Observationes circa Croaticam orthographiam by Marko Mahanović (1814.) – selected fragments

Abstract

The paper deals with an treatise on Croatian orthography written in 1814 by Marko Mahanović. The most important fragments are presented in Latin original and in Croatian translation. The treatise represents an attempt at unification of Croatian dialects in one language through an orthographic reform. In his model of an uniform Croatian orthography, based on phonological principles, Mahanović has predominantly assumed graphic solutions of Slavonic orthography. Although it was neither the first nor the last effort of this kind and therefore couldn’t be considered as innovative on all levels, this treatise should be regarded as an important document in the history of orthographic standardization of Croatian language.

Keywords

• dialect unification
• Croatian orthography
• orthographic reform