Frequency: 2 issues per year Editor-in-Chief: Marko Jesenšek Founded in 2008 by a consortium of one American and four Central European universities at the initiative of a group of Slavists, the journal Slavia Centralis intends to publish works of interest to Slavic studies representing original research in Slavic linguistics and literary scholarship and particularly encourages interdisciplinary approaches. The name Slavia Centralis emphasizes the intersection of languages and cultures in the heart of Europe, where Slavic languages and literatures have evolved and flourished since the first millennium AD. Slavia Centralis encourages contributions treating the Slavic languages and literatures holistically, transcending borders and national canons, as well as exploring connections between Slavic and non-Slavic. While emphasizing innovative approaches and interdisciplinarity, the journal recognizes the fundamental value of deep philological knowledge and therefore particularly encourages contributions combining thorough and responsible use of relevant data with innovative approaches. Indexing: Digitalna knjižnica Slovenije (dLib.si); Digitalna knjižnica Univerze v Mariboru; Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ); European Reference Index for the Humanities (ERIH PLUS); KU ScholarWorks; Linguistic Bibliography, The Netherlands; Modern Language Association of America (MLA), Directory of Periodicals, New York; Scopus (Elsvier); Ulrich's Periodicals Directory, R. R. Bowker, NY, USA. License: CC BY-SA Annual subscription/single issue (print; outside Slovenia): 24,20 €/13,60 € Published with financial support of Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (ARIS).
Oddelek za slovanske jezike in književnosti, Filozofska fakulteta, Univerza v Mariboru
Copyrights This journal is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License (CC BY-SA). https://opendefinition.org/licenses/cc-by-sa/ Plagiarism Policy Slavia Centralis is a non-commercial, open access, electronic research journal. As such it pledges to uphold certain ethical principles regarding confidentiality, originality and intellectual fair play. Slavia Centralis takes copyright infringement and plagiarism very seriously and all submissions may be checked with duplication detection software. Authors must: Ensure that all work submitted is original, fully referenced and that all authors are represented accurately. The submission must be exclusive and not under consideration elsewhere. Obtain all permissions from copyright owners for 3rd party material (e.g. quotations, illustrations, tables, etc.). There are no fees associated with publishing in the journal.
CELOSTNO PREMIŠLJEVANJE O ŽIVLJENJU. Marija ŠVAJNCER, 2025: Jaz, krava Rička. Maribor: Kulturni center Maribor.
Mladinski roman Marije Švajncer (roj. 1948) Jaz, krava Rička je dovršeno leposlovno delo, ki obravnava več tem, in sicer gre za družbenokritični ter psihološki roman, ukvarja se z ekokritiko in vprašanjem jezika, povezanega z vokeideologijo.
Copyright (c) 2026 University of Maribor, University Press https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Mihaela KOLETNIK, Benedikta GUNGL, 2025: Oblačilno izrazje pri Sveti Trojici v Slovenskih goricah. (Mednarodna knjižna zbirka Zora, 158). Maribor: Univerza v Mariboru, Univerzitetna založba. 380 str.
Znanstvena monografija z naslovom Oblačilno izrazje pri Sveti Trojici v Slovenskih goricah avtoric Mihaele Koletnik in Benedikte Gungl prinaša bogato narečno gradivo oblačilnega izrazja trojiškega govora ter širši vpogled v oblačilno kulturo te severovzhodne slovenske pokrajine.
ADINATONSKI FRAZEMI GOVORA KRAJA ROŽAJE (ČRNA GORA) S SEMANTIKO NIKOLI IN NIKJER
This paper presents an analysis of adinatonic idioms (or adynatons) of the Rožaje dialect with the meanings ‘never’ and ‘nowhere’, with a focus on the formation and functioning of the adynaton as a mechanism in semantic transpositions. Our goal is to examine the productivity of the adinatonic mechanism in the above meanings, and to determine the motivational basis of adinatonic constructions. The corpus consists of 20 selected idioms. This is due to the limited scope of the paper preventing a detailed analysis of all the recorded idioms. The paper, nevertheless, contributes to a preciser theoretical definition of the adynaton and provides insight into the motivational bases of adinatonic structures.
