Pragmatic Characteristics of Indefinite Pronouns in Croatian as a Second Language

Abstract

This paper deals with some of the pragmatic characteristics of indefinite pronouns, specifically about the potential for expressing a negative attitude or stance by using them. The results of a quantitative survey will be presented exploring to what extent the potential to express a negative attitude using indefinite pronouns has been mastered. The research questionnaire consisted of two parts and examined the respondents’ command in terms of both comprehension and production of the pragmatic properties of indefinite pronouns in Croatian as a second language (CL2), and the examples used in the questionnaire were taken from the hrWaC 2.0 corpus (Ljubešić and Erjavec 2011). The research was conducted among students of CL2 at the levels B2 and C1 (N=60) who attended the programs of Croaticum – Centre for Croatian as Foreign and Second Language, University of Zagreb in the 2019/2020 academic year. The results obtained in this research can be applied in the development of learning materials intended for teaching the semantic and pragmatic features of indefinite pronouns in the instruction of CL2. They show that the pragmatic level needs to be included more thoroughly in the teaching of CL2 because its mastery is an essential component of language competence, especially at higher levels. The pragmatic properties of IP should also be taught, as should idiomatic expressions with IP. It is necessary to not only teach from an explicitly grammatical approach, but also to teach lexically in such a way that includes the pragmatic level, because IP have great pragmatic potential.

Keywords

• indefinite pronouns
• Croatian as a second language
• pragmatic structures
• expressing a negative attitude