Was the 19th-Century Process of the Formation of the Slovene Nation Truly a Mere Continuation of the Millenary Slovene Continuity?

Abstract

Challenged is the premise that during the pro- cess of the “Slovene national renaissance” in the 19th century the Slovene nation was formed on the foundations of the Slovene ethnic territory that had already been existing for centuries and was defined and demarcated mostly by linguistic and philological findings and deri- vations. The text attempts to show that what the description of the continuity of the Slovene language indicates is no more and no less than the mere continuity of the Slovene language. In view of this, it may be concluded that the use of syntagmas implying some kind of special Slovene lineage, or spiritual, identity whose external characteristic is allegedly the common Slovene language, is inappropriate when applied to the period prior to the birth of the Slovene national movement and the beginning of the formation process of the Slovene nation.