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ELEMENTS IN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVELS BY CONTEMPORARY SLOVENIAN FEMALE AUTHORS
The article aims to contribute to a better understanding of contemporary Slovenian women authors, especially those who have published autobiographical works in recent years. Autobiographical elements in these works will be presented as the dominant genre line. The discussion begins with the justification of the term autobiographical novel to render the analysis more in-depth.,. A brief history of the theory of autobiography and similar concepts will also be presented. This is followed by the overview being used as a basis for an analytical-interpretive approach to a few selected works. The results obtained are ultimately used to assess the literary value or triviality of the works.
THE AESTHETICS OF VIOLENCE AND CONTEMPORARY SLOVENE WAR NOVELS OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM
This article analyzes three contemporary Slovene novels published in the new millennium that address the theme of the Second World War and were written by women from three different (post)war generations. The novels Saga o kovčku by Nedeljka Pirjevec, Da me je strah? by Maruša Krese, and Angel pozabe by Maja Haderlap are based in intimate family stories, which the authors expand into broader social concerns. Through this approach, the novels reveal wartime and postwar propaganda, they question monumental historical truth, and the commitment to ethical and historical memory. They also expose our general human incapacity to learn from historical mistakes. The use of multiperspectivity and lyricized narration highlights the importance of emotional experience in the formation of memory and postmemory, while also portraying the diversity of wartime experiences.
Movement, Crisis, and (Be)longing: Affect and Migrant Identity in Agnieszka Dale’s Short Stories
This article examines how migrant belonging is regulated affectively before it becomes a matter of legal exclusion in Agnieszka Dale’s short stories Fox Season, A Happy Nation, and What We Should Feel Now. Rather than depicting spectacular moments of crisis, Dale’s narratives trace the quiet restructuring of domestic intimacy under the emotional pressure of pre-Brexit Britain. I argue that Dale uses childhood, household routines, and everyday gestures to reveal how migrants internalise surveillance at the level of affect. Drawing selectively on Sara Ahmed’s theory of emotional circulation, Lauren Berlant’s concept of intimate publics, and Judith Butler’s reflections on precarity, the article demonstrates that belonging in these stories emerges as anticipatory emotional labour rather than stable social recognition. By placing Dale in dialogue with Central/Eastern European discussions, the article situates her prose within a broader literary exploration of crisis as an affective condition.
‘Shameful’ Sexualities in Slovenian Crime Fiction from Moderna to the 21st Century
The article is based a comparative analysis of the contradictory relationship between crime narrative conventions and sexuality, encompassing classic and hardboiled detective fiction, police procedurals, and thrillers, in relation to the Western politics of sexuality as conceptualised by Gayle Rubin. It argues that both the crime genre and Western politics of sexuality share a fundamental purpose: the repression and disappearance of ‘shameful’ sexualities, including all forms of sexuality that are non-productive, non-heterosexual, non-monogamous, promiscuous, or that otherwise deviate from normative standards. Following this theoretical framework, the article undertakes a deconstructive analysis of selected representations of ‘shameful’ sexualities in Slovenian crime narratives from the early 20th century and in contemporary Slovenian crime novels from the 21st century. By examining the semantic and narrative functions of ‘shameful’ sexuality, the article reveals the continuity of motifs of shameful sexuality in Slovenian crime writing.
THE VOA SLOVENIAN SERVICE IN THE 1970S BETWEEN BUDGET CUTS, CONGRESS, AND DIASPORIC LANGUAGE VITALITY: “WHEN THE VOICE OF AMERICA FELL SILENT IN SLOVENIAN”
This article analyzes the cancellation and restoration of Voice of America (VOA) Slovenian-language broadcasts in 1974–1976 as a case in which an administrative decision transforms into a broader question of the public presence of a “small language.” In February 1975, the United States Information Agency (USIA) terminated the daily half-hour broadcast in Slovenian for budgetary reasons–the only language service entirely eliminated at that time. The cancellation mobilized the Slovenian-American community, which articulated its protest through ethnic fraternal organizations, the press, and political connections. Key roles were played by former U.S. Senator of Slovenian descent Frank J. Lausche, political émigré and Georgetown University Professor Dr. Ciril Žebot, and VOA Slovenian Service editor Konrad Peter Mejač. Legislative action in the U.S. Congress led to the passage of a law in April 1976 that mandated the restoration of broadcasts and represented the first U.S. legislation containing an explicit provision regarding Slovenia. The case illuminates the dynamics among federal administration, congressional oversight, and the Slovenian-American community in maintaining “minor languages” within the institutional frameworks of major states.
