engleski

ELF vs. American and British English: Insights from Croatia

The paper analyses the results of a questionnaire- based study on English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) conducted among 103 Croatian university students of English. The respondents tend to describe ELF in two ways: as (mostly American) English used in international communication or as a simplified, neutral type of English. They hold that British English (BE) differs from ELF to a larger extent than American English (AE). In addition, BE is perceived as more stylistically marked and culturally bound. Conversely, AE is seen as simpler and less tied to a particular historical, cultural and geographical context, and thus is perceived as ‘everyone’s language’. Most of the respondents, however, believe that ELF should not equal either AE or BE. When asked which English they spoke and whether their use of English was situationally determined, the respondents largely claim to speak AE in all contexts due to high levels of exposure to it, but some opt for BE in academic communication. A number of respondents were unable to determine which variety they used, or said they spoke a neutral type of English, defined by them as a mixture of BE and AE. Some explicitly said they did not want to sound native, as they felt that it would be artificial and pretentious. The respondents’ opinion on whether the widespread use of English constitutes a threat to Croatian was also elicited. The danger is exclusively seen to lie in numerous words of English origin, while the perception of potential domain loss is virtually non-existent.

ELF ; British English ; American English ; Croatian ; language attitudes

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