Linguistic Borrowing and Purism in the Croatian Language
Linguistic Borrowing and Purism in the Croatian Language

Summary/Abstract: In this paper we present a series of evident and latent as well as direct and indirect influences of foreign languages on Croatian. We consider linguistic borrowing through the prisms of purism in contemporary European languages and of implicit and explicit purism in Croatian. We argue that Croatian linguistic purism is consonant with similar activities taking place in other European languages, addressing the same issues according to the same criteria, and that it has been a constant feature of the language, varying only in the degree of intensity. Croatian, as a traditionally purist language, has not accepted foreign language models passively, but has adapted loanwords according to its rules, at the same time activating its expressive potential by creating calques as substitutes for foreign language models.

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