Naslov
Attitudes of Croatian language speakers to the influence of English on Croatian

Autori
Drljača Margić, Branka

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Skup
3rd Conference on Language Contact in Times of Globalization

Mjesto i datum
Greifswald, Njemačka, 30.06.2011. - 02.07.2011

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
anglicisms ; attitudes ; language use ; popularisation of native equivalents

Sažetak
Attitudes of the public towards the influence of English on their respective languages have been investigated for years in a large number of linguistic communities (e.g. Hyrkstedt, Kalaja 1997, Oakes 2001, Alexieva 2002, Corr 2001, Greenall 2005). In Croatia only linguists, representatives of the official language policy, have expressed their attitudes to the influence of the English language and have in a way ignored the attitudes of speakers. In view of the fact that speakers, representatives of the unofficial language policy, to a large extent dictate the direction of language policy-making (Kaplan, Baldauf 1997, Preisler 2003, Spolsky 2004), the paper aims to investigate their attitudes towards Anglicisms and their Croatian equivalents, that is, towards their use in formal and informal contexts and in different domains. The author also investigated speakers’ attitudes towards protecting Croatian from the influence of English by popularising Croatian equivalents of Anglicisms. Findings of the study conducted by the author among 244 Croatian university students suggest that the respondents’ attitudes show two contradictory tendencies: a purist trend and a modern counter-trend characterised by a weakening of purist tendencies. The respondents agree that Croatian equivalents should be popularised, although they do not support all methods in equal measure. The majority of respondents believe that the equivalents should be popularised through their use in the means of public communication and that the influence of English on Croatian should get more media attention in the sense of making speakers familiar with equivalents of Anglicisms and consequently enriching their vocabulary with (only) partially synonymous expressions. The minority of respondents support the popularisation of Croatian equivalents of Anglicisms through language laws, declarations and campaigns, while in the opinion of the majority of respondents such methods hinder spontaneous language development and represent extreme purism which is nowadays impossible to carry through. The analysis of results shows that the respondents have more positive attitudes towards the use of Anglicisms in informal contexts, while Croatian equivalents are more appropriate in formal discourse. Likewise, the respondents’ attitudes are contextually differentiated according to different domains. Positive attitudes are exhibited toward the use of Anglicisms in everyday communication, show business, youth magazines, computing and modern technology, while negative attitudes are directed towards their use in daily newspapers, education, literature and political speeches. The large majority of respondents still expect (formal) public discourse to create norms and standards, which implies the use of native equivalents of Anglicisms. Although they believe that Croatian equivalents should be used and popularised to a larger extent, they doubt whether enough effort and time is invested in their creation ; thus they find some of these equivalents awkward, exaggerated and imprecise. According to the majority of respondents, this problem, along with Croatian speakers' desire to distance themselves from numerous and aggressive changes which they perceive to have characterised the Croatian language in the last decade of the 20th century, often leads to uncritical rejection of Croatian equivalents of Anglicisms.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija

POVEZANOST RADA