Reflexions on the Metalinguistic Use of Turcisms in Contemporary Slovenian

The aim of the paper is to point out the semantic aspects of some selected Turcisms used in the linguistic system of contemporary Slovenian. From a lexical corpus of loanwords of Turkish origin, appearing in two etymological dictionaries of the Slovenian language (ESSJ, SES), the author has identified a number of items that have developed a semantic value, which is also relevant in anthropological discourse on the perception of alterity. By observing the process of acquisition of these selected loanwords, we realise that they became part of the Slovenian vocabulary relatively late and mostly through Serbo-Croatian. Their semantic evolution towards a pejorative meaning, which is also shared by other Balkan languages as Bosnian, Croatian,Serbian or Montenegrin, sets the basis for discussion at a metalinguistic level. The most significant case from an angle of the perception of diversity is the item čefur, meaning 'immigrant from the former Yugoslav republics', which, in recent time, has been morphologically transformed in the Slovenian linguistic sphere. This word carries the highest semantic force by conveying the definition of the Other. Moreover, this appears in literary works and other typologies of written language with relatively frequent occurrence when compared to other items. The examination of this phenomenon from several perspectives will be first and foremost an attempt to analyse the issue at a metalinguistic level and, at the same time, an exploration into the stereotypes which are conceived as a definition of Other in Slovenia today. They essentially represent the effects of Balkan linguistic and cultural interaction over the last century.