Croatica et Slavica Iadertina is a scientific journal with an international editorial and scientific advisory board which is published by the Department of Croatian Studies and Department of Russian Studies of the University of Zadar, and it is financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Education. It was first published in 2005 as an annual journal. Since 2011 it has been published biannually in both print and electronic form. Electronic versions of both issues are published no later than December of the calendar year to which the issue refers. The journal exclusively publishes previously unpublished articles. It is primarily intended for dissemination of new findings in Croatian and Slavic studies, but it also publishes research findings in other humanities, if it is estimated that they encourage interdisciplinarity as well as theoretical and methodological innovations in Croatian and Slavic studies. Apart from research articles, classified as Original Scientific Paper, Preliminary Communication, Review Article, or Professional Paper, in the section »Material«, the journal also publishes critical editions of shorter unknown or unpublished sources which impose new research questions to literary historiography, as well as critical reviews of important monographs, new issues of serial publications, scientific conferences, and online research tools, but also a smaller number of occasional articles. Except on Hrčak (https://hrcak.srce.hr/casopis/164), the electronic version of the journal is also published on the Online Publishing Platform by the University of Zadar: https://morepress.unizd.hr/journals/csi. Articles are exclusively received in electronic form at csi.unizd@gmail.com. Authors are not charged for publication of the paper. Neither authors nor reviewers are paid for their work. Duties and responsibilities of authors, the Editorial Board, and reviewers are based on the COPE guidelines (https://publicationethics.org and https://publicationethics.org/files/u2/Best_Practice.pdf). Received contributions are treated as confidential. Upon submission, contributions are anonymised in order to ensure fully impartial editorial evaluation based on the content. After inspecting the previously anonymised manuscript, the Editorial Board makes a decision about initiation of the review process and selection of reviewers. The Editorial Board reserves the right to reject, in a written justification, without starting the review process, research manuscripts which are deficient in research or whose content is not connected with the scope of the journal. The Editorial Board makes a decision about publication of research articles as well as their classification after two positive external double-blind reviews. Manuscripts which receive one positive and one negative review in the first round of reviews must be evaluated by a third reviewer. Authors are provided with anonymised reviews. The journal is listed in Linguistic Bibliography, Bibliography of Slavic Linguistics, Humanities International Index, Humanities Source Ultimate, as well as in European Reference Index for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (ERIH PLUS). The journal was classified as A1 journal in the field of humanities by the National Council for Science, Higher Education, and Technological Development (NN 72/2019). Review: double review, double-blind review, national and international, only categorised papers First year of publication: 2005 Frequency (annually): 2 Scientific disciplines and subdisciplines: literature, philology, humanistic sciences Author Guidelines (PDF) Guidelines for reviewers (docx) Publication Ethics Statement and Rights of Use (docx) Editorial board - contacts (docx) Rights: Croatica et Slavica Iadertina supports DOAJ principles of open access. Authors are not charged for publication of papers by the journal. Authors retain the copyright to their paper and the right to publish without restrictions. Free of charge and without delay, users can read, download, copy, distribute, print, or search the material, provide links to it, as well as modify or use it in other legal ways with obligatory citation of the original source in accordance with the CC BY 4.0 licence. Requests for subscription to the printed version of the journal should be sent to izdavastvo@unizd.hr
Ethnic Stereotypes in the Croatian Dialect Idioms
Idioms are an inexhaustible source for analysing human perception of the world and one’s relationship to it. In this context, a high frequency of negatively connoted idioms is often observed. Analyses usually focus on differences among national idioms, while dialectal idioms are treated only marginally. Previous phraseological research has confirmed that many idioms reflect a large number of prejudices and stereotypes. Some of these stereotypical phraseological units are attested in several languages – some only in a single language, and others only in a particular dialect or local speech. Although interest in the study of stereotypes in individual dialects has been increasing in recent years, a comprehensive description of ethnic stereotypes across all Croatian dialects is still lacking. Therefore, the aim of this research is to examine the available dialectal phraseological material from all three Croatian dialects: Kajkavian, Čakavian, and Štokavian. The material was collected in two ways: by excerpting idioms from available written sources in which ethnic stereotypes are attested, as well as through field research. The analysis sought to determine which ethnonyms are the most frequent, which are attested in idioms of all three Croatian dialects, which are specific to a particular local speech, and which stereotypes prevail. The results have shown that, regardless of dialectal and spatial differences among Croatian dialects, most ethnic stereotypes are shared by the entire speech community. The differences that do appear reflect the specific characteristics of individual communities and the roles that members of certain ethnic groups have played or continue to play within them.
