А Shift in Ethics : Serb/Albanian Conflict in the Vernacular Discourse of a Conjurer from Kosovo

The paper offers the analysis of Vera Jovanović’s (1934) discourse, a well-known local expert in traditional medicine from the Serbian enclave of Vitina in Kosovo. Based on the transcriptions of the ethnolinguistic interview held during the summer of 2003, the present paper provides us with the analysis of Vera’s discourse on the subject of incantation, the traditional magical and medical practice. Within the frame of the conversation about Vera’s incantation practice, a few spontaneous discursive digressions regarding the personal war trauma revealed Vera’s change in attitude towards the local Albanians, which altered from the pre-war “notion of the ethnic (human) Other” to the post-war “dehumanization of the Other”. Thus, as Vera’s discourse indicated, it caused a dramatic shift in her incantation ethics by refusing to give help to the Albanians in need. In the present contribution, it is argued that spontaneous conversational digressions on the Serb/Albanian conflict provide us with valuable insights into the process of ethnic and religious divergence in Kosovo everyday life whereas discourse directly oriented toward the conflict topic introduces the ideological background of an individual.Рад нуди анализу дискурса Вере Јовановић (1934), познате локалне бајалице из српске енклаве Витина на Косову. На основу транскрипата из етнолингвистичких интервјуа одржаних током лета 2003, овај рад пружа анализу Вериног дискурса о теми бајања, традиционалне магије и медицинске праксе. У оквиру разговора о Вериној бајаличкој пракси, неколико спонтаних дигресија у вези с њеном личном ратном траумом открило је да је Вера променила однос према локалним Албанцима, који се из предратног појма „етничког (људског) Другог“ променио у послератно „дехуманизовано Друго“. То је проузроковало драматичну промену у њеној бајаличкој етици и одбијању да пружи помоћ Албанцима који јој се обрате за помоћ. У овом раду, тврди се да нам спонтане дигресије у разговорима с локланим актерима у српско-албанском сукобу пружају драгоцене увиде у процес етничке и верске дивергенције у свакодневном животу на Косову, док дискурс директно оријентисан ка конфликту развија превасходно идеолошке теме сукоба.http://www.zeitschrift-fuer-balkanologie.de/index.php/zfb/article/view/125/12

Collective narrative: the narrative on Croatian language from academic to far-right discourses in Serbia

The paper presents a case of under-represented narrative data which I call “collective narratives”. Drawing upon the concept of group-defining stories, it is argued that these narratives embody an antidote to the ’canonical’ Labovian paradigm as they construct collective subjectivity and causality. The paper explores how “collective narrative” is utilized in the discursive production of national identity by using a case study on Croatian language narrative which is perpetuated in some academic and far-right discourses in Serbia

Those were all Serbian Villages by the Danube: The Concept of Spce in Collective Narratives of the Serbs in Hungary

