Preparations for 15 September – the Day of Serbian Unity, Freedom and National Flag – are well underway! The central event will be held at the monument to Stefan Nemanja in Belgrade, and include addresses by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, the Serb member of BiH Presidency, Milorad Dodik, and Serbian Patriarch Porfirije.

The shared holiday of the Republic of Srpska and Serbia will be the day of adoption of the law on protection, preservation and use of the language of the Serb people and Cyrillic script. Approval by the two parliaments has been preceded by that of the two governments.

It is precisely the system of protecting, preserving and manner of using Cyrillic script and language of the Serb people that is regulated by the proposal law approved by the Government.

Advertisements of discounts, sales, reductions, and even company names, could soon be written in Cyrillic. The Government has adopted the proposal law on the protection, preservation and use of the language of the Serb people and Cyrillic script, which provides reliefs for all businessmen communicating information about their business in Cyrillic.

The reliefs for businessmen using Cyrillic do not mean a ban on Latin script for those using it.

The proposal law also defines the manner of social care for the protection and preservation of the language and Cyrillic, as well as the Council for Standardization of the Language of the Serb People and Cyrillic Script, which will function as a body of administrative supervision and inspection.

– The adoption of this law provides protection and preservation of the language of the Serb people and Cyrillic script as intangible cultural heritage, and ensures its passing on to future generations in its original form. It also ensures spreading of knowledge about the values and significance of the language of the Serb people and Cyrillic script – the Government of Srpska announced.

Linguists have been waiting a long time for the law to be passed. They say that there was initiative already in 2004, and then in 2017. Anyway, they find the content good. The members of the Serbian Language Standardization Board, however, submitted proposals for amendments before the final adoption of the text.

– I say that the opinion of the profession is at the core of the law, which is commendable, and not to be malicious, a bit of a surprise for us – said a member of the Serbian Language Standardization Board, Slobodan Remetić.

With this law, linguists believe, the Charter on the Serbian Cultural Space, signed by the line ministries in Sremski Karlovci in March 2019, is beginning to have its full meaning.

– It turns out that no one cares what language is used on television, in newspapers, assemblies, local self-government, what language we see and read on the street, in shop windows, what script – said the president of the Serbian Language Standardization Board, Sreto Tanasić.

The law, which should be adopted in Banja Luka and Belgrade on 15 September, on the Day of Serbian Unity, Freedom and National Flag, stipulates, among other things, that all republic institutions, public enterprises and companies with majority public capital, as well as associations, use Serbian language and Cyrillic script in their future work.

Source: RTRS

Photo: Government of Srpska