Copyright (c) 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Characterisation in the Novel Knjiga gorkog prijekora (The Book of Bitter Reproach) by Ivan Aralica
The constellation of history and literary fiction in the consciousness of the recipient is fundamentally determined by the author’s skill in characterisation and in realising literary reality. The multiple literary affirmation of the Croatian writer Ivan Aralica, achieved through his historical novels, gains particular significance with his novel Knjiga gorkog prijekora (The Book of Bitter Reproach), which is the subject of this paper. Through reflection on his own historical knowledge of the city of Zadar and of one of the most valuable fourteenth-century Croatian monuments – the Chest of Saint Simeon, commissioned by Queen Elizabeta in honour of the local saint and for the purpose of strengthening the alliance between Zadar and the Hungarian crown – Aralica constructs the identities of his characters. The destruction of a city and the construction of the historical figure of Elizabeta Kotromanić through the literary character of a young girl fundamentally reflect Aralica’s ability to portray the inner states of his heroes and heroines, regardless of the level of historical and semantic hierarchy to which they belong. An interpretation of Aralica’s literary technique, most evident in his methods of characterisation and portrayal of social conditions, confirms the contemporary and original nature of his literary conception.
Elma Durmišević: Univerbacija u bosanskom jeziku. Biblioteka Bosnistika. Monografije, knjiga 26. Sarajevo: Slavistički komitet, 2023. 234 str. ISBN: 978-9958-648-30-4 UDK: 821.163.4 DOI: 10.15291/csi.5082
Occasionalism and Neoderivatives as a Reflection of Linguistic Creativity (Based on the Comments on YouTube Social Network)
This paper investigates figurative linguistic expressions that reflect features of creative thinking, pragmatic potential, value stereotypes, and evaluative attitudes and opinions of participants in discussions of comment sections under video content. Here special consideration is given to the thematic polyphony of comments under socio-political videos, including remarks, dialogues, ideological and emotional narratives, as well as those associated with participants in communicative interaction speech acts and interjectional phraseology. This study investigates mechanisms behind the formation of neolisms, through the phenomena of affixations, contaminations, phraseological and nominal derivatives, and wordplays with precedent names. The resulting analysis suggests a high prevalence of complex derivative occasionalisms that emerge from slang, substandard language, and colloquial forms, all of which often carry a pejorative connotation. The adopted methodology allows for identification of diverse strategies of language play in social media discourse, including semantic polysemy (combining literal and phraseological associated meanings), homonymy, wordformation and paronymic attraction, figures of double repetition, allusions, assonance, graphic hybridisation and deformation, as well as transformation of established expressions.
Адаптация произведения Н. В. Гоголя «Повесть о том, как поссорилсяИван Иванович с Иваном Никифоровичем» в репертуаре Словацкогонационального театра
Статья посвящена анализу адаптации повести Н. В. Го- голя «Повесть о том, как поссорился Иван Иванович с Иваном Никифоровичем» в постановке Словацкого национального театра, созданной режиссёром Олегом Липцыным. Цель исследования состоит в выявлении особенностей сценической интерпретации классиче- ского текста и его трансформации в современном куль- турном контексте. Методологическую основу работы составляют современные теории адаптации литератур- ного произведения для сцены, а также аналитический подход театральной семиотики и перформативные ис- следования, позволяющие рассматривать спектакль как интерпретативное и культурно обусловленное событие. Автор показывает, как классическое произведение XIX века, основанное на сатирическом изображении челове- ческой мелочности и бессмысленных тяжб, приобретает новое звучание в современном словацком культурном контексте. Рассматриваются особенности сценогра- фического решения, включая камерное пространство Синего салона, символическое оформление домов пер- сонажей и гротескное раздвоение роли Ивана Никифо- ровича и Агафьи Федосеевны. Особое внимание уделе- но превращению комического гоголевского материала в трагико-аллегорическую форму: сцена с уничтожением иска фигурой свиньи, появление персонажа-инвалида войны и финальная проекция кадров конфликтов созда- ют ассоциации с актуальными геополитическими собы- тиями, хотя слово война не звучит на сцене. Постанов- ка демонстрирует, как локальный бытовой спор может стать метафорой разрушительного отчуждения, а адап- тация классики превращается в инструмент культурного диалога. Работа подчёркивает общественный отклик на спектакль, его политическую и художественную много- слойность, а также значимость вклада О. Ф. Липцына в современную словацкую театральную среду.
«Стихи о неизвестном солдате» Осипа Мандельштама:опыт медленного прочтения
Цель статьи – пояснить несколько фрагментов одно- го из наиболее сложных для понимания произведений Осипа Мандельштама. Источниками неясности в худо- жественном тексте, в частности, являются: 1) обильное использование переносов, зачастую лишённых контек- стуальной поддержки, необходимой для однозначного истолкования (что характерно для символизма, техни- ку которого применяли Александр Блок, Марина Цве- таева, Осип Мандельштам); 2) опора на конситуацию, известную не всем адресатам либо нарочито завуали- рованную; 3) отягощённость не всегда опознаваемыми интертекстуальными ассоциациями и др. Для достиже- ния поставленной цели разработана полиаспектная ме- тодика анализа тёмных мест, в инструментарий которой входят анализ горизонтального и вертикального контек- ста, конситуативное тестирование, приёмы трансформа- ционного анализа и др.; на этой основе составлен ряд пояснений. Так, центральным образом данного текста, написанного в риторически возвышенном, торжествен- ном стиле, является фантасмагорически гротескное изображение газовой атаки, символически сконцентри- ровавшее в себе ужасы войны. Контекстуальный анализ показал, что речь идёт об иприте, поскольку он вызыва- ет: 1) появление язв, на месте которых впоследствии об- разуются рубцы, напоминающие следы от оспы: отсюда метафорический эпитет оспенный, отнесённый Осипом Мандельштамом к этому газу; 2) удушье: отсылку к дан- ному факту содержит стих И бороться за воздух прожи- точный ‘задыхаться’. Принятая в научной литературе трактовка этого газа как фосгена сомнительна, так как фосген не оставляет на коже следов. Изображение атаки выполнено с применением техники остраняющего за- темнения, поскольку: 1) прямая номинация физиологи- ческих явлений (таких, как язвы, удушье, рвота и т. п.) несовместима с высоким стилем повествования; 2) за- темнение придаёт описанию профетический характер и эвристическую ценность. Следует полагать, что значи- мая для стихотворной речи необходимость поддержа- ния стопного размера и производства нужной рифмы, накладывая существенные ограничения на выбор слов, влияя на их порядок, приводит к смысловым аномалиям и затемнению смысла, а тем самым – и к относитель- ной (по сравнению с прозой) терпимости стихотворной речи: 1) смысловой инкогерентности; 2) определённой степени затемнённости как стилевой норме.
