Govor, Vol. 38 No. 2, 2021.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.22210/govor.2021.38.10
Location of accent in loanwords in the speech of Osijek
Lorna Rajle
orcid.org/0000-0002-0522-4236
; Centre for Providing Services in Community Klasje Osijek, Croatia
Abstract
Much of the research has shown that Croatian speakers do not follow the basic accentuation
rule of Croatian speech, according to which the falling accent should not be used on any syllable of the word except the first one. Generally, the falling accent appears in the combination of pre-accentuated and accentuated words, as well as in loanwords, singular nouns in vocative, singular and plural nouns in genitive, proper nouns, compound words, stylistic words and some verb forms (Brozović, 1954; Matešić, 2009; Moskatelo, 1954; Pranjković, 2009; Škarić, 2002, 2007; Škarić & Lazić, 2002; Škarić et al., 1987; Škavić, 1994;
Varošanec-Škarić, 2003). Such accent realisation is to be found among a number of native speakers of the Neo-Stokavian four-accent system, which has partly been the basis of the Croatian orthoepic norm. In the speech of Osijek, as one of the examples of the Neo-Stokavian dialect, many speakers stress these words following the abovementioned rule, however the use of falling accent on the non-initial syllables has been detected, as well. As a contribution to the description of practices which might lead to the agreement of theory and practice, this paper describes the accent realisations of the people of Osijek in pronouncing loanwords (especially derivatives with the suffixes -st, -nt, -or, and -log, as well as the non-derivative loanwords which are by analogy seen as similar to these derivatives) and feminine variants of feminine-masculine pairs, whose roots are masculine loanwords ending in -nt, -or and -st including the conditions under which these words are pronounced by using a falling accent on the non-beginning syllable. The data has been collected by analysing the reading samples of 90 people from Osijek, distributed in three groups by age. The comparison of the results has led to conclusions about the tendencies of accent changes in the speech of Osijek. The research has shown that, in the speech of Osijek, the frequency of falling accent use on the non-initial syllable in loanwords increases with the number of syllables, however the number of minimal syllables for it to appear depends on the loanword suffix. It has also been detected that the speakers in the oldest age group are more prone to changing the falling tone into a rising one and to accent shift, which is the feature of standard pronunciation. On the other hand, the youngest speakers pronounce the falling accent on the non-initial syllable. Taking this into consideration, we may assume that the habit of changing the falling tone into a rising one and using the accent shift will, in time, be lost in the speech of Osijek.
Keywords
speech of Osijek; accent; loanwords; orthoepic norm; usage
Hrčak ID:
273888
URI
Publication date:
15.3.2022.
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