LANGUAGE OF THE BODY, VOICE OF RESISTANCE: FEMINIST APPROACHES TO TRANSLATING THE POETRY OF PAT PARKER AND AUDRE LORDE
This article addresses the translation of Black lesbian poetics in the works of Audre Lorde and Pat Parker, focusing on how embodied racial, sexual, and political subjectivity is negotiated in Slovene translations. Drawing on feminist, lesbian, and intersectional translation frameworks, it develops original readings of key poetic features—embodied Blackness, erotic embodiment, and anger as resistance—and shows how these demand translation strategies that exceed linguistic transfer and involve ethical engagement. Through selected poems, the article demonstrates how grammatical gender, metaphor, tone, and rhythm shape the visibility of marginalized voices in translation. Situating these cases within feminist macro- and micro-strategies, it proposes interventions such as supplementing, retranslation, and creative or neologistic solutions. The article argues that translating Lorde and Parker into Slovene constitutes an ethical and political act that expands the Slovene literary space for embodied and resistant Black lesbian poetics.
Linguistic Aspects of Translation, Localization, and Transcreation in Advertising Slogans from Slovene into Serbian: A Case Study with MA Translation Students
The paper discusses significance and characteristics of localization and transcreation in the translation of advertising slogans from Slovenian into Serbian by analyzing translation solutions of translation students at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad. Based on the analysis of the translations, we discovered that the students demonstrate appropriate linguistic competences, but do not distinguish between translation, localization and transcreation strategies. The case study reveals the need for a more extensive pedagogical focus on pragmatic and semiotic functions of advertising language and the importance of cultural specificity and creativity in the translation of advertising slogans. The research results indicate the need for a translational and professional discussion about the limits and intersections of translation, localization and transcreation in a global, multilingual and market-oriented society.
THE DESCRIPTION OF NUMERALS IN GRAMMARS FROM BOHORIČ TO ŠMIGOC
This paper presents the grammatical description of numerals in Slovene grammars from Bohorič’s grammar to that of Šmigoc. In addition to Bohorič’s Arcticae horulae (1584) and Šmigoc’s Theoretisch-praktische Windische Sprachlehre (1812), the analysis also includes Pohlin’s Kraynska Grammatika (1768), Gutsman’s Windiſche Sprachlehre (1711), Zagajšek’s Slovenska grammatika (1791), Kopitar’s Grammatik der Slaviſchen Sprache (1809), and Vodnik’s Piſmenoſt (1811). The comparison includes the examination of possible external and mutual influences, the positioning of numerals within the broader grammatical framework and their word-class categorisation, the scope and method of their description, terminology, the language of examples illustrating certain points, and the key morphological and syntactic observations of individual grammarians.
From Idealised to Usage-Based Norms: Linguistic Correctness in West Slavic Languages
The article examines changing views of linguistic correctness in Polish, Czech and Slovak linguistics from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century. Through key theoretical texts, it shows a shared shift from authoritative, often puristic models toward approaches grounded in empirical usage, functional differentiation and sociolinguistic awareness. Correctness is thus reinterpreted not as fixed conformity to norm but as a dynamic, socially embedded phenomenon, reflecting a broader Central European reorientation of standard-language management.
Slovenian – The Language of Instruction in Higher Education
In the twenty-first century, an increasing number of individuals are bilingual or multilingual, while English remains the lingua franca in both European and non-European contexts. The present paper examines the attitudes of students of preschool education and classroom teaching at the Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, and the Faculty of Education, University of Primorska, towards Slovene being the language of instruction in higher education. Relevant literature was inspected and a survey questionnaire developed for the research. The latter contained 20 statements rated on a five-point Likert scale. It was completed by 154 students from the Faculties of Education in Ljubljana and Koper. Overall, the results show that students express a positive attitude towards Slovene as the language of instruction in higher education.
NEW NOUNS AND NEW MEANINGS: THE SEMANTIC DYNAMICS OF NON-STANDARD ONLINE SLOVENE IN THE JANES V1.0 CORPUS (SOCIAL MEDIA)
This paper explores the use of nonstandard lexis in contemporary internet Slovene based on the JANES v1.0 corpus (Fišer, Erjavec, Ljubešić 2018). It focuses on the identification and analysis of noun-based lexical items which are not included in general dictionaries, and on identifying new, contextually dependent meanings of words which are already included in dictionaries. The aim of the paper is to provide suitable lexicographic definitions for selected nonstandard expressions and to develop or, if necessary, also to complete the typology of qualifiers (Gliha Komac, Divjak Race 2022; Mikolič 2016) based on their stylistic, functional, and pragmatic use as revealed through concordance analysis. Special attention is given to the role of discourse and normative markedness. The study highlights the importance of archived corpora such as JANES v1.0 in the context of increasingly restricted access to user-generated content.