Seductive Storytelling: Geoffrey Miller’s Hypothesis on the Role of Sexual Selection in the Evolution of Narrative Creativity
In this paper, I present and criticise Geoffrey Miller’s hypothesis concerning the decisive role of sexual selection in the evolution of narrative creativity. The paper is structured in three parts. In the first part, I present the theory of sexual selection and outline the reasons why Miller applies it beyond its original biological domain. I examine Darwin’s distinction between natural and sexual selection in more detail, showing how Miller reinterprets the latter as a process that shapes not only physical but also some mental characteristics of organisms. According to Miller, specifically human mental traits – such as language, artistic creation, morality, and creativity – evolved in the context of courtship as fitness indicators on the basis of which members of both sexes chose their partners for reproduction. In the second part, I show that these traits do not meet the criteria by which fitness indicators are usually recognised. Such indicators should develop fully only after sexual maturity, should be less developed in individuals whose general physical condition is poor, and, generally speaking, should not primarily contribute to the organism’s chances of survival but might even reduce them. None of these conditions, however, can be said to apply to the mental abilities that Miller considers. In the third part, I critically reexamine and reject Miller’s claim that narrative creativity evolved for the purpose of courtship. Narrative creation is an activity that can be used for sexual competition – just like many other types of behaviour – but Miller does not provide sufficiently strong reasons to believe that it evolved specifically for that purpose.
The Role of Linguistic Transfer in Verb-Noun Collocations on the Example of Authentic Maritime Texts
This paper explores the role of foreign language proficiency and meaning transfer from the first language (L1, Croatian) to the second language (L2, English) among Maritime English students . The study informants were asked to evaluate the acceptability of verb-noun (VN) collocations presented in authentic maritime context by means of a lexical decision task. The task included 18 L2 collocations presented under three separate conditions: daJ1 (acceptable in L1) , daJ2 (acceptable in L2) , and neJ1/J2 (unacceptable in both languages) . To assess L2 language proficiency, an online LexTALE test was used that estimates the overall vocabulary knowledge of English. Results show that the expressions existing in Croatian were rated more often as acceptable, suggesting that meaning transfer from the first language is frequently used as a learning strategy for collocations. However, the Pearson correlation test revealed a weak to moderate positive relationship between success on the LexTALE test and correct responses on the lexical decision task, suggesting that the use of L1 transfer as a learning strategy is not dictated by the level of L2 language proficiency . The students with higher knowledge of English applied other strategies such as guessing from the context, while those with lower proficiency relied more on L1 transfer as a supportive strategy. This suggests that the connection between L2 proficiency and successful recognition of L2 collocations was confirmed, which has implications for improving vocabulary teaching methodology in the field of LSP (Languages for Specific Purposes). This research contributes to theoretical insights on language transfer and practical knowledge for improving vocabulary instruction in specialised fields such as the maritime profession, where precise and functional knowledge of technical vocabulary is crucial for professional communication.
Diminutives and Augmentatives in Translation: An Exploratory Systemic-Functional Study of Dubravka Ugrešić’s Novel Baba Yaga Laid an Egg
This paper reports on an exploratory cross-linguistic study of the semantic domain of diminution and augmentation. Drawing on Systemic-Functional Linguistics (SFL), it investigates how meanings of smallness and largeness—realised through morphological and lexical resources such as diminutives and augmentatives—operate in narrative discourse. The study focuses on Dubravka Ugrešić’s Baba Jaga je snijela jaje, more specifically the first part of the novel, which is characterised by the narrator’s extensive use of expressions of diminution to depict her mother’s personality and behaviour. These include both the narrator’s evaluative stance and her representation of her mother’s own speech, in which diminutives and augmentatives serve as linguistic markers of frailty, both physical and psychological. We compiled a corpus of 200 sentences retrieved from Part I of the Croatian novel and its translations into Spanish, English, Italian, and Portuguese. Sentences were pasted onto a spreadsheet for manual alignment and identification of expressions of diminution and augmentation in the original and translated samples. First, we carried out a context-level analysis of the original and translated texts. Subsequently, we classified each instance into two categories: (i) diminutive/augmentative translated as diminutive/augmentative, and (ii) diminutive/ augmentative translated as non-diminutive/non-augmentative. We then computed the frequency of each class for each language pair (source–target language). Finally, we analysed the occurrences in terms of typological and registerial constraints and examined the data to identify translation choices potentially ascribable to the translator’s interpretive understanding of the source text. Our findings reveal that each language draws on distinct lexicogrammatical resources to express diminutive and augmentative meanings, with translators’ decisions shaping the representation of character and affect. More broadly, the study demonstrates how an SFL-based approach can illuminate the interplay between linguistic system, translation practice, and meaning-making across typologically diverse languages.
