The essence of creating national and cultural identity is comprised within discourses led on different levels of societal communication. This process of creation or reconstruction of cultural or national identity functions as social public discourse, taking part in all forms of social life and all discursive formations – cultural, political, cognitive, medial etc.

After the breakup of Yugoslavia, the countries that thus far were under the rule of a totalitarian regime faced bigger political, social and economic changes and turmoil. During this transition period, Macedonia, as well as Serbia and Montenegro, maintained EU candidate status since 2006, while Croatia became a member state in 2013. These Balkan and European changes led to an actualization and a modernization of the language (the code) of national and cultural discourses of the Balkan states (including Macedonia), for the purpose of forming their own identity or reconstruction of their current identity, partially by confronting it with similar discourses of their neighbors, building democratic values and integrating with the European Union.

The following questions relate to this:

Is the Language image of Macedonian and the Balkans created by Europe, or by the Balkan countries themselves?

How long will the Balkans remain a mystery for their European neighbors? The cultural heterogeneity of the region seems to be the most important, but not the only reason for it this state of affairs.

In what language were the language images of Macedonia created, and what language will they be created in – which ones of those were usual and how will this influence Balkan conflicts and misunderstandings?

Discourses – Macedonian, Balkan and European Discourses – Definitions and Language Determinations

National myths are transformed in political myths through discursive procedures and thus fulfill a very important role in the creation of the identities of certain Balkan states. Balkan and Macedonian national discourses appear both on a local (regional) and state (national) level as well as on a bilateral level (Macedonian – Bulgarian, Serbian – Croatian, Macedonian – Greek discourse) and, by inclusion of Turkey, Russia and the USA, on a multilateral (European and international) level.