Understanding spelling conflicts in Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian: Insights from speakers’ attitudes and beliefs

Abstract

This article analyzes spelling-change conflicts linked to Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian. These standard languages share a long history of common sociopolitical identity and high mutual intelligibility, and the spelling standardization processes became embroiled in the Yugoslav disintegration process and the creation of new political entities. This study presents results from a 2022 survey of 2000 participants in four countries (matched to country census quotas on five demographic criteria), and is thus one of the largest data sets of speakers’ attitudes and beliefs about language identity and its sociopolitical context. I argue that analyzing spelling-change conflicts can uncover the motives for spelling changes and the causes of such conflicts. I propose, based on this analysis, three principles for predicting (inter)national spelling-change conflicts. These principles offer a novel contribution to the state of the art in comparative standardology and sociological studies of conflicts.