Literary Language as an “exemplary language” in the Vision of Eugeniu Coșeriu and Silviu Berejan

Abstract

Acad. Mihai Cimpoi refers, in this article, to the studies, interviews and attitudes,gathered in the volume Sociolinguistic Itinerary (Chisinau, 2007), in which Silviu Berejanmentions the contribution of classical and contemporary writers to the development ofthe Romanian literary language. Distinguishing between spoken language and literarylanguage, in the spirit of the views expressed in linguistics from Ferdinand de Saussure tothe present day, acad. Berejan always highlighted the unity of the Romanian language inthe entire space inhabited by its speakers, including Bessarabia and the current Republic ofMoldova, where scientific untruth was promoted for political reasons. Through numerousdocumentary arguments, through frequent references to chroniclers, great classics andcontemporary authors, including those from Bessarabia (Negruzzi, Stamati, Hasdeu, Stere,Mateevici, who followed the common literary norms), Silviu Berejan proved that thecorrect name of the language, even spoken with certain peculiarities: dialects, is Romanian.In several of the studies, he analyzed the linguistic situation in the Moldovan MSSR and thecurrent Republic of Moldova. He advocated the recognition and cultivation of what EugenCoseriu, the “king of linguistics”, called the exemplary literary language.