Взаимодействие словацкого и украинского языков в процессеинтеграции украинских мигрантов в Словакии
В данной статье основное внимание уделяется культур- ным и социальным аспектам интеграции мигрантов в принимающее общество, с особым акцентом на укра- инцев, прибывших в Словакию перед началом войны. Исследование направлено на анализ того, как языковая компетенция влияет на успешность адаптации мигрантов, их включённость в общественные отношения, а также на формирование чувства принадлежности к новой социо- культурной среде. В условиях возрастающей иммигра- ции в Центральной Европе вопрос о взаимосвязи между языковыми навыками и интеграционными процессами приобретает особую актуальность, поскольку язык высту- пает не только инструментом коммуникации, но и важным элементом идентичности и культурного самоопределения. В первой части статьи представлен теоретический обзор понятия культурной интеграции в научном дискурсе. Эмпирическая часть исследования основана на серии полуструктурированных интервью с украинскими ми- грантами, проживающими в различных регионах Слова- кии. Данный метод позволяет не только выявить общие тенденции, но и уловить индивидуальные различия в восприятии интеграции, мотивации к изучению языка, а также в оценке собственного опыта взаимодействия с местным сообществом. Интервью демонстрируют, что уровень владения словацким языком напрямую влияет на качество социальных связей, доступ к рынку труда и системе образования и даже на самооценку мигрантов. Те, кто активно изучает язык и использует его в повсед- невной коммуникации, отмечают более высокий уровень доверия со стороны местных жителей и ощущают себя частью общества.
Navigating Medical Language: Challenges and Importance of Clear Communication Between Physicians and Patients within the Croatian Healthcare System
Medical language is a specialised form of communication used by healthcare professionals in their daily practice and medical research. It is strongly influenced by globalisation and advancements in technology and science, leading to the continuous evolution of medical vocabulary and the development of new terms and meanings. Communication in healthcare depends on mutual understanding between physicians and their patients. However, this understanding is often hindered by the gap between the everyday language used by patients and the medical language used by physicians, which can create a communication barrier. A lack of comprehension and clear communication between patients and physicians may results in disagreements, conflicts, and even medical errors. This study examines how the use of medical language and terminology can impede communication with patients and explores the strategies that both patients and physicians use to achieve mutual understanding. The data analysed in this study were collected during fieldwork conducted in Zagreb between 2017 and 2020 using semi-structured interviews. This paper draws on the data from eleven semi-structured interviews in which medical language was identified as significant. Five interviews were conducted with healthcare users who had various health conditions and treatments, and six with physicians from different medical specialties. The study’s limited number of interlocutors is not intended to offer a general account of communication issues in Croatia’s public healthcare system. Instead, the research focuses on how wider systemic processes are reflected in the distinct experiences and perspectives of individual participants. These lived experiences highlight the continual importance of personal interaction and communication in patient–physician relationships and the effect it has on healthcare outcomes. However, despite advances in digital technologies and communication that can serve as a helpful tool in bridging communication gaps, improving communication is challenging within a strained healthcare system marked by staff shortages, long waiting times, regional disparities, and low wages.
Acquisition of the System of Personal Pronouns and Difficulties in Learning and Teaching Croatian as a Foreign Language
Person is an omnipresent and central linguistic category. Numerous parts of speech contain the category of person. It occurs directly in personal pronouns, while it is less directly manifested in the following word classes: determiners, verbs, possessive pronouns, and adjectives. Implicitly, the category of person is found in nouns. In different languages, the category of person is expressed in different ways, which in the case of teaching foreign languages can lead to certain difficulties in the initial phase. In European languages, differences in the systems are relatively small (mostly there are languages with a range of six to eight different forms for pronouns), but they can nevertheless cause certain difficulties in teaching and their correct use. The paper discusses the difficulties encountered when teaching Croatian as a foreign language. The focus is on the problems that arise in the initial phase when the student/ course participant encounters for the first time a relatively large system of personal pronouns that exists in the Croatian language (10 forms of personal pronouns). The corpus is composed of numerous instances of incorrect pronoun use collected in language courses held from 2017 to the present. Also, a smaller part of the corpus consists of examples taken from the following textbooks: Dobro došli (Barešić) and Razgovarajte s nama! A1-A2 (Čilaš-Mikulić et al.), which, in some cases, do not take into account the “logical” approach to the category of person, i.e., the perspective of the student/course participant who needs to be placed in a real speech situation: speaker-interlocutor.