HUMOROUS IRONY IN SPONTANEOUS SPEECH: FROM THE FLOUTING OF EXPECTATIONS TO NON-SERIOUSNESS
The paper examines humorous irony in spontaneous speech based on a corpus-based analysis of the Krohot (Corpus of Conversational Humor in the Slovene Language) 1.0 data. Irony is conceptualized as a context-dependent, metarepresentational form of indirect expression in which the listener reconstructs the speaker’s implicit stance based on a contrast between what is said and what is expected. Irony becomes humorous when this contrast triggers a playful shift into non-seriousness and enables a tension-relieving resolution of incongruity. The quantitative-qualitative analysis shows that humorous irony most frequently co-occurs with the combination of the corpus annotations ‘vocabulary’ and ‘attitude’. In the former, humorousness arises from word choice while in the latter it comes from the speaker’s attitude toward the content.
CLAUSAL AND COMMUNICATIVE UNITS OF SPEECH
The paper stems from the aim of identifying boundaries between units that express illocutionary force in spoken Slovenian—or, as the concept is termed in some corpus annotation frameworks, dialogue acts. In the search for an appropriate unit, the analysis draws on the syntactic structure of spoken language and focuses on the problem of defining clausal and communicative units. Among the findings, it highlights the necessity of considering auditory perception in unit delimitation and questions the reliability of existing definitions.
ARCHAIC FEATURES OF WORD ORDER AND WORD-ORDER INNOVATIONS IN THE TORRE AND RESIAN DIALECTS OF SLOVENE
The aim of this paper is twofold: first, to identify word-order features in the Torre and Resian dialects of Slovene that can be attributed to the influence of contact Romance languages; and second, to compare the ordering of inflected clitics within the clitic cluster across the two linguistic systems. The first part examines the placement of agreeing adjectival modifier within the nominal phrase, the focalized sentence constituent, and the positioning of clitics in declarative and imperative clauses. The second part addresses the movement – or lack thereof – of clitic forms of the verb to be in the present and future tense toward the beginning of the clitic cluster, the movement of the clitic bi, and the placement of non-nominative pronominal clitics within complex verbal forms.
THE KUBED DIALECT SPEECH THROUGH TIME: PHONETIC FEATURES IN OLDER AND NEWER MATERIAL
This paper aims to examine the changing and preservation of selected phonetic features in the Kubed dialect speech, as documented by Tine Logar in Kubed in 1952. The diachronic analysis starts with a report, where the main Kubed phonetic characteristics are highlighted, and a fieldwork notebook with recorded dialectological data. These features are subsequently compared with those identified in the dialectological data from 1990, collected and recorded by a research team from Trieste (SDLA-SI I and II), and also with the specific features observed and recorded in Kubed in 2025. Given that the objective of the study was to illuminate the retention of Kubed’s phonetic traits among younger dialect speakers, participants between the ages of 35 and 55 were included.
A PHONOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE LOCAL DIALECT OF VOJNIK PRICELJU (SLA DATA-POINT 326)
This article examines the phonetic, phonological, and accentual characteristics of the local dialect of Vojnik pri Celju (SLA data-point T326). Classified within the Styrian dialect group, the speech of Vojnik is primarily a Central Savinja (srednjesavinjsko) dialect, though it exhibits some features of the Central Styrian (srednještajersko) dialect. The present phonological analysis is based on material originally collected for the Slovenian Linguistic Atlas (SLA) by Milena Kolenko-Smisl in 1980, which is cross-referenced with earlier records by Tine Logar (1953). This foundational research is further supplemented and verified by the author’s own fieldwork conducted in 2026.
LOCATIVE ENDINGS OF THE MASCULINE AND NEUTER PRONOMINALADJECTIVALDECLENSION IN 16TH -CENTURY LITERARY SLOVENE
This article presents the extent of the adoption of the dative ending in the locative singular masculine and neuter forms in adjectival and pronominal declension in the works of 16th-century Slovenian Protestant writers. Special attention is given to the third-person pronoun, which differs from the others in its syntactic properties. Based on the frequency of analogical endings in the third-person pronoun and other pronouns and adjectives, an attempt is made to identify whether syntagmatic or paradigmatic agreement played a decisive role in the establishment of this change in form.
