Grammar and Spelling Choices in Contemporary Croatian Language Textbooks

Abstract

The language in textbooks should comply with the standard language norm more strictly, which results from the requirement to respect functional and stylistic features of textbook style, which is a substyle of scientific functional style, and from laws and bylaws regulating the requirements and standards for the development of textbooks as teaching resources. Different reasons, however, sometimes lead to different, yet normatively allowed linguistic and spelling solutions, that is, there is a possibility of choice. This paper discusses such, normatively allowed choices, which have been confirmed in contemporary Croatian language textbooks, developed according to the new curriculum since 2019. We tried to determine which certified grammar and spelling choices were confirmed in the textbooks and how much they follow the normative recommendations found in the grammar and spelling manuals published by the Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics, given that these manuals were approved for school use. Attention is paid to the use of movable/optional vowel (‘navezak’) in the declension of adjectival words (words functioning as adjectives), the use of enclitics ju/je, non-contracted and contracted forms of possessive pronouns and the reflexive-possessive pronoun, the declension of the numbers dva, tri and četiri, the position of enclitics in a sentence, writing the diphthong after a consonant group ending in r (‘pokriveno r’), writing nouns ending in dac, -dak, -tac, -tak, -tka and writing the negative particle ne with the enclitic form of the verb htjeti, Although the analyzed textbooks, as expected, to a large extent include the recommended choices complying with the norm, there are still differences in the consistency of the application of the rules, even within the same textbook, with occasional deviations from the prescribed norm. This points to the need for a more careful design of textbook language layer, especially if considering that the language of textbooks also contributes to the adoption of the standard and the acquisition and development of the student’s linguistic culture.