Языковая картина подземного мира Мезерицкого укреплённого района:анализ избранных концептов
Целью настоящей статьи является анализ уникального эм- пирического материала – настенных надписей, собранных в одном из крупнейших подземных пространств Европы – фортификационных сооружениях, расположенных на западе Польши. Заброшенное на протяжении десятилетий пространство превратилось в своеобразную арену твор- ческой, в том числе письменной, активности человека. На протяжении многих лет художники, поэты, скауты и туристы оставляли на стенах тексты: стихи, афоризмы и философские размышления. Наибольшая часть надписей датируется 1980-ми годами и началом XXI века. В статье даётся характеристика языковых и содержа- тельных особенностей, найденных в подземных текстах, формирующих своеобразную языковую картину мира, отражающую способы восприятия действительности, ценностные установки, жизненные ориентиры и экзи- стенциальные поиски их авторов. Автор предпринимает попытку систематизации собранного материала, выде- ляет семантические доминанты в структуре текстов и описывает репрезентируемый ими фрагмент подземной языковой картины мира. Особое внимание уделяется тому, как языковой образ подземного пространства соотносится со спецификой материальной среды – лабиринтом коридоров, определяю- щим композиционно-смысловую организацию надписей. Продемонстрировано, каким образом человек концептуа- лизирует собственные симпатии, антипатии, сомнения и жизненные дилеммы, формируя индивидуализированную и нередко философски насыщенную картину мира. Рассматриваемые тексты представляют собой значимый элемент культурного наследия и форму выражения наци- ональной идентичности поляков. Полученные результаты обладают междисциплинарным потенциалом и могут быть применены в лингвистических, литературоведче- ских, культурологических, социологических и истори- ческих исследованиях, а также в рамках современного направления изучения лингвистического ландшафта.
Psychological Effects of the Text Genre Interview in the Croatian Pre-Election Campaign
The text genre interview is a specific journalistic genre that, due to its form of questions and answers, has the characteristics of immediate and authentic communication and therefore can have unique psychological effects on the addressee and their perception of the content. Given that political communication often relies on the direct communication of politicians to their potential voters, and most often in real time, the text genre interview represents the closest written text genre that achieves such an effect. The aim of this paper is to determine how the text genre interview functions as a means of persuasion and manipulation of voters during election campaigns and to demonstrate that it enables politicians to exert emotional influence on addressees. The study is based on an analysis of interviews published in the Croatian daily newspapers Novi list and Večernji list during the 2016 parliamentary pre-election campaign. A text-linguistic analysis of prototypical examples was carried out on three levels: communicative-pragmatic, thematic, and linguistic- stylistic levels, applying a model that also incorporates a politolinguistic component. Most of the analysed texts can be classified as assertive text types, subtype explicatives; however, given the specificity of the text genre interview, there are also appellative and persuasive subfunctions. Politicians employ selective emphasis of facts, metaphors, or emotionally charged statements to manipulate voters’ perceptions, making the text genre interview a powerful tool of political communication and influence during pre-election campaigns.
Перевод названий русскоязычных фильмов на английский язык
Перевод названий фильмов представляет собой особую лингвистическую и культурную задачу, требующую не только отличного знания языков, но и глубокого пони- мания менталитета целевой аудитории. Название фильма выполняет важную прагматическую функцию: оно при- влекает зрителя, отражает содержание, создаёт некото- рые ожидания и нередко определяет коммерческий успех киноленты. Целью настоящего исследования является анализ переводческих стратегий, используемых при пере- даче русскоязычных фильмонимов на английский язык, а также оценка степени их эквивалентности и адекватности. Материалом послужили названия фильмов, размещён- ных на платформе www.sovietmoviesonline.com. В ходе исследования1 применялись методы сплошной выборки и качественного анализа. Выявлены как неадаптивные (дословный перевод, транскрипция, транслитерация), так и адаптивные стратегии (опущение, добавление, пе- рестановка, жанровая адаптация, генерализация, конкре- тизация, грамматические и стилистические трансфор- мации, транскреация). Подчёркивается важность учёта культурных реалий и жанровых особенностей при выборе варианта перевода. Установлено, что в большинстве случаев переводчики стремятся к прагматической адаптации названия, делая его понятным и привлекательным для англоязычного зрителя. Это позволяет сохранить коммуникативную функцию оригинального названия, даже при значитель- ных лексико-грамматических преобразованиях. В резуль- тате анализа делается вывод, что адекватность перевода важнее буквальной эквивалентности, а успешная пере- дача фильмонима требует творческого подхода, знания лингвокультурного контекста и соблюдения баланса между формой и содержанием.
Detection of Machine-Translated Croatian-English Phrases: Do Translators Agree in their Assessment?
