Original scientific paper

Formation of Nicknames in the Croatian language

Frane Malenica orcid.org/0000-0002-1926-1353 ; Odjel za anglistiku, Sveučilište u Zadru

Abstract

The formation of nicknames represents a prolific area of linguistic research, particularly at the international level, where two main types are identified – nicknames motivated by extralinguistic factors, and nicknames resulting from phonological similarity with the name or surname from which they are derived. This paper analyzes the formation of nicknames in the Croatian language based on a phonological template within the theoretical framework of Construction Morphology (CxM). Previous research on the formation of nicknames in other languages of the world, such as English, Japanese and Italian (Lappe 2007, Mester 1990, Itô and Mester 1997, Van Dam 2003, Alber 2010) indicates that this phonologically defined formation type is present in other languages, not just Croatian. The paper presents the data collected through research which included 113 native speakers of the Croatian language between the ages of 20 and 22. Data analysis shows that the phonological model of nickname formation is the most prevalent, and nicknames created by this model consist mainly of two syllables, with the second syllable open and the final vowel predominantly not identical to the vowel in the surname which the nickname was derived from. The paper formalizes this generalization through morphological schemas within the CxM framework.

Keywords

phonological template; Croatian; construction schemas; nicknames; word formation

Hrčak ID:

314202

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/314202

Publication date:

9.2.2024.

Article data in other languages: croatian

Visits: 649 *