The 1925 Standard Kresi Act (officially the Act for the Unification of the National Tongue) was a foundational piece of cultural legislation in the early Divine Republic of Kresimiria.
Proposed by Assembly Chair Filip Novak and implemented by the Council for Education, the Act established the “Sinj Dialect” of the Kresi language as the sole official language of the state. It mandated the use of Standard Kresi in all government business, legal proceedings, and public education.
While framed as a nation-building measure to unify the disparate regions of the post-Vosti landscape, the Act is historically viewed as a tool of cultural suppression. It effectively banned the public use of the Bosken language in District X and marginalized the distinct hill dialects of the northern districts (Severnivaraje and Viskogorje), cementing the cultural dominance of the capital, Sinj.
Background
Following the Unification War, the new Republic was linguistically fractured.
- The Vosti Legacy: The Empire had operated on a multilingual model. Elite business was conducted in Vosti, religious services in Old Kresi or Pravoslavic, and daily life in dozens of local dialects.
- The Nationalist Imperative: The RPP believed that a stable republic required a single, unified culture. Filip Novak argued that “One Nation requires One Voice,” and that allowing regional dialects to flourish would encourage separatism.
Key Provisions
- Official Language: Standard Kresi (based on the prestige dialect of the capital) was declared the only language of the Republic.
- Educational Mandate: All instruction in state-certified schools was to be conducted exclusively in Standard Kresi. The use of other dialects by students was punishable by corporal punishment or expulsion.
- Administrative Ban: All government documents, court filings, and public signage were required to be in Standard Kresi. This immediately disenfranchised the Bosken population, many of whom did not speak the northern tongue, by barring them from understanding legal charges or filling out tax forms without a translator.
Parliamentary Passage
The Act passed with the support of the nationalist bloc.
- Support: Most of the RPP and the newly formed Sons of Kresimir (4 seats) voted in favor. Kresimir Basic supported the bill on theological grounds, as the Books of Kresimir were written in an archaic form of the Sinj dialect.
- Opposition: The Bistrice People’s Party (BPP) senator Antonio Iric voted against it, arguing it would destroy northern culture. The two independent Bosken senators voted against it (or abstained in protest). Several prominent more liberal RPP senators broke ranks to oppose it, notably Eward Matek and Mil Vucic.
The Act passed 13-4.
| Senator | Vote |
|---|---|
| Ana Kovacevic (RPP) | For |
| Filip Novak (RPP) | For |
| Mil Vucic (RPP) | Against |
| Luka Matar (RPP) | For |
| Eward Matek (RPP) | Against |
| Marija Sarislav (RPP) | For |
| Antonio Iric (BPP) | Against |
| Sara Unalina | Against |
| Nika Radman (RPP) | For |
| Dora Martinovic (RPP) | For |
| Toni Uzela (RPP) | For |
| Mia Colak (RPP) | - |
| Vlade Koci (RPP) | For |
| Matej Marij Mihaljevic (RPP) | For |
| Rod Blakojevic (RPP) | For |
| Marin Lurcic Grubisic (RPP) | For |
| Ivan Franj (RPP) | For |
| Kresimir Basic (RPP) | For |
| Josipa Vukel | - |
| Adin Vedran | - |
Legacy
- The “Silent Years”: In Moraviskameja, the Act initiated a period known as the “Silent Years” (1925–1961), where the Bosken language was driven underground, taught only in secret night schools like those at the Imperial Academy.
- Northern Resentment: In the north, the suppression of the “Hill Speak” dialect fueled the regionalist sentiment that would eventually be harnessed by Northern Power.
- Reversal: Portions of the Act were repealed or amended by the 1961 Treaty of Brod Moravice (which allowed Bosken in private business) and later educational reforms in the 2000s, though Standard Kresi remains the primary language of the state.