One of the most quoted living intellectuals in the world, the American linguist, philosopher and one of the most prominent socially engaged authors of today, Noam Chomsky, joined the list of signatories of the Common Language Declaration, which is now marking its first anniversary, reports Vijesti on March 27, 2018.
Chomsky confirmed this for N1, and when asked if he had anything to add to the Declaration, he replied that there was nothing exciting to add to what was already written in the text of the Declaration on the Common Language.
As N1 recalls, the Declaration, compiled by linguists and other experts from all four countries, and which in the meantime has over eight thousand signatures, notes that Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats, and Montenegrins speak a common polycentric standard language. Also, the language policy of emphasizing differences has led to many negative phenomena in which linguistic expression is imposed as a nationality criterion and a means of expressing political loyalty.
The signatories of the Declaration state that language and people do not have to match, that each national collective can independently standardize its variant and that they are equal to each other. They call for the cessation of the separation of children nationally in schools in the name of allegedly speaking in another language. The signatories are in favor of the freedom of language expression of each individual in the Declaration.
The reactions to the Declaration were very turbulent, reminds N1, and especially the political establishment in Croatia was aggravated, but, as well-known linguist Snježana Kordić says, more articles of support for the Declaration have been published in the Croatian media than in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro together. The declaration collapsed the last taboo and provided the public with a linguistically grounded explanation that it was a common language.
Chomsky signed the Declaration on the Common Language at the invitation of Linguist Snježana Kordić, on which he replied on the same day that he supported the text of the Declaration with his signature.
This article was translated from an article on Vijesti.me Chomsky signed the Declaration of the Common Language
