TUĐICE I TUĐINCI
FOREIGN WORDS AND FOREIGN MEN

Author(s): Dubravko Škiljan
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Inter-Ethnic Relations, Philology
Published by: Foruma za etničke odnose
Keywords: Linguistic Purism; Ideology ; Manipulation
Summary/Abstract: Linguistic purism is often considered as an ideologically conditioned expression of nationalistic and xenophobic politics, but its causes, its forms and its consequences merit to be more deeply analyzed from linguistic point of view. Such an analysis, focused on foreign or loan words, as they arc an usual object of puristic (language cleansing), could demonstrate that there is no univocal linguistic criterion to separate loan words from original linguistic units. (Language cleansing) is performed under the motto {Our language is in danger from alien elements), but in fact it is a question of real or induced jeopardy of linguistic communities. If the bearers of linguistic policy, according to general goals of dominant ideology, induce the fear for language in the form of the fear of foreign elements, because of ambiguities of linguistic criteria, they have an open field for manipulations, so that they can produce not only foreign words (regardless to their real etymological status) but also foreigners (as the speakers of those pretended loan words).

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