AKTUALIZACIJA UČNEGA E-OKOLJA SLOVENŠČINA NA DLANI
Poročilo o aktualizaciji učnega e-okolja Slovenščina na dlani.
Copyright (c) 2025 University of Maribor, University Press https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
PLETERŠNIKOV DAN 2025 IN SIMPOZIJ IMENITNOST SLOVENŠČINE STO LET PO PLETERŠNIKU (Pišece, 22. 9. 2025)
Poročilo o Pleteršnikovem dnevu (22. 9. 2025, Pišece).
SLOVENSKA SLAVISTIKA NA 17. MEDNARODNEM KONGRESU SLAVISTOV V PARIZU
Poročilo o poteku mednarodnega slavističnega kongresa v Parizu.
Ocena mladinskega romana Janje Vidmar (Samo mulca, 2025).
Suzana TODOROVIĆ, 2025: SLOVENSKI ISTRSKI LINGVISTIČNI ATLAS 2: Števniki in opisni pridevniki, čas in koledar, življenje, poroka in družina, hiša in posestvo. Koper: Libris, Osrednja knjižnica Srečka Vilharja. 641 str.
VRATUŠEVA MONOGRAFIJA. Ur. Marko Jesenšek. Ljubljana: Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti, 2025. 262 str.
Reading fiction and the development of literary competence in Slovene language classes in the digital age
This article, examines how reading fiction within learning literature in Slovene language classes in the digital age is realized as a dialogic process, organized in stages, that contributes to the holistic development of literary competence. Parallels between literacy and literary competence and reading (fiction) are explored in terms of their effects, the medium (print vs. on-screen texts), and pupils’ developmental characteristics. Results from the international literacy studies PIRLS and PISA are examined, finding that literary competence is not measured in the latter. Influences of the digital environment on attention, reading motivation, and reading strategies are delved into, leading to the conclusion that the digital age requires a reconsideration of didactics of Slovene language and literature.
The theatricalized hell of Smole's Antigone, Hieng's The Conqueror, and Zupančič's Electra's revenge
The present contribution focuses on three dramas whose authors turned to ancient myths and historical events to address contemporary ethical dilemmas. The dramas under scrutiny are: Antigone (1960) by Dominik Smole, The Conqueror (1970) by Andrej Hieng, and Electra’s Revenge (1988) by Mirko Zupančič. All three plays are marked by a Badiouan “passion for the real”. Smole explores the conflict between the individual and the state in the spirit of a post-war critical generation, Hieng draws attention to the dangers of colonialism and fanaticism, While Zupančič revives the myth of Electra to confront the impotence of truth in an era of ideological numbness. Despite bearing different aesthetics, all three dramas unite in their need to rethinking myth and history in a completely new way.
Expression of linguistic, ethnic and national identity in early multilingual paremiography
The article discusses expression of linguistic, ethnic and national identity in early European multilingual paremiography to which Constantin von Wurzbach (1818–1893) born in Ljubljana made a significant contribution by his paremiographic approach, as he included Slovene in his early paremiographic works. This research focuses on the macro- and microstructure of Wurzbach’s collection of proverbs entitled Polnische Sprichwörter: Erläutert und mit ähnlichen andrer Nationen verglichen (1846) as well as on Slovenian paremiological material in the collection Die Sprichwörter der Polen historisch erläutert (1852). According to phraseological and lexicographic studies, this is an original and previously rarely used approach to researching proverbs from dictionary, linguistic and cultural-historical aspects. In the Slovenia scientific space, Wurzbach’s paremiographic approach has so far not witnessed an adequate discussion.
Dual in Slovene: on the 100th anniversary of the first study on Slovene dual (Tesnière 1925)
The year 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of the first systematic work on the Slovene dual. In 1925, the Frenchman Lucien Tesnière published the Linguistic Atlas of the Dual (Atlas linguistique pour servir à l’étude du duel en slovène) with an accompanying monograph on dual forms in Slovene, Les formes du duel en slovène. In 2008, another researcher of the Slovene dual, Tjaša Jakop, published two monographs dedicated to this typically Slovene category, namely Dvojina v Slovenskih Narečjih and The Dual in Slovene Dialects. This article discusses these and other well-known works dealing with the dual in Slovene, provides typical examples of its use, and offers final conclusions.