SUMMARY:

In this article Miroslav Hroch attempts to explore the historical roots of linguistic components of national identity. The article combines general observations on the nature of the linguistic situation in early modern Europe and the relationship between linguistic and other identities. Introducing the concepts of diglossia and bilingualism, Hroch analyzes the linguistic situation in early modern Bohemia before and after 1620. Arguing that diglossia was acceptable to many in the divided society of the anciйn rйgime, Hroch nevertheless pays attention to linguistic tensions in those areas of Bohemian life where Czech was preserved (in particular, in monastic orders). Hroch also explores the emergence of the Czech national movement’s linguistic demands and argues that around the beginning of the 19th century these demands acquired a new meaning, which centered on the role of language as an instrument of civil equality. Accordingly, Hroch argues, Czech linguistic nationalism can be interpreted in the framework of the emergence of civil society and the growing demands for political participation. Yet, Hroch argues, these new demands sustained their appeal to the masses due to the presence of historical memory of the former efflorescence of the Czech language prior to 1620 and of the subject position of this language in the Austrian monarchy. Hroch’s article thus revisits traditional interpretations of linguistic nationalism as ethnic and non-civic and offers a new perspective on the linguistic demands of national movements in the context of the social history of nationalism.