Naslov
The rise of Shtokavian in Early Modern Croatia: A functional expansion

Autori
Eterović, Ivana ; Barbarić, Vuk-Tadija

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, neobjavljeni rad, znanstveni

Skup
12th Historical Sociolinguistics Network Conference 2023 (Language histories from above and from below)

Mjesto i datum
Bruxelles, Belgija, 31.05.2023. - 02.06.2023

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
Croatian, Early Modern Period, biblical texts, vernacular, Chakavian, Shtokavian

Sažetak
By the end of the 15th century, the three groups of dialects that make up the Croatian language – Chakavian, Kajkavian and Shtokavian – had already developed their unique linguistic characteristics. Both Chakavian and Shtokavian features can be found in texts dating from the 12th century, while the earliest traces of Kajkavian are two or three centuries younger. However, during the Late Middle Ages, Chakavian and Shtokavian did not have the same prestige and status. Chakavian was used in various functional domains, while Shtokavian was mainly used in legal and administrative texts. This difference can be clearly seen in canonical texts, such as biblical translations, where the use of Shtokavian is scarce. In the Early Modern Period, there was a gradual functional expansion of Shtokavian, indicating a shift in prestige and status of the Croatian vernaculars. Shtokavian began to appear more frequently in biblical texts, which were traditionally the most conservative text type. The central question in Early Modern Croatian literacy was related to the choice of the basis of the literary language. The use of Shtokavian in Croatian Protestant editions, which were created ‘from above’, played a symbolic role while in Dubrovnik lectionaries dating from the 16th century, there was a significant shift towards Shtokavian in the basis of the literary language instigated ‘from below’. This presentation will investigate the socio-political factors that contributed to the functional expansion of the Shtokavian vernacular language during the Early Modern Period in Croatia, with a specific focus on the language situation in Dubrovnik in the 16th century. The study will utilise a corpus of Croatian biblical texts to illustrate the vernacularisation process. Additionally, the research will delve deeper into the methodology of studying the functional expansion of vernacular languages in Early Modern Croatia.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija

POVEZANOST RADA