One of the oldest written records of Serb migration to Hungary dates back to 1440 and refers to refugees who fled the Banat town of Kovin devastated by the Ottoman Turks, founding a new settlement of the same name on the Danube Island of Csepel (Hun. Ráckeve, Ser. Srpski Kovin; Ćirković 1982: 320). Although migration persisted from the Ottoman to the Hungarian territories – later Habsburg and Austro-Hungarian – two great waves have been particularly noted by historians. The First Serbian Migration led by the Orthodox Patriarch Arsenije III Čarnojević in 1690, also known as The Great Migration (Ser. Velika seoba), is thought to have been undertaken by about 30,000 Serbs, perhaps more. The Second Serbian Migration occurred in 1737, again led by an Orthodox Patriarch, Arsenije IV Jovanović, (Ćorović 1989; Popović 1954; Veselinović 1993). Ever since, the number of people declaring themselves as ethnic Serbs in population censuses, or declaring Serbian to be their mother tongue, has varied, as has the territory of Hungary throughout its history. Glancing at the census figures for the area of present-day Hungary, it is evident that the number of Serbian native language speakers decreased considerably throughout the 20th century. Since 1980, the numbers of those whose native language is Serbian and those whose nationality is Serbian have been approximately the same, the sign of a small, tightly-knit community. What kind of space model is unfolded by the collective narratives of the Szigetcsép Serbs? Constructed as a catalogue of topographic mnemotopos, the narratives of origin reveal space conceptualised as a discrete series of strong places, i.e. the Danube, the Serbian villages near the Danube, the first, the second, and the third settlement of Szigetcsép. Remembering the Danube (connection to the motherland) and Serbian villages by the Danube (connection to the Serbian community in Hungary), the Szigetcsép Serbs provide a spatial framework for their micro-community (three settlements). In regard to the settlements too, certain strong places or sites were singled out and remembered, most of them being in fact sacred sites (the church, the cross, etc.). Yet again, in the origin narratives the dynamic process of remembering and oblivion can be traced. The last thing the informants remembered about the first settlement – the furthest removed from them in time – was its physical locus, and this was preserved only vaguely in oral collective memory. This finding justifies the argument of Detelić (1992: 317) that in the process of cultural modelling the space is always attached to the "original" as its inseparable element. As for the collective identity of the Szigetcsép Serbs, it could be said that the semantics of physical continuity embodied in the space model dominate, absorb and emanate time semantics. Through the catalogue of settlements time takes on flesh, and becomes palpable and visible. However, in the collective narrative on the village area, space is conceptualised through binary oppositions, "own/alien", "our/their" (the Swabian/Catholic/Serbian part), and even through very archaic opposition "sacred/profane" (the cross, the processions delineating and consecrating the Serbian part as the sacred one). Yet, the oppositions "friendly/hostile", "familiar/unfamiliar" are left out of this space concept. In the case of the Serbs in Hungary it is obvious that space marked as "own", "our", "sacred" was delineated primarily along the confessional principle. As Mladenova (2004: 177) points out, four valuable elements constitute the basis for the various identity discourses: the people who participate in the events that take place in a certain territory over time. The values attributed to these four variables as well as the choice of events to be remembered will vary for different discourses even when they are rooted in the same set of reality. "This significance is determined by their being perceived as having some consequence for the present: we are what we are because this or that happened in our past" (Holy 1996: 117; cit. Mladenova 2004: 107). In that sense, the analysed discourse samples do not reflect real, everyday life as they are highly charged with emotion and ideological values. The memory of the migration route provides for the Szigetcsép Serbs a sense of community across time and space and supports the notion of "belonging" to the native Serbian ethnic group. On the other hand, if we compare these results with field research among the neighbouring South-Slav Catholics in the village of Tököl (unpublished field material by the author), we see that space model and migration route play almost no role in identity negotiation within this community. The persistence of such an archaic space notion with many of its antiquated features among the Serbian peasantry in Hungary is certainly due to confessional differentiation in the multi-confessional environment of what was formerly Austro-Hungary, where the confessional mark in the Serbian case has been reflected and imprinted on the space, memory practice and identity discourse. As significant changes in socio-cultural settings take place throughout Europe, it remains to be seen how new forms of identity negotiations will expand among the younger and coming generations in a rural environment. In that sense it would be interesting to compare traditional and contemporary concepts of space among South-Slav Catholics, and the South-Slav and Romanian Orthodox living in the multi-ethnic environment of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.Studies on Language and Culture in Central and Eastern Europe (Book 8) ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Im historischen Aufriss und in feldforschungsbasierten Studien wird deutlich, welche Rolle die Donau als Kulturgrenze zwischen dem Erbe der Habsburger und der Osmanen spielt. Das Ende beider Imperien ist letztlich durch den Import des Sprachnationalismus in ethnisch stark durchmischte und national weitgehend indifferente Milieus besiegelt worden, in denen das neue Ideal überdialektaler Einsprachigkeit zugleich als Ausweis ethnischer und nationaler Gruppenzugehörigkeit gewertet wurde. Dieser Band enthält drei Beiträge von Markus Koller, Milena Marić-Vogel und Christoph Giesel zum ehemals osmanischen (Bosnien und SandŽak) und vier Beiträge von Philipp Wasserscheidt, Marija Vučković, Marija Ilić und Ivo Žanic zum ehemals habsburgischen Südosteuropa (Südungarn). Die Artikel thematisieren das Verhältnis von Sprache, Religion und Ethnizität

