Sava Mrkalj

Sava Mrkalj (Serbian Cyrillic: Сава Мркаљ; pronounced [sǎːʋa mr̩̂kaːʎ]; 1783 – 1833) was a Serb linguist, grammarian, philologist, and poet known for his attempt to reform the Serbian language before Vuk Karadžić.

Sava Mrkalj
Commemorative plaque to Sava Mrkalj, 1030 Vienna Veithgasse 3
Born	1783 (1783) Kordun, Military Frontier, Austrian Empire (now Croatia)
Died	1833 (aged 49–50) Vienna, Austrian Empire
Occupations	Linguistics, philology, poetry
Known for	Serbian language reform

Biography

Mrkalj was born in the hamlet of Sjeničak in Kordun, at the time Military Frontier, Austrian Empire, now Croatia. He attended high school in Zagreb, and graduated from Pest University with the degree of Humanitatis et Philosophiæ Doctor.

It was in 1805 in Pest that he began to devote himself to philological researches, inspired by the works of German philologist Johann Christoph Adelung and others who were working on language reforms. Mrkalj spoke fluent German, French, Greek and Hebrew. He is best known for attempting to reform the Serbian language before Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. In a publication titled Сало дебелога јера либо азбукопротрес / Fat of the Thick Yer, i.e. Alphabet Reshuffling (Buda, 1810), he proposed a simplification of the Serbian alphabet from forty-two to twenty-six letters.^[1]

His suggestion was considered radical and indeed blasphemous (since the original Cyrillic in use by the Serbian Orthodox Church at the time had allegedly been created by Cyril and Methodius). Mrkalj received so much offensive criticism from the church hierarchy that he decided to be tonsured as a monk in 1811 to prove his orthodoxy but became disappointed with the monastic life and left the order in 1813. In 1817 he retracted his alphabet reform proposal in a publication titled: A Palinode (or Defense of the Thick Yer).^[1]

Later in life, Mrkalj became despondent and was hospitalised in Vienna mental hospital in 1827.^[1] Vuk Stefanović Karadžić came to visit him often. Mrkalj died in 1833.