Vukovian

English

WOTD – 7 November 2017

Etymology

An 1846 portrait of Serbian philologist and linguist Vuk Karadžić by Uroš Knežević

Probably an anglicization of Serbo-Croatian vȗkovac (“Vukovian”) by the addition of the suffix -ian, after the personal name of Serbian philologist and linguist Vuk Karadžić (1787–1864), from Serbo-Croatian vȗk (“wolf”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos (“wolf”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /vʊˈkəʊ.vi.ən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /vʊˈkoʊ.vi.ən/
• Hyphenation: Vu‧kov‧i‧an

Adjective

Vukovian

1. (linguistics) Of or pertaining to the ideas of Serbian philologist and linguist Vuk Karadžić (1787–1864) concerning the standardization of the Serbo-Croatian language.
   • [1966], Milovan Djilas, translated by Michael B[oro] Petrovich, Njegoš: Poet, Prince, Bishop, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace & World, →OCLC, page 132:

     He supported Vuk's language reform and was a follower of Vuk in practice—in language and in deed—leaving the waging of the struggle to those who were more directly concerned. His printing press was also Vukovian. Small, wretched. On a rock, and born in poverty, but—the first of its kind among the Serbs.

   • 1979, Die Welt der Slaven, [Vienna; Cologne]: Böhlau Verlag, →OCLC, page 268:

     [T]he historical development of the Serbo-Croatian literary language have of recent years been focusing more and more of their attention on the period immediately preceding the monumental Vukovian reforms of the Serbo-Croatian language, that is, the 18th century.

   • 2016, Barbora Moormann-Kimáková, “Explaining Success and Failure of Language Regimes”, in Language-related Conflicts in Multinational and Multiethnic Settings: Success and Failure of Language Regimes, Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany: Springer VS, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 203–204:

     The "Serbo-Croatian" language – at that time not yet bearing this name – was codified by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, himself originally from Tršić in today's Serbia. Karadžić based the codified norm on a common dialect, paradoxically stemming from Herzegovina. However, this was not the only possible language programme. Alternative language standards were proposed (based on the "kajkavian" dialect for example), and the "Vukovian" standard was not always accepted as legitimate. The decisions to adopt certain standards were regarded as the decisions of a handful of intellectuals (indeed they were in the 19th century).

Noun

Vukovian (plural Vukovians)

1. (historical) Chiefly in the plural form Vukovians: a member of a group of Croatian linguists active at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century who supported the ideas of Serbian philologist and linguist Vuk Karadžić (1787–1864) concerning the standardization of the Croatian variety of the Serbo-Croatian language.
   • 1989, Juhani Nuorluoto, Jovan Stejić’s Language: A Contribution to the History of the Serbo-Croatian Standard Language (Slavica Helsingiensia; 8), Helsinki: Department of Slavonic Languages, University of Helsinki, →ISBN, page 144:

     Whereas the conservatives insisted that the Serbs should remain an organic part of the partially russianised Slavonic Orthodox community, the Vukovians wanted to sever the formal ties with this community, and emphasise the individuality of the Serbian nation within it.

   • 2002, Radovan Lučić, editor, Lexical Norm and National Language: Lexicography and Language Policy in South-Slavic Languages after 1989 (Die Welt der Slaven: Sammelbande; 14), Munich: Verlag Otto Sagner, →ISBN, page 13:

     Although the Vienna Literary Agreement had no immediate results, it is highly significant that among the many competing Croatian philological schools the ‘vukovians’ (Pero Budmani, Tomo Maretić, Ivan Broz, Franjo Iveković), the most ardent defenders of Serbo-Croat linguistic unity, became dominant in the 1890s and succeeded in imposing the principles of the Agreements. To be sure, even the vukovians sometimes called their language ‘Croat’.

   • 2013, Ronelle Alexander, “Language and Identity: The Fate of Serbo-Croatian”, in Roumen Daskalov, Tchavdar Marinov, editors, Entangled Histories of the Balkans (Balkan Studies Library; 9), volumes I (National Ideologies and Language Policies), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, pages 360 and 361:

     [page 360] Linguists who continued work in [Đuro] Daničić's spirit after his death were referred to as the Croatian Vukovites (hrvatski vukovci). […] [page 361] The fact of [Károly] Khuen-Héderváry's support [for the work of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts] would seem to suggest that he perceived the work of the Vukovians not so much as a unifying, "Yugo-"Slav factor but as an antidote to growing Croat nationalism.

Further reading

• Croatian Vukovians on Wikipedia.Wikipedia