Motivations of language change: Vitality of popular etymology and other variations in non-standard speech

Sažetak: This paper examines the phenomenon of popular etymology in relation to other factors that lead to language change. From a certain number of examples taken from different localities on Adriatic coast the majority are romance loanwords. Due to the fact that standard languages generally avoid regionalisms, we are looking into the differences in variation of language standard as opposed to dialectal vernaculars and what separates popular etymology from other variations in language. Finding motivation and factors that can lead to language change, we are trying to explain the very fine line that theoretically separates popular etymology from other related phenomenon like word crossing or hybrid derivatives.