Original scientific paper
The Problem of Neuter Gender in the Speech of Croatians from Karaševo
Ivana Olujić
; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
Caraşovian speeches, preserved for centuries in seven villages in Banat, are
continuously exposed to the impact of the Romanian language. Changes in the
system of gender, more specifically neuter in the Croatian language which is
spoken in the village of Caraşova, can be attributed to the influence of the
Romanian language. In Caraşovian speech, the pronoun `ono' (`it') as a personal
pronoun does not exist anymore, and a neuter noun is replaced by a masculine
gender pronoun `on' (`him'), which corresponds to the situation in the Romanian
language. Using the masculine form of `on' (`him') affects attributes or parts
of predicate, which also appear in masculine gender, matching the pronoun.
Generally, in sentences in which the subject (neuter) is dropped, adjectives
appear as masculine. But if the subject is explicit, the adjective is usually
in neuter singular (with rare exceptions), but in plural adjective words come
both in neuter and masculine gender. Although this process significantly
influenced the structure of speech, the gender system is still preserved, but
there are clear trends towards the reduction of the system with three branches
(masculine, feminine and neuter) to two (masculine and feminine).
Keywords
Caraşova; neuter; Romanian; Croatian; languages in contact
Hrčak ID:
52608
URI
Publication date:
30.12.2009.
Visits: 2.271 *