This study examines the extent to which machine-translated and human-translated Croatian–English phrases can be distinguished by expert evaluators by analysing inter-rater agreement. For this purpose, a parallel corpus was compiled from four Croatian research articles in the fields of Education and Psychology, together with their human translations and machine translations produced using the online tool onlinedoctranslator. com. Two professional translators, native speakers of Croatian with extensive translation experience, were asked to classify selected English translations of Croatian phrases as either machine-translated or human-translated. The analysis shows a raw inter-rater agreement of 75 % for both machine-translated and human-translated phrase sets, indicating a moderate level of agreement between the raters. These results suggest that even expert translators do not consistently reach the same conclusions when judging the origin of short, decontextualised translated phrases. The findings support the view that, at the phrase level, machine-translated output is increasingly difficult to distinguish from human translation on the basis of surface linguistic features alone.
Современные короткометражные фильмы в практике преподавания русского языка как иностранного
Natallia Kabiak: Learn Russian through Contemporary Short Film. London and New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2024. ISBN: 978-1-032-73938-0
Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Prvi beramski misal – izdanje iz zlatnoga doba hrvatskoga glagoljaštva
Prvi beramski misal: Hrvatskoglagoljični rukopis iz 15. stoljeća. Sv. 1: faksimil. Biblioteka Spomenici, knjiga 6. Glavni urednik Milan Mihaljević. Staroslavenski institut, Zagreb, 2024., 494 str. Prvi beramski misal: Hrvatskoglagoljični rukopis iz 15. stoljeća. Sv. 2: transliteracija. Biblioteka Spomenici, knjiga 6. Glavni urednik Milan Mihaljević. Staroslavenski institut, Zagreb, 2024., 554 str.
Important Ecolinguistic Insights into the Russian Linguistic Landscape and Discourse
Martin Henzelmann: Linguistik des ökologischen Diskurses. Untersuchungen zu Kommunikationsformen in Ökologie und Umweltschutz in der Russischen Föderation. Berlin, Brüssel: Peter Lang Verlag. 2024. ISBN: 978-363-190-118-2
Nova monografija o jeziku/jezicima u bosanskohercegovačkom zakonodavstvu
Emira Mešanović-Meša: Trojezičnost u bosanskohercegovačkom zakonodavstvu (Biblioteka Bosnistika, Monografije, knjiga 29, Slavistički komitet, Sarajevo, 2025, ISBN: 978-9958-648-40-3)
History, Fiction, and the Logic of Evil in Feđa Šehović’s Novel Oslobađanje đavola
Oslobađanje đavola (1987), together with Gorak okus duše (1983) and Uvod u tvrđavu (1989), constitutes a trilogy by Feđa Šehović (1930–2025), published under the pseudonym Raul Mitrovich, and is regarded as representative of the Croatian neo-historical novel. Starting from the insight into the characteristic poetic “duality” of this genre–its tendency towards contemporary postmodernist poetics (intertextuality, questioning the boundaries of fiction and reality, relationship between history and literature), while simultaneously relying on traditional elements of the historical novel (moral structure and didacticism)–Šehović’s novel is analysed from two perspectives. The first concerns intertextual strategies and ironic dialogue with historiographic discourse, which subvert the dominant narrative of the 1667 Dubrovnik earthquake and produce a counter-narrative that deconstructs the cultural myth of the Dubrovnik Republic. The second, moralistic aspect, associated with the eponymous motif of “releasing the devil”, involves an examination of evil as an anthropological constant and a driving force of history. History, as portrayed in the novel, appears as a cyclical repetition of violent patterns and is interpreted through the lens of René Girard’s mimetic theory, with particular attention to the manifestations of the scapegoat mechanism across different narrative levels. The double analytical approach highlights the ambivalent meanings of the relationship between literature and history: the novel uses intertextual procedures to relativise and erase the boundaries between history and fiction, but it also re-establishes them with its moral structure, making literature a privileged medium of moral knowledge.
Linguistic Landscape as an Indicator of the Sociolinguistic Situation in the Lower Vítkovice (Ostrava)
This paper explores the linguistic landscape of the Lower Vítkovice (DOV) area in Ostrava, focusing on the visibility of Polish as an indicator of the local sociolinguistic situation. The linguistic landscape is approached as a set of language practices in public space, whose visual and multimodal forms mirror broader cultural, ethnic, and communicative contexts. The analysis concentrates on Polish-language signs in DOV, a former industrial complex transformed into a cultural and educational hub and one of the most visited tourist sites in the Czech Republic. Findings show that Polish serves mainly as a supplementary code alongside Czech and English. Several types of multilingual signage are identified (duplicated, fragmentary, complementary), with Czech retaining dominance, while Polish often appears in reduced or stylistically inadequate forms. The occurrence of Polish inscriptions is linked primarily to tourism and labour migration rather than to the natural vitality of a minority community, as is the case in Czech Těšín region. Examples illustrate both inclusive practices (such as trilingual information boards) and potentially stigmatizing uses. Multimodal features play a crucial role in shaping comprehensibility and reception. The study thus provides not only a descriptive account but also a critical interpretation: Polish in DOV functions as a secondary yet stable language with symbolic and practical roles. Its presence in the public sphere indicates a degree of prestige and reflects deliberate efforts by a major cultural institution to accommodate cross-border visitors.
