Promoting literary language on national television in the Republic of Slovenia – an exemplary model for all language users

Abstract

Radio Television Slovenia is a publicly funded institution of great cultural and national significance which, among its various responsibilities, places a particular emphasis on fostering language culture. In this paper, we start with the premise that the mass media exerts a significant (linguistic) influence on the general population, underscoring the importance of presenters’ adept usage of literary language. The findings from the qualitative research revealed that, at TV Slovenia, the usage of literary language by presenters in its news, entertainment, sports, and cultural programmes holds paramount significance in their public presentations. Furthermore, promoting language culture emerged as one of the central guiding principles in television work and lies at the core of the public service broadcasting mission. There are also well-defined language prerequisites for presenters appearing on camera, along with an evaluation system assessing their linguistic proficiency. The results from the quantitative research revealed that public speaking on TV Slovenia encompasses various types of mistakes, those of a stylistic nature having the highest occurrence and the mistakes in terminology the lowest. The news programme, which boasts the highest ratings among all programme types, exhibited the most favourable overall linguistic presentation. Based on the findings, it can be argued that national television is indeed a linguistic exemplary model for all language users.