Rasprave Instituta za Hrvatski Jezik i Jezikoslovlje (Jan 2017)
A Contribution to the Standardization of Names of Foreign Geographical Features in Croatian Language
Abstract
The focus of the article is the standardization of names of foreign geographical features in Croatian language. For these geographical features, we generally use (1) a foreign, i.e. original name, (2) a name adapted to the Croatian language, i.e. an adapted name (3) Croatian name for a certain feature, i.e. an exonym. As the United Nations Group of Experts for Geographical Names (UNGEGN) has recommended the limitation of the use of exonyms and has discouraged establishing new ones since 1972, it became a necessity to define exonyms, to register and list them, and to determine the methods of standardization of names that appear in various forms, causing them to be unsystematically used in certain languages. In the first part of the article authors are describing the practice of standardization of geographical names on international, as well as national levels (authors introduce two examples for the latter: in Slovenia and Poland). Second part of the article presents the analysis of historical and contemporary Croatian orthographies – the linguistic publications that undoubtedly had the most important role in past efforts in the process of standardisation of geographical names in Croatian. The authors draw attention to the necessity of establishing the commission for the standardization of geographical names, as soon as possible. This would indisputably help to evade the current inconsistencies in the use of various names for the same geographical features. The commission in question should bring together linguists, geographers, cartographers, historians, geopoliticians and other experts.