French Fairy Tales by Marko Vovchok and Mykola Tereshchenko’s Translation Strategy
The French-language heritage of Marko Vovchok remains understudied, particularly with regard to its translation analysis, which underlines the relevance and topicality of this article. This study analyses Mykola Tereshchenko’s Ukrainian translations of Vovchok’s French fairy tales, aiming to identify the characteristics of his translation strategy. For this purpose, the interpretive theory of translation (Seleskovitch & Lederer 1984), Berman’s concept of “deforming tendencies” (1984), and Venuti’s strategies (1995) were applied. The qualitative analysis is based on a comparative study of source and target texts. The results of this research demonstrate that a translator succeeded in achieving a balance in rendering original Vovchok’s idiostyle. The study has proved that the dominant translation strategy was domestication which, as a form of adaptation, inevitably involves the application of lexical and stylistic transformations. This is particularly noticeable when reproducing culturally marked elements, such as character names, realia, phraseological units, and folklore motifs. To implement the chosen strategy and to convey the emotive, expressive, and stylistic colouring of the fairy tales, also called children’s literature, the translator mostly employed the following techniques: modulation, concretisation, generalisation, cultural correspondence, explication, metaphorical preservation, remetaphorisation, functional adaptation. The investigation also revealed the occurrence of several of Berman’s “deforming tendencies”, such as rationalisation, clarification, expansion, and qualitative impoverishment. These findings indicate that Tereshchenko’s translation strategies contribute to intercultural mediation, bridging the French originals and the Ukrainian readership. Future research could involve a comparative analysis of other translations of Vovchok’s French prose.
The Bee, the Witch, and the Altar–On an Exemplum From the Petris Miscellany (1468)
The article interprets the hitherto unexplored exemplum K(a)p(i)t(ul) ot bahoricʼ nečisʼ (The Story about a Wicked Witch) from the Croatian Glagolitic non-liturgical Petris Miscellany (1468). The introductory section gives a brief overview of the genre-related problems that have arisen from earlier attempts to define the exemplum as a literary genre. It also briefly discusses Eduard Hercigonjaʼs research on the Petris Miscellany as a whole and more recent analyses of individual exempla from the corpus of Croatian Glagolitic literature. The content and structure of the story about a witch who is persuaded by the devil to use a consecrated host for magic is analysed. The story is related to a group of exempla that were very popular in the late Middle Ages and early modern period and deal with the Eucharist and the doctrine of transubstantiation. Drawing on the research of the Austrian ethnologist Leopold Kretzenbacher, the text is compared with a number of similar exempla about the host in a beehive in order to identify variations in the basic plot and the variety of roles played by central motifs from the 12th to the 19th century. Drawing on the findings of Michael Ostlingʼs study of witch trials in early modern Poland, an attempt is made to illuminate various cultural meanings that such texts may have had in the past and their complex influence on popular piety. Based on the insights gained, a parallel text from the Fatević Miscellany (1617) is also discussed in the concluding part of the article.
Copyright (c) 2025 Igor Medić https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Every Evil Hides a Blessing–The Phenomenon of Evil inCroatian Dialect Phraseology
In phraseology, a greater number of negatively connoted idioms are observed, which express undesirable attributes, behaviours, traits, or values. This study focuses specifically on idioms from this spectrum that convey malice or evilness. Separately, idioms containing the lexeme “evil” in their structure are also examined. The problem of evil is thus approached at the level of expression and content, establishing its conceptualisation and motivation in phraseology. In this context, the idiom is understood in a broader sense, and examples of other shorter forms, such as proverbs, are also included. The aim of the study is to determine the meanings realised by the component “evil” in Croatian phraseology, as well as which components are most frequent in its expression, thereby shaping human perception of certain phenomena and realities that surround them. The material presented in the study is partly excerpted from written sources and partly collected through targeted field research. The presented examples cover a wider speaking area, that is, the material from all three Croatian dialects is attested. This method establishes the distribution of specific idioms, that is, their attestation at the level of the Croatian language as a whole (and beyond) or exclusively within a particular dialect. It should be emphasised that regionally specific idioms can only be collected and identified through targeted fieldwork, which further highlights the importance of dialectal phraseology research within the Croatian language.
Croatian Students and English Path Verbs – Evidence of Positive and Negative Transfer
Both English and Croatian are satellite-framed languages, yet they differ significantly in how they express spatial relations. This contrast is particularly noticeable when comparing English path verbs and their Croatian counterparts. Croatian learners of English often struggle with using prepositions alongside certain English path verbs, leading to the production of incorrect sentences. However, with other English path verbs, their usage of prepositions tends to be accurate. This behavioural study aimed to investigate whether these difficulties might be attributed to transfer from Croatian. A total of 82 subjects participated and solved a cloze test containing path and manner verbs. The results suggest that strong negative transfer occurs with English path verbs whose Croatian equivalents are prefixed motion verbs governing prepositions cognate with their prefixes. Conversely, positive transfer occurs in the case of English path verbs whose Croatian equivalents are either prefixed or unprefixed verbs not accompanied by prepositions. These insights may prove valuable in shaping more effective methods for teaching prepositions.
