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The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of ethnic consciousness in the territories of the Balkans and of Great Britain by focusing on the tendencies towards ethnical inclusion (crossing of ethnical boundaries) and ethnical exclusion (strengthening of the above mentioned). Inspired by B. Anderson's definition of nation (nation = imagined community), the author has chosen the languages of the investigated areas as the actual subject of his research. In three chapters he has studied first the structural and lexicological aspect of the language, then the terminological one (study of ethnonyms) and finally the textual one (study of national myths and the language used to their description). The conclusion of the research described above clearly shows, that whereas English is being perceived as a highly inclusive language (also due to its grammatical straightforwardness and lexicological richness) by speakers of other native languages in Britain (be it the autochthon minorities or migrants), in the Balkans, on the other hand, languages are being perceived as an exclusive propriety of the given ethnic group, which may even lead to artificial differences being introduced in them. The approach prevailing in Great Britain is clearly the one fostering better inter-ethnic cohabitation....