JEZIČKA POLITIKA NOVOVEKOVNIH SRPSKIH DRŽAVA DO 1868. GODINE

This paper analyzes the language policy of the Principality of Serbia and Montenegro up to 1868. The author intends to examine the processes of literary language codification, which were under state control, as an autonomous process independent of the reformist work of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. The aim of the research is to reconstruct the basic trends of linguistic standardization, placing them in a specific socio-cultural and geopolitical context. Hence, the competition of different orthographies, understood as expressions of axiological systems, is viewed as a symptom of the cultural war among Serbian elites in the 19th century. The research has shown that the Principality of Serbia and Montenegro did not passively behave, merely accepting or rejecting Vuk’s solutions, but pursued an autonomous language policy that can be divided into several phases determined by socio-political circumstances. Additionally, the paper presents facts that may indicate the significant role of Prince Mihailo in the process of adopting Vuk’s solutions.