On this day, in 1874, in Postol, Aegean Macedonia, was born, Krste Petkov Misirkov. The most significant work of Krste Misirkov is "About Macedonian Affairs", published in Sofia in 1903. The fifth article from his book "On Macedonian Affairs" represents the first scientifically argued, solidly established, and elaborated a project for the Macedonian literary language. In the book, Misirkov analyzes the position of the Macedonian people, and the current political and ethnographic situation of Macedonia and beyond. The last article of the book, "A few words about the Macedonian literary language" represents the first standardization of the language and the basis for codifying the Macedonian standard language based on the central dialects. The final standardization of the Macedonian language was in 1945 with the release of the Spelling made by the Commission for Language and Spelling under the Ministry of Education, with the Grammar of Kepeski and the Normative Grammar of Koneski (1952). The book "On Macedonian Affairs" has a special significance, because Misirkov uses the Cyrillic alphabet, adapting it according to the voice system of the central languages of the Western dialect, and especially to the Bitola language, as the basis of his imagined language standard. Although it was banned, the book finds its way to Macedonian intellectual circles and represents the basis for the further formation of the Macedonian literary language
Misirkov opts for a fast, non-traditional model when forming his views on the Macedonian literary language, based on three points:
1. As the basis of the literary language, he takes the central speeches (on the line Veles - Prilep - Bitola - Ohrid).
2. It places the spelling on a phonetic basis, with small concessions before the etymology.
3. The vocabulary includes elements from all Macedonian languages.
With the determination for the central Macedonian languages, Misirkov insists on those linguistic features that distinguish the Macedonian language the most from the neighboring Slavic languages.
Vesna Kostovska
Macedonian Language Institute
