Review article
https://doi.org/10.22210/jezik.2024.71.06
Defense Mechanisms of Language Communities
Marko Kovačić
Abstract
Nations whose identity is based on their language have various strategies to defend their
language from external influence. Their speakers are aware of the importance of that preservation
to different degrees. Some societies implement this preservation through institutions
or leave it to individuals, while in others there is linguistic anarchy. In the field, there are
no obvious parallels between social and linguistic structures. Extreme anarchy is opposed
by extreme purism, and the article highlights some positive examples of possible solutions
applicable to other nations, not only for the sake of preserving unthreatened languages from
barbarisms but ultimately for the survival of languages and nations in general.
Keywords
descriptivism and prescriptivism; purism; barbarisms; institutionalized language maintenance
Hrčak ID:
320993
URI
Publication date:
1.4.2024.
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