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Krste Misirkov Institute marks 80th anniversary since codification of Macedonian language

Krste Misirkov Institute marks 80th anniversary since codification of Macedonian language

Skopje, 5 May 2025 (MIA) - Continuing the ongoing study of the Macedonian language at all levels, creating a corpus of the Macedonian language and the large influx of Anglicisms were highlighted as the biggest challenges at Monday's event on the occasion of the Macedonian Language Day and the 80th anniversary since the codification of the Macedonian standard language, organized by the Krste Misirkov Macedonian Language Institute in Skopje.

Professor Elena Jovanova-Grujovska, head of the Krste Misirkov Macedonian Language Institute, pointed out that the Institute, through its projects and published works, has been promoting and reaffirming for eight decades the basic principles of phonetic orthography, representation of grammatical forms and enrichment of the vocabulary in all dialects. She noted that one of the key projects is the Macedonian Dialect Atlas, the first volume of which was recently published with financial support from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. In addition, she announced that a corpus of the Macedonian language is the next major project.

"Given that all the Institute's file archives are digitized and we have highly qualified staff, we are the best suited to create a corpus of the Macedonian language. Today we seek the support of all relevant factors, especially the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Culture and the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, as well as technical and IT faculties and other institutions, individuals and socially responsible companies," said Jovanova-Grujovska.

According to Jovanova-Grujovska, in addition to being a professional and patriotic preoccupation, the Macedonian language is "our spiritual and cultural wealth, our main identity feature, our love and our infinite homeland".

Professor Biljana Angelova, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University rector, stressed the importance of the codification of the Macedonian language as a significant stage in its centuries-long development. She underlined that the alphabet and the orthography are basic language documents that represent concrete implementation of the codification.

"This day binds us as a leading university to continue the written heritage and to nurture and develop the Macedonian language, which is not only our tradition, but our responsibility," said Angelova.

Professor Iskra Panovska-Dimkova, head of the Macedonian Language Department at the Faculty of Philology "Blazhe Koneski" - Skopje, in a statement to the media ahead of the event, highlighted the main challenge facing the Macedonian language - a large influx of Anglicisms.

"The main challenge we are currently facing is a large influx of Anglicisms that we can hardly cope with because they continue to come in on a daily basis in huge numbers. It affects the structure of the language and is much more dangerous than superficial lexemes that can be replaced, said Panovska-Dimkova.

A short trailer for the documentary film "Az, Buki, Vedi" was also presented at the event, made in collaboration with the Yahya Kemal College - Tetovo.

The Macedonian alphabet was published and made official under a Decision on the Macedonian Alphabet on May 5, 1945. The codification of the Macedonian language was made by a Decision of ASNOM on August 2, 1944. By a Decision of the People's Government of Federal Macedonia, the alphabet of the Macedonian language was adopted, and on June 7 of the same year, the orthography of the Macedonian language was also adopted. Then followed the founding works of the great Macedonian language and linguistics scholar, Blazhe Koneski: the Grammar of the Macedonian Language, the Dictionary of the Macedonian Language and The History of the Macedonian Language, which completed the codification of the Macedonian language.

Photo: MIA