Language laws of the People's Republic of Macedonia (1946-1963)

The article aims to consider aspects of the laws of the People's Republic of Macedonia, part of Yugoslavia, which governed the use of languages in its territory. Particular attention is paid to the rights of national minorities to use their languages in various communication spheres. These issues are discussed in the context of nations' equality as the main foundation principle on which the post-war Yugoslavia was based. The author analyses the formation of the language laws of Macedonia, one of the republics of the former Yugoslavia. A distinctive feature of the topic is that, during 1944-1946, the “new” nation and the “new” language were officially proclaimed and fixed in laws, which was a way to solve ethnic problems in this European region, one of the most problematic in this regard. The author briefly overviews the emergence of the ethnonym “Macedonians” and the glossonym “Macedonian language” in the official discourse. He analyses the documents of Yugoslavia, Macedonia, the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ), the Anti-Fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) of 1943-1963 that regulated the use of languages in Macedonia during this period. Since the very nature of states that are multi-ethnic (and most of them are, as it is known) immanently suggests problems in this area, the experience of Yugoslavia seems extremely interesting and indicative. It allows analysing and illustrating diverse combinations of sociolinguistic features and situations . Based on the fact that only Macedonia and Montenegro were able to secede from Yugoslavia peacefully, avoiding a civil war, the author concludes that Macedonia made the right choice of the sociopolitical structure of the republic and the principles of building interethnic relations.

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