Complicating the ethnic situation in the Balkans is the fact that most nationalities are not confined within the borders of the country?s republics, provinces, or districts. Andric describe the animosities and essential difference between the people:
The very way of life of a Serb and Croat is a deliberate provocation by each to the other. The second, a self-complimentary Serbian stereotype, says: In a conflict with authority, the Serb reaches for the sword and the Croat for his pen.” (268)
Yugoslavia is still ranked as one of Europe?s least urbanized countries in 1990 (Andrija 102). Almost 80 percent of the Yugoslav population live in villages (102). Geographers say over the nest twenty-five years, about 4.6 million people (equivalent to 20 percent of the population) will migrate to cities (102). Obtaining adequate housing is a major problem in all Yugoslav cities. Many single people would resort to dormitory-style living accommodations that many companies provided for their workers. The higher educated and professional level people lived in urban areas. Housing still remains in short supply in every urban area (104). Building material are rising construction costs are causing a shortage of housing accommodations.
Yugoslavia?s housing system offers two methods of obtaining long- term housing: through private initiative, using banks or private loans; or through allocation of socially owned apartments. About two-thirds of Yugoslavia?s housing units are privately owned and about 80 percent construction was done by private enterprise(Andrija 103). Socially owned apartments are allocated by the state without investment by the occupant; rent and maintenance payment were nominal(104).
Most countries have an official language spoken by a large percentage of the people, but not the former Yugoslavia. Thee are four languages (Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian) and tow alphabet (Roman and Cyrillic). (Nickels 97) The language spoken by Bosnians, Montenegrins, Croatians, and Serbians is named Serbo-Croat, but in actuality each has their own words and dialects. The base language is derived from the Yugoslavians and have had words implemented in the vocabulary by the Turkish, Greek, and Austro-Hungarian empires. In Andric?s book, he describes how the Serbian and Turkish cultures communicated. “Turks and Serbs went out to work and met on another with dull and expressionless faces, greeted one another and talked together with those hundreds or so past circulated in the town and passed from one to another.”
The main variations between the Serbo-Croat is s slight differences in sentence construction and pronunciation (Nickels 97). The Serbians use the Cyrillic alphabet (shown in figure 4), which was derived from the Greek letters passed down from Eastern Orthodox Church. The Croatians use the Roman alphabet that they acquired from the Roman Catholic Church. Bosnia uses both alphabets since there is many people from each culture in their country.
On the other hand, Macedonian and Slovenian are to far from the core area of the former Yugoslavia to be affected this way. They are each spoken only in the boundaries of their republics. There are also a number of minority languages spoken between the number of minority nationalities ( Nickels 97). Every educated person in the former Yugoslavia can communicate using Serbo-Croatian. The Slovenian alphabet, Glagolitic, varies from the Roman and Cyrillic and can be seen in old churches and other ancient buildings in most parts of Croatia (97).
When I began to read The Bridge on the Drina, I did not understand why the Turkish and the Serbians had differences. My friends asked me what I was getting from the book, and my general answer was not much because I do not understand the history. So one day, my friend sat me down for a couple of hours and explained the history of Yugoslavia starting from the tribes and going back and forth between the Hausberg Empire and the Ottoman Empire. As fascinating of the history of Yugoslavia is , it was a shame that I never learned it. As for Andric?s book, I realized that for fifty years The Bridge on the Drina still represent one of the most important works of Serbian literature. For Serbians, it is not just piece of art, but the historical chronicle in which they can also find the roots and the explanation of primarily religious problems in their country at the present time. After all, The Bridge on the Drina was awarded the most important and prestigious prize for literature and science, the Nobel Prize, which also shows the recognition of its value.
I learned that history has a lot to do with all the aspect of the geography. Language was the most interesting to me since I am learning Serbo-Croatian. The differences in the Cyrillic letter and Roman letters corresponded to the religions that first settled the tribes. The Ottoman Empire added many Turkish words with Serbian as mentioned in Andric?s book. Croatia added much of their dialect from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Bosnia, because of their mixed culture, has words from the Serbian and Croatian languages.
The former Yugoslavia is a country with many unique characteristics. The lack of uniformity throughout the country will always be there, and with the tensions between the different cultures and religions it will probably never disappear.
Bibligraphy
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