There is no way for Montenegrins to understand all the dimensions of their own new linguistic reality. Today, the name of the Montenegrin language is not disputed. Where do all these misunderstandings come from, where does the problem that obviously causes the interlocutor's anger come from. It's an old truism - the hardest type of loser is the one who doesn't even know when they've won.
Let's remember the genesis - the fight for the Montenegrin language was a fight for the right to use one's own name of the language. Where does the talk about a "new" language come from, which needs to be established and given shape? If a new language is being "searched" now, if, as we see, it now needs to be legitimized, what language did we speak until yesterday?
The Cossack Assembly, I am convinced, is not the right place for serious consideration of anything. The logic of the genre is inexorable: optimal solutions for anything are not sought at the Cossack assembly, there the hearing is tuned for other things – the search for traitors, for example. Or - a declaration of war, or - starting an uprising, mostly things like that. And, such things certainly do not include language policy.
Imagine if there is someone who is interested in Montenegro (goes around the world) and follows the events in our beloved homeland, imagine how strange it must sound to him when he reads that at a meeting on the Montenegrin language, the abolition of the Study Program for the Montenegrin language is demanded. (For the constitution of which, by the way, the struggle lasted several decades.)
Or, some time ago, at another Cossack assembly - when a writer asked the Minister of Defense to introduce a state of emergency? What else is left - maybe one of the writers will ask for a ban on books and reading...
Even so far, serious and reasoned voices of objection have been heard. Let's say, one detail that no one thinks about (which is unusual, because there were quite a few writers at the Cossack Assembly) is how the writers will now differentiate the narrative modes - how will the difference in character education be shown through language? Since in this language, at the moment, everything is possible and allowed - well, the conclusion that follows is inexorable - in this country, everyone is equally literate. That leveler is more dangerous than you can imagine.
Even if, thanks to the enormous support of the government, this freakish language model "passes", it cannot survive. If in Croatia, where the logistics were much tighter and the intellectual support was wider, if the "Newspeak" broke out there after only a few years, you can be sure that a similar experiment will go even worse here.
And let's not talk about how "smart" it is in such a divided Montenegro to ignore the natural space of intelligibility and clarity. The linguistic truth is inexorable: we are talking about one language, which has never acquired a single name acceptable to all, so it is logical that they work - four national names. One, and four names.
The debacle of this concept of standardization - happens at all levels. But the Cossacks are not interested in that. It is important for the Cossacks that they like it. Or, as one of the respected old poets and academics says these days, in a casual private communication: Language will be what we say. That's what the Cossacks think. This is the famous subtlety of the Cossack. Or kozačka, as they say, I don't know. It is important to them that the language is autochthonous, of course. Basque, Chinese, Ancient Egyptian and of course, Jay. That is, Montenegrin.
And, again, no other possible way of reading all these things is to be underestimated. A bit Švejk, but why not, unfortunately there is no Švejk in the Montenegrin epic pantheon, and it seems to me that this is the biggest problem of local mythology. One Švejk would have saved the unbearable concentration of seriousness that is the arduous dominant of Montenegrin reality.
The other day, in the entrance, a respectable neighbor, an old wolf, said to me politely - "How are you" - "No way, neighbor, don't ask". OK, since he's already complaining, I thought, there's no way I can avoid continuing the conversation. When a person complains, it makes no sense not to ask what it is about, and that maybe somehow it can't be helped, and similar - remnants of SFRY education.
Asked about the reason for the trouble, the man began - "Language, neighbor, language." That story played out again, and it's bothering me, the doormat". I can't believe that the man got so upset, especially because I thought it was one of those flat-out neighbors, so-called. normal people, who don't bother with linguistics, for whom the fact that they have to speak, let alone think about language, is enough punishment. The vast majority of people who experience language similarly to time - they are aware of it, but they don't know what it is. "And what bothers you about the whole story?", I have to ask.
"How come," snaps the neighbor, somewhat surprised by my confusion. "As soon as those incendiary and big stories start... everything is clear: there must be another price increase."
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