Croatology, Vol. 1 No. 1, 2010.
Review article
Cultural and Historical Context of Creating Calques in the Croatian Language
Marija Turk
orcid.org/0000-0002-3303-7964
; Filozofski fakultet, Rijeka, Hrvatska
Maja Opašić
orcid.org/0000-0003-4310-2835
; Filozofski fakultet, Rijeka, Hrvatska
Abstract
Calques represent a latent form of linguistic borrowing. In its larger sense, the term refers to any form of the exchange of foreign formational features for those of the proper language. Because of the latent form of borrowing, calques are more difficult to identify than the loans. In their identification, apart from the linguistic indicators (correspondence of the forms in the source language and correspondence of the meaning in both languages), very significant are
cultural and historical factors of a foreign pattern takeover. Because of language similarities, especially among related languages, and possible poligeneze, it is cultural and historical factors that may be reliable indicators of calque origin model. Cultural and historical context is constituted by many factors of extralinguistic borrowing: direct geographical contact, national and political ties, economic, civilizational and scientific-technical ties and cultural diffusion between two or more nations and their languages. The knowledge of cultural and historical context indicate which lexical category has been susceptible to the influence of one language, and which one to the other. In addition, the extralinguistic context of language borrowing reveals the broadening of the calque patterns from the source language, through one or more intermediary language, to the target language. Without the knowledge of the intermediary language, one could not determine the manner in which certain calques have been
shaped, the type of changes in their formational structure and meaning developed from the initial model to final form.
Keywords
linguistic borrowing; calques; Croatian; foreign language
Hrčak ID:
60218
URI
Publication date:
27.10.2010.
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