Laihonen, Petteri (2009): Language Ideologies in the Romanian Bana: Analysis of Interviews and Academic Writings among the Hungarians and Germans. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä

In his study, Petteri Laihonen explores how metalanguage is circulated in different discourses in one of Europe’s most multilingual regions – the Romanian Banat. Accordingly, the author carried out a many-sided analysis that aimed at: (1) exploring the range of folk theories or ideologies about language(s) in the Banat; (2) comparing the views of the local inhabitants with the views presented in the writings of the educated elite; (3) analyzing the interactional site (interviews) where metalinguistic talk occurred. Actually, this study is a doctoral dissertation defended in Hungarian Studies (University of Jyväskylä) in June 2009. It is composed of six articles, which have been written in three different languages (English, Hungarian and German) and published in reputable periodicals and collections. Furthermore, it includes an adjoined and extended introduction that summarizes the research background, the analytical methods, and the achieved goals. Although multilingualism in the Banat is investigated with a focus on the Hungarian language, all available data on the other regional languages is discussed throughout the book, especially with respect to the German written sources and interviews with German speakers. From a methodological point of view, the study is an attempt to bring together insights from the fields of Language Ideology and Conversational Analysis

“Lost in Translation”: Roma in the Discourse of Serbs from Trešnjevica

Već je utvrđeno da je za Rome Banjaše osoben višestruki identitet i etnička mimikrija, te da se u formiranju identiteta romski supstrat preoblikuje u kontaktu sa drugim kulturama. U slučaju Roma iz Trešnjevice, u pitanju su, pored romskog supstrata, rumunska i srpska kultura. Imajući to u vidu, logičan je metodološki zahtev da se u istraživanje Roma Banjaša uključi i kontaktni ne-banjaški govor i kultura (južno- slovenski, romski, rumunski). U usmenom diskursu trešnjevičkih Srba otkriva se specifičnost interkultume komunikacije Srba i Roma. Ovakav tip diskursa je već istraživan kao „komšijski diskurs“. U radu će biti predstavljeni rezultati etnolingvističkog istraživanja u selu Trešnjevica od 26. do 28. avgusta 2002. godine. Razgovori sa informatorima transkribovani su po metodi etno-dijalekatskog teksta. Prevodeći romsku kultumu realiju, Srbi uočavaju njenu osnovnu se-mantičku struktum i nalaze značenjski pandan u svom kodu sa najviše podudamih semantičkih komponenti. Npr. Soimane i vile imaju zajedničke seme: ženska, natprirodna bića, lepe spoljašnjosti, koja žive u prirodi (oko drveta i voda), koja čoveku mogu nauditi. To je etnocentrični „metod odomaéivanja“ koji eliminiše kultume razlike i redukuje romski kultumi. tekst na svoj: tako Soimane postaju vile ili vile sejmane, romski trans — bajanje od vile, zilje marj — slava, itd. U ovoj interkultumoj komunikaciji važna je pragmatična dimenzija prevoda, tj. osnovno razumevanje romske kulture uz pomoć matičnog коda radi ostvarivanja osnovnih funkcija zajedničkog života. Sve ono što je „izgubljeno u prevodu“ ukazuje na realnu distancu izmedu srpske i romske kulture kao i na njihove posebnosti.Dupa ce s-au stabilit in Trešnjevica (sat aflat in partea centralä a Serbiei), romii au populat partea numitä Mala Trešnjevica (plasatä pe deal $i foarte säracä), iar sârbii Velika Trešnjevica, aflatä in apropierea malului roditor al Moravei. Insä modificarea contextului social (§i anume unbogafirea romilor) a dus la çtergerea acestor granite: romii cumpärä acum case sârbejti$i se muta în Velika Trešnjevica, unde locuiesc împreunâ eu sârbii. Biserica din sat este freeventatä atât de sârbi, cât çi de romi, iar cimitirul este, de asemenea, comun. Termenul pe care sârbii din Trešnjevica îl folosesc pentru a-i denumi pe romii din localitate este figani, numind, în schimb, limba pe care aceçtia о vorbesc, românà. Autoarea îçi propune sä studieze discursul sârbilor din Trešnjevica referitor la romii din acest sat, precum çi cultura sârbilor din localitate, în scopul unei mai bune înjelegeri atât a specificului culturii sârbe, cât çi al celei rome. Din perspectiva discursului „vecinilor“ (sârbi), cultura romilor din Trešnjevica ne apare ca un fenomen complex, greçit interprétât atât în „cheie“ sârbeascâ, cât $i româneascâ, eu toate câ influenjele celor douâ culturi de contact sunt evidente. Atitudinea fata de romi, în discursul sârbilor din Trešnjevica, nu este bazatä pe opozitia noi — ei. In afara situa(iei financiare, nu existä nici о temä care sä activeze spontan discujia despre romi. In sfera de interes a sârbilor inträ acele forme aie viefii