The linguistic situation among macedonians, czechs and slovaks in Vojvodina (based on materials from the 2023 expedition)

Abstract

The article provides an overview of field research among representatives of the Macedonian, Czech and Slovak minority communities in the South Banat and South Bačka districts of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (Serbia), conducted in 2023. The Macedonian minority is made up of descendants of settlers who came to Vojvodina in 1945– 1948 The article provides a brief analysis of the influence of the Serbian language on the lexical system of the migrant idiom, grammar, and the abolition of code-switching features. Work with the Czech minority was carried out for the third time. The audio material was expanded, in particular, examples of unofficial toponyms were recorded, which are given in the article. Photographs were taken of written documents in the Czech language: a brief chronicle of the village and recipe books, which are planned to be studied in detail to identify dialect and contact features of the idiom. The expedition also began work on studying the language of the Slovak minority. Based on the interview material, cases of code switching and metalinguistic reflection are analyzed, and a conclusion is drawn about the absence of a situation of “passive bilingualism” between the Czech and Slovak minorities in Serbia, which is observed in modern Czech Republic and Slovakia.