The communicative value of scripts: The changing status of Cyrillic in the former Yugoslavia

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In this contribution, I examine the changing status of the Cyrillic script in the former Yugoslavia, beginning in the nineteenth century and concluding with the Yugoslav successor states.I consider both the symbolic and communicative functions of the script and focus in particular on the use of the Cyrillic script in the new Montenegrin and Serbian standard languages that have emerged from the once joint Serbo-Croatian language.My focus is on how Cyrillic is promoted in areas in which Serbs make a signifi cant portion of the population, including in Eastern Slavonia (Croatia), Republika Srpska, and Montenegro.While the status of the Cyrillic script is stable in Macedonia, it is less clear in the areas of the former Serbo-Croatian.The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1992 favored the Cyrillic script, but both the Latin and Cyrillic scripts have long been in competition in the Republic of Serbia.By contrast, in the neighboring successor states, the local Serb population has worked to increase the use of Cyrillic as a primary means of communication, and numerous attempts have been made to secure offi cial status for the Cyrillic script.I analyse these occurrences and examples and attempt to provide conclusions regarding the future status of Cyrillic in the region.The starting point for my analysis will be the Vukovian reforms in the fi rst half of the nineteenth century and the principle of creating a writing system that refl ects the vernacular language rather than a more artifi cial lit-

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