romilor care sunt, prin natura lor, expuse întregii comunitäti: munca câmpului çi särbätorile câmpeneçti (Sfântul Gheorghe, Ispas etc.). In schimb, despre praznicele rome$i ritualurile ciclului familial (naçterea, nunta, înmormântarea), sârbii nu pot oferi prea multe detalii, ceea ce demonstreazä faptul câ nu le cunosc çi nu participâ la ele. In discursul sârbilor, atitudinea fa(â de cultura romä se exprimä în moduri diferite. Primul este observarea diferenjelor semnificative ale acesteia fa(a de cultura proprie (de exemplu, cumpârarea miresei, modul special de särbätorire a Sfantului Gheorghe, descântatul de Çoimane). Distinctia lingvisticä noi — ei se activeazâ cel mai putemic în acele segmente de diseurs care se referâ la diferenjele culturale. Al doilea mod de exprimare a atitudinii fata de cultura romä $i, în acelaji timp, un tip special de comunicare între sârbi$i romi, poate fl observât în discujiile despre obiceiurile preluate §i adaptate de romi (paparade, läzäri(e) sau despre integrarea acestora în diferite evenimente (ca muzican(i). La nivel discursiv, acest tip de legäturi culturale este marcat prin preponderenta märcilor terminologice fatä de cele etnice: pentru a descrie obiceiurile respective, sârbii folosesc termenii läzärife, paparude, fortnaß/ orchestre, $i nu etnonime, ceea ce indicä faptul cä romii, m cadrul acestor obiceiuri, sunt complet integral în cultura sârbà. Al treilea mod este reprezentat de „traducerea“ culturii rome în cod lingvistic$i cultural propriu. Astfel, ca în orice procès de traducere, se vor gäsi cele mai apropiate echivalente lingvistice çi culturale. Tot ceea ce „se pierde prin traducere“ marcheazà individualitatea fiecareia dintre cele doua culturi.After their arrival in Trešnjevica (central Serbia), the Roma inhabited the part of the village called Mala Trešnjevica (placed on the hill and very poor), while the Serbians moved to Velika Trešnjevica, near the fertile bank of Morava. But the modification of the social context (exactly the enriching of the Roma population) led to blurring the borders between these two communities: the Roma are now buying Serbian houses and moving to Velika Trešnjevica, where they live together with Serbians. Both Serbs and Roma attend the village church; the grave is also common. The term used by the Serbians from Trešnjevica with respect to the Roma is Gypsy, and with respect to their language Romanian. The author’s intent is to analyze the discourse of the Serbs from Trešnjevica about the Roma in this village, as well as the culture of the Serbian villagers, with the intent of a better understanding of the specific character of Roma culture and of the Serbian one. The culture of the Roma from Trešnjevica is a complex phenomenon, wrongly interpreted both by Romanians and by Serbians, although the influence of these two cultures is obvious. The attitude towards Roma, as deduced from the Serbs’ discourse, is not based on the opposition we — they. Except for the financial situation, there are no themes which spontaneously activate the subject Roma. Serbs are interested in those aspects of Roma life which, by their nature, are exposed to the entire community, such as field work and celebrations (Saint George, Ispas, etc.). However, Serbs cannot give details about Roma holidays and rituals of the family cycle (birth, wedding, funeral), which points to the fact that they are not aware of them and do not take part in them. The attitude towards Roma culture is expressed in the Serbs’ discourse in three different ways. The first one is by noticing the significant differences between the Roma and own culture (e.g. paying for the bride, the special way of celebrating Saint George, sorcery). The linguistic distinction we — they is activated the most in those segments of discourse making reference to cultural differences. The second way of expressing the attitude towards Roma culture and, in the same time, a special kind of communication between Serbs and Roma, can be noticed in the discussions about the customs Roma took and adapted {paparude, läzärife) or about their music making. At the discourse level, this kind of cultural connections is marked by the preponderance of terminological marks over the ethnic ones: in order to describe Roma customs, the Serbians, instead of ethnonyms, use the terms läzärife, paparude, bands, which points to the fact that Roma, at least within the frame of these customs, are fully integrated into the Serbian culture. The third way refers to “translating” Roma culture, by means of Serbian cultural and linguistic codes. Thus, like in every translation process, the closest linguistic and cultural equivalents are found. Everything that is “lost in translation” marks the individuality of each of the two cultures. http://www

