The Language in the Romanian Political Thought of 1850-1890s. The Grand Debates and Their Outcomes
The Language in the Romanian Political Thought of 1850-1890s. The Grand Debates and Their Outcomes

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on the Romanian linguistic debates of the second half of the 19th century and their influence on the processes of state- and nation-building. The essay concentrates on the attempts of using the ties of the common language as a defensive element that can not only mark the local nation-building strategies, but oppose similar competing foreign schemes. The current paper can be considered an effort to see and analyze the place of language in the Romanian political thought between 1850 and 1890 when Romanian national state emerged on the world arena and its manifestation sharpened the disputes regarding its linguistic and ethnic homogeneity. Furthermore, the article regards the language as a primary strategic instrument in the process of state-building, used by the participants of the debates, whose views and ideas were strictly tied to linguistic unity. The ideas of languages being parts of the “bodies of nations” expressed by Romanian thinkers are put into the General European context, which is briefly investigated as well.

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