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Language Variation - European Perspectives VI: Selected papers from the Eighth International Conference on Language Variation in Europe (ICLaVE 8), Leipzig, May 2015
Edited by Isabelle Buchstaller and Beat Siebenhaar
[Studies in Language Variation 19] 2017
► pp. 215–232

Variation in Croatian

The verbal behaviour of rural speakers in an urban speech community

| University of Zadar
This paper’s objectives are to acquire general insight into the verbal behaviour (VB) of young speakers from the rural (island, coast, and hinterland) areas surrounding the Croatian coastal town of Zadar by examining the reported use of spoken and written codes as well as the social indexicalities of different varieties. The hypothesis is that, while socializing and communicating with speakers of urban varieties, speakers of less dominant (i.e. rural Čakavian or Neo-Štokavian) varieties tend to accommodate and converge linguistically as a consequence of their language attitudes and stereotypes. My research reveals that rural speakers generally accommodate, that island and coastal speakers accommodate more than hinterland speakers, and that women generally accommodate more than men.
Keywords: Croatian, Čakavian, Štokavian, Neo-Štokavian, Dalmatian regional koine, rural vs. urban, stereotypes, linguistic accommodation, identity, verbal behaviour
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Hypothesis and objectives
  • 3.Method and problems of method
  • 4.The controlled process of self-representation as an act of identity
  • 5.Geographical markers as social markers
    • 5.1The dynamics of rural speakers’ identity construction
    • 5.2Differences in verbal behaviour based on the hinterland – island/coast duality
    • 5.3Gender and perceived accommodation
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 26 July 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/silv.19.14ske
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2020. Another arrow for the quiver: a new methodology for multilingual researchers. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 41:7 ► pp. 567 ff. DOI logo

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