4th International Scientific Conference “Traditional and Contemporary in Art and Education”

Delivered an online presentation titled “Reinterpretation of Grammar Instruction on the Croatian Language Outside the Borders of the Triune Kingdom at the End of the 19th Century” at the conference “Traditional and Contemporary in Art and Education” (Kosovska Mitrovica, 15–17 May 2026).

At the 4th International Scientific Conference “Traditional and Contemporary in Art and Education,” held in a hybrid format from 15 to 17 May 2026, Associate Professor Jadranka Mlikota presented, within the online section of the programme, the results of a project-based study conducted together with Associate Professor Lidija Bakota in the paper “Reinterpretation of Grammatical Instruction on the Croatian Language Outside the Borders of the Triune Kingdom at the End of the 19th Century.”

The paper analysed manuals intended for the introductory level of institutional Croatian language learning outside the borders of the Triune Kingdom, in the Hungarian part of the Monarchy, published during the final decades of the 19th century: Kratka slovnica za tri nižja razreda učionah pučkih by Ivan Mihálovics (Baja, 1875), Podučavanje u jezikoslovju. Za učitelje i školare by Mihovil Naković (Železno, 1877), and Pèrva čitanka za katoličansku školsku mladost (Budapest, 4th edition, 1882). The aim of the study was to determine the linguistic features of school manuals published outside the Croatian ethnic and linguistic area in relation to the standardisation processes within the borders of the Triune Kingdom, as well as their methodological similarities in approaching language content. The analysis showed that the examined manuals established a balance between the local Burgenland Croatian tradition and broader Croatian normative tendencies. A comparison of the didactic-methodological and pedagogical layers further demonstrated that school grammatical practice in the second half of the 19th century was characterised by the simultaneous presence of shared tendencies and individual variations: from inductive and deductive models of teaching grammatical content to the transmission of moral, social, patriotic, and religious values through grammatical examples and exercises. The conclusion emphasised that linguistic manuals created outside the Croatian ethnic and linguistic area played an important role in preserving Croatian linguistic identity among Croatian communities in the Hungarian Monarchy. At the same time, they represent a valuable source for understanding the development of Croatian school grammar, language teaching methodology, and the cultural and identity-related role of education in the 19th century.