be necessarily seen in the wider context as a political, cultural and economic issue, because the establishment of a single media/communication system is one of the key requirements for a political compromise, the integration of society and the harmonization of other common (primarily economic) interests for all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. One of the key requirements for defining a unified media policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina is agreeing / reconciliation of all complex (heterogeneous) cultural characteristics, as well as the specific characteristics of modern communication situation in a model that would respond to the specific information needs of citizens and the standards applied by the European Union.


Author(s):  
MILAN KOLJANIN ◽  
DRAGICA KOLJANIN

There are various doubts and ambiguities regarding the dispatch of the memorandum by the Government of the Independent State of Croatia (ISC) to the Western Allies asking for military intervention in early May 1945, giving rise to different interpretations in historiography. These varying interpretations are related to the circumstances of the dispatch of the memorandum, its text, the actions of prominent representatives of the Ustasha government, relations between the new Yugoslav authorities and Western allies, especially the British and the role of Archbishop Stepinac and the Holy See in the ISC. In order to understand the memorandum, it is necessary to consider the most important political and military circumstances at the end of World War II in Yugoslavia, especially the politics of the new Yugoslavia and the Western powers, primarily the British. The representatives of the Holy See in the ISC and the Archbishop of Zagreb, Alojzije Stepinac, played an important role in efforts to preserve the Ustasha state. This paper was written based on unpublished and published archival sources and relevant historiographical literature.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 362-371
Author(s):  
Abul Ala Mukhtar ◽  
Zafarullah Sahito ◽  
Abida Siddiqui

This case study inquires the perceptions and experiences of teachers about the English as a medium of instructions at government higher secondary schools of Warah city of Sindh, Pakistan. It witnesses that a large chunk of the population is diversified to use their provincial or regional languages as destined by socio-political heritage. Because English was remained a paramount part of educational context in Pakistan during British rule. In Sindh, students learn English from their teachers at their schools, who by no means really acquire the required proficiency in the English language. The research design undertaken was qualitative in nature and revolved around the semi structured interviews. English as a medium of instruction has a daunting and remarkable role to set to be set up across the globe. The mother tongue has the supreme role to play in the organized system of social institutions, which has massive resources of linguistics pouring down to the common people in the forms of superb streams of dialects with definite code of syntax, semantics and pragmatism. The extra reading materials with the support of technology, the English lessons can play a pivotal role to give internalization and adaptation of English language as a medium of instruction.


2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 85-100
Author(s):  
Alija Lekic ◽  
Semsudin Hadziefendic

The main sources for power generation in Bosnia and Herzegovina are domestic coals, mainly lignite and brown coals, which are relatively characterized with a high content of sulphur (3-5%) and incombustibles (?30%). From the 70?s, use of this type of fuels was not allowed in the city of Sarajevo due to very unfavorable emissions to the atmosphere, during the heating period, and since then Sarajevo has been supplied with natural gas. All the heating installations in the city were reconstructed and adapted. The district heating system Toplane Sarajevo is supplied with electrical energy from the Public electrical distribution network (Elektrodistribucija Sarajevo) at low voltage (0.4 kV). The boiler-house Dobrinja III-2 (KDIII-2), from the district heating system of Sarajevo Suburb Dobrinja, which was not in use after the war 1992-1995, had a lot of advantages for the reconstruction into the co-generation plant. The Government of Canton Sarajevo financially supported this proposal. An analysis of co-generations for the district heating system and a selection of most appropriate co-generation systems were made. In the proposed conceptual design, the co-generation KDIII-2 was located in the existing boiler-house KDIII-2, connected with the heating system in Dobrinja. The operating costs of production of electricity and heat were evaluated in the study and compared with the costs of conventional energy supply to the district heating system. This analysis resulted in economic indicators, which showed that this investment was economically viable, and it also determined the payback period of the investment. In this paper results of the mentioned study and an overview of co-generation in Bosnia and Herzegovina are presented.


Neofilolog ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 11-26
Author(s):  
Jolanta Sujecka-Zając

The trend for eco-linguistics, which has been dynamically developing in the English-language literature since the 1970s, proposes a change in the perception of the relationship between language, nature, and culture, in a sense making language a link which brings together nature and culture, rather than separating them as is traditional. This approach poses important questions: How do languages ​​work in the ecosystem created by the language environment of all users of a given language context? What relationships can they enter into? How should one perceive the development of multilingualism in such an ecological approach, in which not only does "strong" affect the "weak" but “weak” reciprocates? "Weak" has an important place in the language ecosystem, which risks serious changes due to excessive weakening of one of its components. This paper aims to examine the possible inspirations that eco-linguistics offers Foreign Language Teaching (FLT), highlighting the role of each language and sensitizing the reader to the relationships that arise between languages ​​and their users in a given environment. From this perspective Claire Kramsch (2008) postulates a change in the perception of the main function of the teacher from the "teacher of a code" to the "teacher of meaning", which has specific didactic consequences in how language activities are approached. Is the school classroom a place for activities which have their origin in the trend for eco-FLT?


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-446
Author(s):  
Bushra Saadoon Al - Noori

Baghdad University is located in Baghdad; the Capital of Iraq, consists of many colleges via Sciences and Humanities , for example: College of languages, College of Arts, College of Education for Women and College of Education /Ibn Rushd and others. Each one of these Colleges consists of various departments. Our department is the English Department for four academic years. In the First year, we have four sections of more than fifty students each. Our students are boys and girls and all of them are going to be English Language Teachers because all these four academic years will make them qualified to be so. The government helps them to find jobs immediately after graduation. In these four years, our students spend 45 days in schools as a student - teacher and the staff members are visiting those two or three times to evaluate them in relation to the method of teaching and daily plan. Staff members will evaluate the way of treating the pupils in the secondary school, their way of teaching, their confidence inside the classrooms and many other points.


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