Rozważania nad koncepcją historii językoznawstwa polskiego

Abstract

Reflections on the Conception of the History of Polish Linguistics

The author explains his reason for taking up the topic by recalling his discussions with prof. Mirosław Skarżyński and encouraging him to prepare a publication in which he would present his conception of the history of Polish linguistics. Prof. Skarżyński will not write this paper any more, so this author decided to present his own reflections on the matter. He begins with the first grammar of Polish, Polonicae grammatices institutio, published in 1568 by a Frenchman Piotr Statorius-Stojeński, for foreigners who wish to learn the language. He presents the work against the European background, and shows that it belongs to the great European movement of the 16th century, of preparing descriptions of contemporary languages. This author proposes that the publication of Statorius’ grammar, and of Jan Mączyński’s Latin-Polish dictionary (1564), can be considered the actual beginnings of Polish linguistics. In relation to S. Urbańczyk who tied those beginnings to year 1751, this author moves the date nearly 200 years back. He also refers to the opinions of historians of science. The paper concludes with remarks on the place of applied linguistics and glottodidactics in Polish linguistics.