Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21857/90836c7pry
Forms of Address in the Kajkavian Literary Language
Barbara Štebih Golub
orcid.org/0000-0003-2192-2947
; Institut za hrvatski jezik i jezikoslovlje
Abstract
This paper presents the results of a case study of address in the Kajkavian
literary language of the 19th century. The methodology is informed by the recent
research of address in Slavic langauges (Berger 1995, 1996, 1998, Berger and
Betsch 2003, Betsch 2000, 2019), while the corpus for the study consists of the
selected works of Ignac Kristijanović (Blagorečja za vse celoga leta nedelje na
dve strani razdeljena, 1830, Vladimir, 1832, Grammatik der kroatischen Mundart
1837, Anhang zur Grammatik der kroatischen Mundart 1840, Ezopuševe basne
pohorvačene, 1843, Danica zagrebečka, 1844, 1845, 1846).
The analysis shows that Kristijanović described a three-degree address system
in his grammar, and that he applied it in his literary works: the second person
singular (ti), the second person plural (Vi), and the third person plural (Oni). It
is an address system borrowed from German, which confirms that the Kajkavian
literary language belongs to Berg's western group.
According to the data from the corpus, the symmetric address using ti
signalizes closeness, while the asymmetric one signalizes a significantly lower
standing of the addressee. Addressing with Vi functions as a middle level of
politeness, and it is used in addressing the members of the middle class and by
parents when addressing their children in that class. A small number of examples
of that address form points to a growing tendency in the development of the
Kajkavian literary language, namely a widening of the domain of the address
form Oni at the expense of the address form Vi.
The address form Oni was used reciprocally among the higher members of the
society and asymmetrically when members of the lower social class addressed
members of the higher social class. The honorific that, according to Kristijanović’s
grammar, existed in the literary Kajkavian is not confirmed in the corpus.
Keywords
Kristijanović; forms of address; Kajkavian literary language
Hrčak ID:
269250
URI
Publication date:
27.12.2021.
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