Purism in Studies on Serbian as a Minority Language: Serbian-Hungarian Language Contact

U radu se ispituje purizam u akademskom diskursu o srpskom kao manjinskom jeziku. Izlaže se kratka istorija pojma purizma, kao i njegovih strategija i ciljeva. Zastupa se teza da se akademska tradicija i ’narodna’ lingvistička ideologija srpskog ne odlikuju etnički ili nacionalno usmerenim purizmom, nego pre „ideologijom standardnog jezika“. Ova teza se elaborira u analizi akademskih radova o srpsko-mađarskoj jezičkoj interferenciji u pisanom jeziku Srba iz Mađarske.The paper discusses linguistic purism in the Serbian academic discourse. Initially, the problem of purism as a theoretical notion, a language planning device and a particular linguistic ideology is analyzed. Consequently, it is argued that Serbian academic linguistic tradition alongside ’folk linguistic’ ideology are not characterized by ethnically or nationally oriented purism, but rather by the ’Standard language ideology’. This type of purism implicitly or explicitly takes standard as the only variety worth of being called ’language’ and its norm as the authoritative cannon in comparison to which all linguistic expressions and features are evaluated and measured. This thesis is elaborated through a case study of the Serbian academic discourse on Serbian-Hungarian language contact in the written journalistic language of the Serbs in Hungary.Едиција Филолошка истраживања данас, Том

Ideology of Nostalgia in Ethnolinguistic Interview

U radu se analizira nostalgija kao ideologija i diskurzivni sistem. Klasican etnolingvisticki intervju razmatra se kao prototip „nostalgicnog“ intervjua. Analizom iskaza istraživaca i sagovornika pokazuje se kako nostalgicni diskurs utice na konstrukciju ekspertskog znanja o zajednicama koje se istražuju. Konacno, etnolingvisticki intervju se poredi sa intervjuima iz srodnih disciplina – dijalektološkim, etnografskim i sociolingvistickim – i istice se potreba da se umesto klasicnih nostalgicnih intervjua razvijaju novi, (auto)refleksivni pristupi.This paper analyzes nostalgia as ideology and discursive system. The classic ethnolinguistic interview is reconsidered as a prototype of a ‘nostalgic’ interview. By analyzing statements of the researcher and the informants, it will be showcased how the nostalgic discourse influences the construction of the expert knowledge on communities under scrutiny. Finally, the ethnolinguistic interview is compared to interviews from related disciplines (the dialectological, ethnographic and sociolinguistic interview) – the author emphasizes the need to develop new, (self)reflective approaches instead of classic nostalgic interviews.Радови с научног скупа Етнолошко-антрополошког друштва Србије, Гуча 1–2. октобар 2010

