GOVORI ZAPADNOHERCEGOVAČKIH HRVATA U KONTEKSTU HRVATSKOGA JEZIKA
SPOKEN LANGUAGE OF WESTHERZEGOVINIAN CROATS IN CROATIAN LANGUAGE CONTEXT

Summary/Abstract: The paper analyzes spoken language of Westherzegovinian Croats in the context of Croatian language as a whole. It is emphasised that this spoken language as a part of Croatian new-'štokavian' 'ikavian' dialect represents partly the foundations of the norm of the modern Croatian literary language. The analysis shows that in the 20th ct. this spoken language preserved many words that have, for centuries, been a part of Croatian literary works, written documents as well as Croatian local speeches in Croatia and in indigenous communities in old Croatian diaspora in Central Europe. Naturally, many of those linguistic realisations have been preserved till now. That is the reason why in this paper we deal with words and expressions of Croatian Westherzegovinian spoken language in the context of different Croatian idioms in history and in present. We analyze some phonological and morphological elements, whereas special attention is paid to the lexis. It is emphasised that for the preservation of national identity not only the norm of Croatian literary language is important, but also different linguistic elements of the local speeches that are quite often a silent link between Croatian linguistic past and present. Numerous examples from the spoken language of Westherzegovinian Croats are an important link in that Croatian linguistic chain.

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