Die Sprachkenntnisse In Kroatienslawonien Im Zeitalter Des Dualismus (1868-1918)

Abstract This text examines multilingualism and language policy in the Kingdom of Croatia– Slavonia (1868–1918) within the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, a markedly multiethnic and multilingual imperial framework. It argues that language acquired heightened symbolic and political value as administration, education, and elite culture became arenas of negotiation and conflict. After prolonged resistance to replacing Latin—used by the Croatian nobility as a social marker and as a shield against perceived Germanization or Magyarization—Croatian was finally introduced as an official language in 1847 and later reaffirmed under the 1868 Croatian–Hungarian Settlement (Nagodba). The study follows the institutional consolidation of Croatian (and the contested “Croatian or Serbian” formula), including schooling laws, the status of Cyrillic, and standardization debates around dictionaries, grammars, and the phonological orthography promoted by Ivan Broz and the “Croatian Vukovians.” It then assesses German as a lingua franca of elites and urban life, and Hungarian as a politically sensitive language tied to state symbolism and disputed assimilationist perceptions. Finally, it situates “other” minority languages within census data and migration patterns, concluding that modernization, mobility, and compulsory schooling fostered cultural homogenization while also sustaining tensions around national integration and interethnic differentiation.