Senahid Halilović (22 March 1958 – 24 April 2023) was a Bosnian

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and

academician An academician is a full member of an artistic, literary, engineering, or scientific academy. In many countries, it is an honorific title used to denote a full member of an academy that has a strong influence on national scientific life. Accor ...

who was a member of the

Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina (; ) is the national academy of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Academy, based in the capital city of Sarajevo, is the leading non-university public research institution in the country. The ...

. Halilović studied at the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

where he acquired his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Dialectology, exploring the East-Bosnian dialect. He published over one hundred professional and scientific papers in the field of

dialectology Dialectology (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ''dialektos'', "talk, dialect"; and , ''-logy, -logia'') is the scientific study of dialects: subsets of languages. Though in the 19th century a branch of historical linguistics, dialectology is often now c ...

Orthography of the Bosnian language

Born in

Kladanj Kladanj ( sr-cyrl, Кладањ) is a town and municipality located in the Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kladanj is located on the road from Tuzla to Sarajevo along the river Drinja ...

on 22 March 1958, Halilović is best known for his contribution to the standardisation of the

Bosnian language Bosnian (; / ; ), sometimes referred to as Bosniak ( / ; ), is the standard language, standardized Variety (linguistics)#Standard varieties, variety of the Serbo-Croatian pluricentric language mainly used by ethnic Bosniaks. Bosnian is one of ...

. His best known works are ''Orthography of the Bosnian language'' (Pravopis bosanskog jezika), ''The Bosnian language'' (Bosanski jezik) and ''Grammar of the Bosnian language'' (Gramatika bosanskoga jezika). Characteristics of this spelling is equidistance towards the Croatian and Serbian spelling and morphological prescriptions, and expressions that are held for the typical Bosnian norm (formalisation of the phoneme "h" in certain words in the Bosnian language as seen in the words ''mehko'', ''lahko'', ''kahva'', ''mahrama''). In the 2018 edition of the ''Orthography of the Bosnian language'', Halilović accepted expressions without the phoneme "h" due to their prevalence in language practice, for which he was criticised by Bosniak prescriptivists and defended by other linguists.

Slavic Committee

Halilović was a founding member and president of the Slavic Committee (Bosnia and Herzegovina Association of Slavists) in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

. In September 2008, the Slavic Committee was officially inducted into the International Committee of Slavists, a scholarly organisation uniting various national committees of Slavists. Halilović was signatory of the

Declaration on the Common Language The Declaration on the Common Language ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Deklaracija o zajedničkom jeziku, Декларација о заједничком језику, separator=" / ") was issued in 2017 by a group of intellectuals and NGOs from Bosnia and He ...

of the

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

Bosniaks The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...

and

Montenegrins Montenegrins (, or ) are a South Slavic ethnic group that share a common ancestry, culture, history, and language, identified with the country of Montenegro. Montenegrins are mostly Orthodox Christians; however, the population also includes ...

Death

Halilović died on 24 April 2023, at the age of 65.

Bibliography

*''Bosanski jezik'', Baština, Sarajevo 1991. *''Pravopis bosanskoga jezika'', Preporod, Sarajevo 1996. *''Bosanskohercegovački dijalektološki zbornik : Govorni tipovi u međuriječju Neretve i Rijeke dubrovačke - knjiga VII'', Institut za jezik, Sarajevo 1996. *''Gnijezdo lijepih riječi: Pravilno - nepravilno u bosanskom jeziku'', Baština, Libris, Sarajevo 1996. *''Gramatika bosanskoga jezika'', Dom štampe, Zenica 2000.Gramatika bosanskoga jezika
*''Govor grada Sarajeva i razgovorni bosanski jezik'', Slavistički komitet, Sarajevo 2009. *''Pravopis bosanskoga jezika'', Slavistički komitet, Sarajevo, 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halilovic, Senahid 1958 births 2023 deaths Bosniaks of Bosnia and Herzegovina Linguists from Bosnia and Herzegovina People from Tuzla Canton Writers from Tuzla Signatories of the Declaration on the Common Language Members of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina University of Belgrade Faculty of Philology alumni