Croatian Studies Review, Vol. 6 No. 1, 2010.
Original scientific paper
The Croatian language in the expanding transnational space
Walter F. Lalich
; Macquarie University, Sydney
Abstract
This contribution analyses dynamics of the Croatian language in the changing social
environment and the expanding Australian-Croatian transnational social space. It is a language
of communication and adaptation to a new home, a constitutive element of institutional
completeness in the Croatian diaspora, and embedded in Australian cultural diversity. As a
symbol of migrant identity it is also a medium of linkages and exchange, of communication flows
between two spatially distant nodes, or homes. Australian-Croatian transnational social space has
evolved out of countless linkages at the grass roots level over the past century. Dramatic social,
political and technological changes replaced the impact of large scale migration to Australia with
the enhanced flow of investment, tourism and return migration to Croatia. Such developments
generate new perspectives for the Croatian language in transnational social spaces established
from below, providing it with new dynamics of cultural and commercial exchange in addition to
representation of identity in a culturally diverse society. Such developments provides perspectives
for this embattled language as an important medium of communication in transnational space
and as a companion language (alongside major global languages) to travellers and a culturally
hybrid second generation in an ever expanding transcultural space.
Keywords
migrants; Croatian language; communication; identity; second generation; hybridity; transnational social space; below; institutional completeness
Hrčak ID:
86329
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2010.
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