| Title |
Central South Slavic linguistic taxonomies and the language/dialect dichotomy: rhetorical strategies and faulty epistemologies / |
| Authors |
Maxwell, Alexander ; Vukotic, Vuk ; Klaver, Susie |
| DOI |
10.1515/soeu-2024-0047 |
| Full Text |
|
| Is Part of |
Comparative Southeast European studies.. Berlin : De Gruyter Oldenbourg. 2025, vol. 73, iss. 1, p. 36-58.. ISSN 2701-8199. eISSN 2701-8202 |
| Keywords [eng] |
Croatian ; language/dialect dichotomy ; linguistic nationalism ; Serbian ; The Yugoslav Wars and the Year 1995 |
| Abstract [eng] |
This article analyzes the epistemology of the language/dialect (L/D) dichotomy. The L/D dichotomy gives rise to disputes between "splitters", who want to split the speech of a given region into more than one "language", and "lumpers", who view the region as speaking one "language"albeit with diverse "dialects". While numerous linguists have declared the L/D dichotomy theoretically meaningless, thus taking an "agnostic"approach, linguists interested in a particular case study often take sides in lumper/splitter disputes. Such linguists, who the authors call "assertionists", adopt a variety of rhetorical strategies to make their case. Taking as a case study assertionists writing about Central South Slavic, this article identifies three main strategies: the "avalanche of trivia"; the "appeal to imaginary evidence"; and the "denigration of the political". Both lumpers and splitters adopt all three strategies to conceal the poor epistemological foundations of assertionism. |
| Published |
Berlin : De Gruyter Oldenbourg |
| Type |
Journal article |
| Language |
English |
| Publication date |
2025 |
| CC license |
|