Negative Stereotypes about Women in Gender-Marked Phrases of Rožaje’s Speech
In this paper, negative stereotypes about women are analysed in the gendered idioms of Rožaje’s speech. The phrases, as part of an organic idiom, provide an insight into the ways of conceptualising the female gender. By analysing them, we try to show how sociocultural perception of women is reflected in language. The research was conducted on a corpus of sixty idioms, which refer to women and their position in the sociocultural model, collected by field research in the Rožaje speaking area during 2023 and 2024. The phrases contain an image of women based on stereotypes and prejudices, which arose from a male-centric or deformed social representation. The aim of this paper is to determine examples of negative gender stereotypes related to women in the idioms of Rožaje’s speech, which have the potential to shape the collective image of women. Semantic analysis of the corpus was carried out by interpreting the phrases motivated by stereotypes. The phrases are analysed according to the type of the stereotype they represent, and the findings are presented in several subsections in the paper. The research shows that, in phraseology, women are represented as intellectually limited, talkative, quarrelsome and argumentative, reckless and unreliable, promiscuous and immoral, as well as evil, cunning, and deceitful beings. It is also concluded that they are presented as emotionally and physically weaker beings, who are in general inferior and subordinate. The results of the analysis indicate that phraseology reflects pronounced misogyny and sexist patterns in the perception of the female gender.
Linguistic Advice of the Journal Jezik during the Editorship of Ljudevit Jonke
Nowadays, language consultancy follows trends, so advice is published in the media, on different platforms, social groups, and alike. However, in the past, advice was only published in language consultants, or in magazines, which often depicted useful language interests and ruling linguistic attitudes. In this context, we can also talk about the history of language counselling, with the literature generally dividing it into four periods (Rišner 2006, Protuđer 2011, Baraban 2018, etc.). In this paper, the focus will be precisely on the period after the Second World War, that is, from 1952, when the journal Jezik was launched, which was seldom mentioned in the literature, but was extremely fruitful in terms of advice. Ljudevit Jonke was the editor-in-chief of Jezik from its foundation until 1970. During that period, together with his colleagues and members of the editorial board, he wrote, among other things, language tips. This paper provides an overview of the tips given in the Questions and Answers section, as well as relevant articles. In this review, particular attention will be given to articles– that is, as indicated, to readers’ questions addressed to the journal Jezik and to the section Linguistic Advice, which featured responses by prominent Croatian linguists led by Ljudevit Jonke and Mate Hraste, Milan Moguš, Petar Skok, Josip Hamm, Josip Vončina, Božidar Finka, Rikard Simeon, Slavko Pavešić, Zlatko Vince, Stjepan Babić, Vladimir Anić, as well as contributions by other linguists, including those from the former Yugoslavia.
Copyright (c) 2026 Slavica Vrsaljko https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The field of Croatian accentual studies is not coherent. Accent confuses both ordinary language users and language experts. This paper offers a contribution to the establishment of a normative stress pattern for noun formations derived through zero suffixation. Its primary objective is to trace the spread of the secondary long rising accent characteristic of the pónos and pródor type, as well as its encroachment upon the original short rising accent of the pònos and pròdor type in Croatian monolingual dictionaries. Furthermore, by comparing codified and attested stress patterns, the study also seeks to identify developmental trends within standard Croatian prosody as manifested in a corpus of relevant derivations– specifically, disyllabic masculine nouns formed by zero suffixation from verbs with originally short prefixes. The analysis reveals that, although the short rising accent remains present in monolingual dictionaries, its retention is not as consistent as in earlier bilingual dictionaries. There is frequent oscillation between the two rising accents, and doublets often emerge under the influence of analogy (e.g., dòpis and dópis, by analogy with zápis). The inconsistencies among dictionaries suggest an ongoing prosodic realignment. Examination of standard pronunciation practices indicates that the long rising accent is increasingly gaining ground and displacing the short rising variant–particularly in derivations with certain prefixes (e.g., do-, po-, pro-), and especially in more recent coinages, many of which are technical or specialised terms (e.g., dópis, pógon, prómet, úred). When choosing between the codified accentuation and the accentuation that has been verified in the Western Neo-Štokavian pronunciation, it is the latter than should be given priority.
Copyright (c) 2026 Helena Delaš https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
About the Authors, Motivations, and Perspective in Croatian Dialectal Lexicography
In more than one hundred years of Croatian dialectal lexicography, significant achievements have been made. While dictionaries were published sporadically until the last decade of the twentieth century, mostly as additions to other publications or in specialised journals, and less frequently as standalone works, the number of dictionaries has multiplied since the independence of the Republic of Croatia. A positive development in the dictionary-making process has been the rapid advancement of personal computers and software programs that allow the relatively easy technical production of dictionaries. Among dialectal lexicographers, most are amateurs who are motivated by various internal factors to create dictionaries of Croatian local dialects, smaller and larger areas, or entire dialects. By studying the prefaces and afterwords of more than 130 Croatian dialect dictionaries published between 1957 and the present, one can identify and group the motivations of their authors, and based on the most basic biographical data of the authors, one can also partially predict the development of Croatian dialectal lexicography.