The language in the first issues of The Bosansko-hercegova？ke novine in 1878

Sa？etak After the occupation of the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary as mandated by the powerful European countries, the newly established government saw the need for an official publication to serve as a means of communication between the new administration and the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Consequently, the newspaper Bosansko-hercegova？ke novine was established on September 1, 1878 in Sarajevo, with the aim of informing the public of the new government’s plans and intentions, as well as decreasing tensions as lingering armed conflict in parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina had created a heated situation. Since the official press during the last days of Turkish rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina was printed in the Cyrillic script and later on only a selection of legislative acts were printed in the Roman script, the Austro-Hungarian administration firmly stated that Bosnia and Herzegovina must in that respect reflect the practices of other European countries. Thus, the public administration was to use the Roman script, while the remaining scripts were, at first, reserved for use solely within religious communities. Since in the early years of the occupation the Monarchy relied mostly on the personnel from Croatia for their administrative needs, it only made sense to employ the same language used there to facilitate a quick and painless integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina into the Austro-Hungarian administrative system. This paper will outline the circumstances which led to the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the establishment of The Bosansko-hercegova？ke novine and analyze the language used in its first issues published in 1878