Język i kultura polskich górali

Abstract

The Language and Culture of Polish Highlanders
The paper discusses the methodological and practical lexicographic solutions implemented in J. Kąś’s Ilustrowany leksykon gwary i kultury podhalańskiej (‘An illustrated lexicon of Podhalan dialect and culture’). In view of its theoretical and material values, this twelve-volume work occupies a significant place in Slavic dialectal lexicography. It is a so-called full dialectal dictionary, but at the same time an encyclopaedia of Podhalan folklore. Linguistic explanations entwine with description of the folk culture. The various ways in which ethnographic information is presented constitute an indisputable innovation, and it must be added that one of those ways are numerous photographs. A reliable, and also clearly designed dictionary has without doubt a great scientific and cultural significance. It can be used not only by dialectologists and ethnographers, but by anyone with interest in folk culture.