ON THE GENERIC DIFFERENTIATIONS IN CROATIAN AND SERBIAN STANDARDS

Abstract

The generic differentiations in Croatian and Serbian standards affect primarily loanwords in which two main correlations function – the masculine in the Croatian standard and the feminine in the Serbian standard or vice versa. The reasons for their genesis are related to the different transmorphemization and/or transmorphologization of loanwords. In the domestic lexis generic differentiations are a consequence of a different choice of derivation suffix and are seldom a result of the rearrangement of separate substantives in declension types. Generic transgression accompanying the collapse of the polysemic structure is a newer trend that has yet to be tested in both standards.