Croatology, Vol. 16 No. 1, 2025.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.59323/k.16.1.2
About Croatian Feminives and Their Russian Equivalents
Artur Rafaelovič Bagdasarov
Abstract
The paper describes and analyzes individual Croatian feminives and their equivalents in Russian. Various dictionary entries in the Croatian terminology project Struna were used for the analysis. In some of the examples, the criterion for selecting the original Croatian term and its translated Russian equivalent when comparing the styles of the two languages is not entirely clear. Many Russian speakers prefer not to use unsettled feminine nouns that denote the names of certain positions and professions because of their stylistic negative connotation, believing that they can cause unwanted associations, indicate a person’s unprofessionalism, etc. In most cases, masculine nouns as in Croatian
and Russian literary languages can be used to name people of both sexes, and feminine nouns can be used only in the feminine gender. Nouns of both genders are not gender marked, but feminine ones are marked. The emergence of feminists, especially feminist-neologisms, can create or is creating such an opposition. The article also describes a failed attempt to convert masculine nouns of both genders (učitelji, ravnatelji, ministar), denoting positions and professions, into only feminine nouns and genders (učiteljica, ravnateljica, ministrica) in the Croatian law on teaching aids in primary and secondary schools. Some destructive movements in support of unsettled feminist neologisms may disrupt
the natural course of development of the Croatian literary language and society.
Keywords
feminitives; translation equivalents; terminology; term; gender equality
Hrčak ID:
330128
URI
Publication date:
14.4.2025.
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