Makedonische Identitäten und die Parameter Sprache, Ethnos und Nation
Macedonian Identities and the Parameters Language, Ethnos and Nation

Summary/Abstract: The article tries to overcome the semantic ambiguity of the name Macedonia by contrasting the historical development in ex-Yugoslav Macedonia (Vardar Macedonia) with the situation in Greek Macedonia (Aegean Macedonia). Since the whole region belonged to the Ottoman Empire until 1912/13, it is predestined for studies investigating the role of language in processes of ethnicisation and nationalisation. Only in one part of the historical region Macedonia, in Vardar Macedonia, a successful nation-building process was realised (including the codification and implementation of a new standard language) after 1944. The presentation of different concepts of Macedonian national, ethnic and linguistic identities shows that - at least at the grass-roots level - language nationalism (i.e. the equation of language and nation propagated by 19th century political romanticism) is still not at home in the Balkans.

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