Stjepan Babić (29 November 1925 – 27 August 2021) was a Croatian

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and academic.

Biography

Babić was born in the small town of

Oriovac Oriovac is a village and municipality in Brod-Posavina County, Croatia. There are a total 5,824 inhabitants in the municipality (2011). Geography The municipality comprises 10 settlements: * Bečic * Ciglenik * Kujnik * Lužani *Malino ...

Brod-Posavina County Brod-Posavina County ( hr, Brodsko-posavska županija) is the southern Slavonian county in Croatia. Its center is the city of Slavonski Brod and it spreads along the left bank of the Sava river, hence the name ''Posavina''. Other notable towns ...

, even though his biological parents are from

Hrvatsko Zagorje Hrvatsko Zagorje (; Croatian Zagorje; ''zagorje'' is Croatian language, Croatian for "backland" or "behind the hills") is a cultural region in northern Croatia, traditionally separated from the country's capital Zagreb by the Medvednica Moun ...

. He attended primary school in Oriovac, and gymnasium in

Slavonski Brod Slavonski Brod (), commonly shortened to simply Brod, is a city in eastern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Being one of the principal cities in the historical regions of Slavonia and Posavina, Slavonski Brod was the 7th large ...

, Osijek and finally in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

. In 1948 he got employed in Industrogradnja, soon after the political winds threw him to Petrinjska prison. After Petrinjska he enrolled to

Faculty of Philosophy A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...

in 1949, graduating in 1955 Croatian,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

. Afterwards he remained working as an assistant at the Faculty of Philosophy, defending his Ph.D. in 1962 and receiving full professorship in 1975. He was the vice-president of Matica hrvatska from 1989 to 1992, and representative in the ''Županijski Dom'' (Chamber of the Counties) from 1993 to 1997. He retired as professor in 1991. Babić died in

on 27 August 2021, at the age of 95.

Selected works

Babić is one of the most prolific Croatian linguists, with over 1000 published works (books, articles etc.). His work deals predominantly with modern Croatian standard language,

word formation In linguistics, word formation is an ambiguous term that can refer to either: * the processes through which words can change (i.e. morphology), or * the creation of new lexemes in a particular language Morphological A common method of word for ...

in particular. In his papers published during the 1960s decade Babić advocated a linguistic unification of Serbs and Croats. Since the 1990s, Babić has been one of the leading proponents of language purism in Croatia. His puristic approach has been criticised by Ivo Pranjković and especially by

Snježana Kordić Snježana Kordić (; born 29 October 1964) is a Croatian linguist. In addition to her work in syntax, she has written on sociolinguistics. Kordić is known among non-specialists for numerous articles against the puristic and prescriptive langua ...

. (CROLIB)
/small>. (NSK)
/small>. Babić's tendency to use the topic of language to spread nationalist ideology was evident in his articles published in the journal ''Jezik'', in which Babić was editor-in-chief. (NSK)
/small>. (FFZG)
/small>. This listing includes only books: * "Hrvatski pravopis" (co-authored with

Božidar Finka Božidar Finka (19 December 1925 – 17 May 1999) was a Croatian linguist, lexicographer and member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Life and education Božidar Finka was born in Sali on 19 December 1925. In 1947 he finished high sch ...

and

Milan Moguš Milan Moguš (; 27 April 1927 – 19 November 2017) was a Croatian linguist and academician. Biography He was born in Senj, where he finished primary school and high school. In the academic year 1948/49 he attended in Faculty of Philosophy in Z ...

) 1. edition was outlawed in 1971 (reprints:

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

1972, Zagreb 1990.), 2 1994, 3 1995, 4 1996, 5 2000, 6 2002, 7 2003 * "Pregled gramatike hrvatskoga književnog jezika" (co-authored with Stjepko Težak) 1973 (later editions are called "Gramatika hrvatskoga jezika", such as that of 1992. (7. ed.), 2000. (12. ed.): "Gramatika hrvatskoga jezika : priručnik za osnovno jezično obrazovanje") * "Tvorba riječi u hrvatskom književnom jeziku" 1 (an outline for the grammar) 1986, 2 1991, 3 2002 * "Opća i slavenska terminološka problematika" 1987 * "Hrvatska jezikoslovna čitanka" 1990 * "Hrvatski jezik u političkom vrtlogu" 1990 * "Povijesni pregled, glasovi i oblici hrvatskoga književnog jezika" 1991 * "Tisućljetni jezik naš hrvatski" 1991 * "Hrvatski jučer i danas" 1995 * "Hrvatski politički vicevi" 1995 * "Sročnost u hrvatskome književnome jeziku" 1998 * "Crvena magla", novel 2000 * "Vedre priče", short stories 2000 * "Hrvatska jezikoslovna prenja" 2001 * "Prijedlog za ukidanje hrvatskog jezika" 2003 * "Hrvanja hrvatskoga : hrvatski u koštacu sa srpskim i u klinču s engleskim" 2004 * "Hrvatski školski pravopis" (co-authored with Sanda Ham and

) 2005 * "Temelji Hrvatskomu pravopisu" 2005 * "Razmišljanja o Bogu i patnji" 2005 * "Glasovi i oblici hrvatskoga književnoga jezika" 2007 * "Rječnik kratica" (co-authored with Milena Žic-Fuchs) 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Babic, Stjepan 1925 births 2021 deaths People from Oriovac Linguists from Croatia Croatian lexicographers Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb alumni University of Zagreb faculty Linguists from Yugoslavia Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery