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Authors: Maja Glusac, Ana Mikic Colic
Keywords: naming, addressing, pragmatic effect, political discourse, media discourse
Abstract: Naming and addressing practices in Croatian political and media discourse are viewed in relation to the pragmatic notion of politeness, which is understood as a strategy used by the speaker to achieve a specific goal or set of goals. In relation to the six maxims defined by G. Leech, and in relation to P. Brown and S. Levinson's concept of face, the departure from the principle of politeness is put in the focus of examination. The material used for the research consists of the websites of daily newspapers (24 Sata, Jutarnji List, Vecernji List and Glas Slavonije), as well as the websites of political portals (Index.hr, Objektivno.hr, PolitikaPlus.com). Ways of naming and addressing celebrities in the Croatian public space are examined in relation to three important differences: differences in discourse (political and media), differences in gender (men and women) and differences in profession (politicians and entertainers). The methods of naming and addressing are divided into two basic groups. In the first group, there are stylistically neutral modes that do not attribute any particular pragmatic effects (other than the basic identification function) and are assumed to only activate politeness strategies. There are nine such structures: 1) first name + last name, 2) last name, 3) initial name + last name, 4) apposition + first name + last name, 5) attribute (s) + first name + last name, 6) attribute (s) + apposition + first name + last name, 7) apposition + last name, 8) attribute + last name and 9) attribute (s) + apposition + last name. The second group of morphosyntactic naming options is the ways in which a certain pragmatic effect is achieved, and it is assumed that they will also activate impoliteness strategies. There were six such possibilities: 1) personal name, 2) attribute + first name, 3) apposition + first name, 4) attribute + apposition + first name 5) nickname and 6) feminine surname (in Croatian onomastic terminology the term feminine surname implies the surname of a female person to which may be added the suffixes -a, -ica, -ova/-eva that activate the pejorative meaning). Given the gender inequality in the Croatian language (i.e. richer morphosyntax and the pragmatics of naming women), gender diversity and linguistic aggression in the discourses observed are expected to be confirmed.