Multilingualism as Habitus: Discourse of the Banat Germans on the Period between the Wolrd Wars

Multilingualism in the Banat has been shaped by language policies of the various multiethnic empires and states over the centuries. Thus, a short overview of the language policy in the Habsburg Monarchy, Austro-Hungary and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia is initially presented. The paper however sheds light upon the period under the reign of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, i.e. the period between the World Wars. The analysis is based upon the contemporary fieldwork conducted among the Serbian Banat Germans, who referred to the habitual practices of multilingualism in the interwar period.