The Croatian Language Days or Croatian Language Week is observed every year from March 11th to March 17th. It marks the anniversary of the drafting, signing, and publication of the Declaration on the Name and Status of the Croatian Literary Language in 1967, which signifies a milestone in the millennia-long history of the Croatian language.
It is known that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) adopted a decision on February 21st, 1999, to proclaim the International Mother Language Day to strengthen the vitality of all peoples and languages, their cultural heritage, their independence, and creativity in the richness of global linguistic diversity. The International Mother Language Day, observed on February 21st, serves as the beginning of the Croatian Language Month, which concludes on March 17th – the day the Declaration of 1967 was published in Telegram, a Yugoslav newspaper for social and cultural issues.
Thus, alongside these events, Croatian Language Month also commemorates the Croatian Glagolitic Script Day on February 22nd, in remembrance of the first printed Croatian book – "Misal po zakonu rimskoga dvora" (1483), celebrated since 2019.
Direct opposition to the Novi Sad Agreement, undertaken thoughtfully, strategically calculated, but resolute, commenced with the Declaration on the Name and Status of the Croatian Literary Language, signed by eighteen Croatian cultural and scientific institutions, as well as numerous individuals from literary, scientific, linguistic, and cultural spheres.
This gathering took place on March 9th, 1967, where it was decided to establish a committee to define the positions of the Croatian Academy, followed by a decision to form a "special commission," comprising individuals such as Miroslav Brandt, Dalibor Brozović, Radoslav Katičić, Tomislav Ladan, Slavko Mihalić, Slavko Pavešić, and Vlatko Pavletić. This committee drafted the document called the Declaration on the Name and Status of the Croatian Literary Language, which was submitted to the Executive Board of the Croatian Academy. After editing, the Declaration was sent to relevant institutions for consideration, acceptance, and signing.
With a strong desire for the Declaration to be published promptly, the intention was realized on March 17th, 1967, when it was announced to the public on the cover of the 359th issue of Telegram. In summary, the Declaration marked a historic rejection of imposed Yugoslav unitarist measures, particularly in Croatian language policy and culture.
Despite condemnations, punishments, bans, and persecutions of the main initiators and other active participants – organizers and sympathizers, institutions, signatories, and writers of the Declaration – followed by imposed psychosis, fear, and silence regarding this honorable act among Croats in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, a continuous and proportionally growing sense of patriotism flourished, raising awareness and responsibility for protecting the Croatian language within the entire Croatian national entity, with an unstoppable intention to improve its constitutional-legal status and actual position in society because in this language lies the destination of its identity, the foundation of personal and collective rights, and a guarantee of refinement, independence, and freedom.
Despite all bans and violent actions, the Declaration awakened national consciousness, strengthened Croatian identity in all spheres of life, as it would soon realize its demands on a constitutional-legal level, achieving the right to its own language and its name. Additionally, Croatistics would gain freedom in scientific research and publishing, especially those works expressing historical continuity, multilingualism of the Croatian language and literature that has lasted for centuries.
The Croatian language has been as old as the Croatian people,
and the Croatian literary language begins when Croatian literature begins.
(Lj. Jonke)
Finally, the role of Vuk and his followers in linguistics, as well as the unitarist interpretation that all Štokavian speakers are Serbs and that literature in Štokavian is unique, has been exposed. By rejecting the Novi Sad Agreement and its provisions, and similar measures and directives, the independence of the Croatian language, which has lived for more than a millennium as both a vernacular and a literary language, has been protected.
In the post-Yugoslav era, with the emergence of new states, new constitutional-legal solutions regarding language were adopted, and further work on language planning, especially in corpus planning, standardization, and codification, intensified.
In line with societal development, considering its overall complexity of components, general and specific determinants, its spiritual and material foundation, ubiquitous globalization, increased communication at all levels, especially media activities, and the field of science and arts, which also demonstrate exceptional dynamism, linguistic progress is inevitable – scientifically grounded, intellectually liberal, consistent with democratic and linguistic principles.
Because "The laws and rules of the Croatian standard language have their source in itself and in its service to the Croatian people and society," as Professor Brozović stated. The newly adopted law in the Republic of Croatia is the first law on the Croatian language in history, confirming that Croatian is the official language of Croats and one of the official languages in the EU, as well as that it is, in its entirety, a fundamental component of Croatian identity and culture.
This law is aimed at its protection and development and ensures its use in official communication.
Considering that the Croatian language is constitutionally and legally regulated in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but still burdened with a range of issues, especially because Bosnia and Herzegovina is a complex multi-ethnic, multilingual, and multicultural community where the Croatian language is legalized but often unequal, I believe that such a law would positively impact the resolution of its legal and actual status in line with the constitutive nature of the Croatian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Taking inspiration from other European language laws, it is necessary to establish, through democratic means and valid language policy, a politically coordinated and scientifically grounded solution for the Croatian people and the other two peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to enact a language law.
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