Ethnolinguistics in Serbia: an Overview

Razvoj etnolingvistike moÿe se pratiti od XVIII (J. G. Herder), XIX veka (V. Humbolt, A. Afanasjev, F. I. Buslajev, A. A. Potebnja), tokom åitavog XX veka (F. Boas, E. Sapir 40-tih godina; semiotiåari V. V. Ivanov i V. N. Toporov), do poslednje åetvrtine XX veka, kada nastaju i posebne etnolingvistiåke škole: ruska i poljska. Predmet ovog rada su metodološke postavke ruskog slaviste N. I. Tolstoja, tvorca ruske etnolingvistiåke škole, te njihovog uticaja na razvoj etnolingvistike u Srbiji.The development of ethnolinguistics can be traced back to the 18th (Herder), 19th century (Humboldt, Afanasiev, Buslaev, Potebnja), throughout the 20th century (Boas, Sapir in the 1940s; semiotics by Ivanov and Toporov), until the last quarter of the 20th century, when special ethnolinguistic schools were also created: Russian and Polish. The subject of this paper is the methodological framework developed by the Russian Slavist Nikita Tolstoy, the creator of the Russian ethnolinguistic school, and their influence on the development of ethnolinguistics in Serbia

Die Rolle des Körpers in den rituellen Initiationen der Braut bei den christlichen Balkanslawen

Die Rolle des Körpers bleibt in der traditionellen Kultur im Verborgenen und ist nur schwer bemerkbar. Das bedeutet aber nicht, dass der Stellenwert des Körpers unbedeutend ist. Der Körper nimmt ganz im Gegenteil eine komplexe Rolle ein und besitzt einen wichtigen Status. Im Zeichensystem der traditionellen Kultur bilden die Anzeiger, die mit dem Körper in Verbindung stehen, ein Zeichensubsystem, das wir den Körperlichen Kode nennen. In dieser Arbeit wird die Rolle des Körperlichen Kodes in rituellen Initiationen der jungen Frau und Braut aufgrund ethnographischer-und Folkloretexte, die sich auf vorhochzeitliche und hochzeitliche Prüfungen der Jungen Frau beziehen, untersucht. Die Hochzeit ist in der Welt der traditionellen Kultur der Slawen mit Ritualen der Initiation der Jugendlichen verbunden. Bei einem so gestellten Thema drängen sich folgende Fragen auf: Wie ist die Rolle des Körpers kulturologisch und rituell kodiert? Ist diese Rolle verborgen? Welches sind die Medien, aus denen wir von der traditionellen Kultur erfahren? Geben diese Medien eine vollständige Information wieder oder sind sie zensiert? Wie können wir zwischen den verschiedenen Quellen unterscheiden? Beziehen sich die Quellen auf verschiedene Ebenen der traditionellen Kultur: z.B. ethnographische Aufzeichnungen und Folklore? In dieser Arbeit werden verschiedene Quellen zu dem behandelten Thema benutzt: ethnographische Aufzeichnungen, die in dritter Person verfasst sind, ethnographische Ich-Aussagen, „unwillkürliche“ Aufzeichnungen, die die moderne Kulturtheorie als „Spuren“ und „Abfall“ bezeichnet und letztlich Folkloretexte. Beim Vergleich dieser Quellen bin ich mir ihrer Schwachpunkte als Medien und der Möglichkeit, sie misszuverstehen, bewusst, aber ich werde versuchen, diese Quellen aufgrund der vorgefundenen Ergebnisse und der Art der Zensur sowie der Wichtigkeit der Informationen, die sie tragen, zu bewerten.Доступно на: http://www.zeitschrift-fuer-balkanologie.de/index.php/zfb/article/view/1