Did the Slovene Ethnic Identity Exist in the Pre-National Period? Collective Identities and Amplitudes of the Importance of Eth- nicity in the Early Modern Period (Part II)

Abstract

The treatise presents ethnic markers defining the Slovene ethnic community in the early modern period, with the Slovene language being the most prominent one. It features an attempted application of a three-stage model of development of Slovenes’ ethnic identity, ranging from the loosest community, an ethnic network with its own standard language, and an ethnic group upon the emergence of the national movement in the late 18th century. Additionally, it is pointed out in the treatise that the development was not a linear one, as in the 17th and 18th century we speak about the age of “Baroque standstill of ethnogenesis”, when provincial identities surpassed the importance of ethnic identities.