Phonometaplasms in the Collection “Planinci” by Branko Ćopić

Abstract

From a linguo-stylistic point of view, this paper sheds light on one part of the stylistic features of Ćopić’s collection Planinci (Mountaineers). As can be seen from the title, attention has been given to the phonetically and phonologically conditioned stylemes, called phonometaplasms, which present the dominant stylistic feature in the speech of Ćopić’s characters, but which, in a smaller degree, can be found in the author’s discourse as well. Words are divided according to type of structural defamiliarisation (linguistic deviation), which occured at their phonetical/ phonological level: 1) restriction, 2) protraction, 4) substitution or 3) permutation. Some of them exhibit several types of linguistic deviation. It is concluded that the author intentionally uses dialectal and idiolectal forms. He creates the colourful style of one of his first collections in this way, the main purpose being speech characterisation.