Standard Croatian

B

Bilmemki

New Member
English
Hi there! Can someone tell me where in Croatia they speak the variety of Croatian that people (even if irrationally) regard as the "best" or "most correct" Croatian? I know that from the viewpoint of linguistics there is no such a thing, but socially, in most countries, ordinary people usually still feel that a particular variety of their national language is more standard, elegant, good, correct, proper, pure, etc. than the other varieties. In the case of Croatia, where would that be?

Hvala vam...
 
    • Possibly it could be Slavonian or Herzegovian neoshtokavian dialects (there are also old shtokavian dialects in Slavonia, very different), since they're the closest to standard pronunciation, but they can also be perceived as rural and low-class. (Indeed, they're far from being well-developed regions.) The problem is that some big cities, including Zagreb (or at least its native population, which grew up in the city), find the standard pronunciation relatively foreign (not a different language, of course, but difficult to learn properly, and possibly it can sound "primitive" too to their ear). The dialects of the dominant cities are frequently what many people perceive as the standard, even if it's substantially different from it.

    If you can read Croatian, I recommend checking out Jezični utjecaj velikih gradova

    Basically the standard pronunciation in Croatia is in a very vague position.
     
    You must log in or register to reply here.
    Back
    Top