LingVaria

Front Matter

2024-11-18

Gwarowe dopowiedzenie juści / a juści jako przykład leksykalizacji dawnych struktur składniowych

Kazimierz Sikora — 2024-11-18

THE DIALECTAL APPOSITION (COMPLEMENT) “JUŚCI/A JUŚCI” AS AN EXAMPLE OF LEXICALIZATION OF OLD SYNTACTIC STRUCTURES

A significant part of the Old Polish heritage in terms of lexis typical of spoken language, confirming the primary nature of Old Polish, has irretrievably disappeared in modern Polish, which has been shaped under the overwhelming influence of writing and patterns of indirect communication. This generally known fact is confirmed by Krystyna Kleszczowa’s research (Kleszczowa 2015; Kleszczowa, Szczepanek 2014) on the genesis of particles and the contents of the “Dictionary of Forgotten Functional Expressions” (Pawelec 2015). In this situation, the researcher can turn to dialects which often better preserve lexical mementos of past ages. This is also the case with the dialectal affirmative complement (and particle) juści/a juści. The author of the presentation attempts to establish the genesis, semantic structure and categorical value of this unit, which shows functional similarity to the standard Polish expressions: a jakże, oczywiście, właśnie, no pewnie, etc.

Etnograficzne materiały archiwalne jako źródło badań pogranicznych gwar przejściowych

Katarzyna Konczewska — 2024-11-18

ETHNOGRAPHIC ARCHIVAL MATERIALS AS A SOURCE OF THE STUDY OF TRANSITIONAL BORDER DIALECTS

The paper presents materials from the Polish-Belarusian-Lithuanian borderland dating from the beginning of the 20th century, deposited in the Department of Contextual Documentation of Cultures (archive) of the Seweryn Udziela Ethnographic Museum in Krakow. Their brief review and analysis of the dialectal lexemes show the value of historical materials collected by nonprofessional linguists for research on historical multilingualism and the current sociolinguistic situation at language borders, especially on the problems of mixed, transitional, and mixed-transitional dialects. The analysis of dialect lexemes demonstrates that the manuscripts also preserved forms which are not registered in the known lexicographic sources and dialect atlases. Therefore, these materials represent a novelty in studies on the language interference at the borderland in the field of Belarusian and Polish dialects, as well as in studies of border dialects as a language system of the micro-area of the Polish-Belarusian-Lithuanian borderland.

Z badań nad słownictwem kulinarnym Krajny – eintopf

Krzysztof Kołatka — 2024-11-18

A STUDY ON KRAJNA’S CULINARY TERMS: EINTOPF

This paper aims at threefold characteristics of the sociolinguistic (concerning correlations with selected sociological parameters), formal (referring to phonetic variation) and semantic (illustrating semantic heterogeneity) properties of Krajna-derived culinary Germanism eintopf. The research material was collected through questionnaire surveys conducted in November and December 2023. 240 respondents took part in the study; they were the natives of Krajna of peasant origin with a diverse sociobiographical profile (in terms of gender, age, place of residence, education and profession). The participants represented 110 locations within three subregions: north-western Krajna (Złotów), north-eastern Krajna (Sępólno Krajeńskie), and southern Krajna (Nakło nad Notecią), which made it possible to conduct a comparative analysis.

Frazeologizm – nieoczywista jednostka języka

Anna Pajdzińska — 2024-11-18

THE NON-OBVIOUS NATURE OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS

The need to identify and study phraseological units was only recognised relatively recently. They are characterised by an asymmetry between the expression aspect and the content aspect: being combinations of words in the formal sense, phraseological units are semantic wholes. In effect, there is a complex network of interdependencies between the grammatical, semantic, and functional properties of their elements, as well as of the entire units, which renders them theoretically interesting and distinct from lexemes. They are important in communication but can be difficult to speakers: in order to use them well, one has to know their internal syntactic arrangement, the degree of their discontinuity in utterances, their variability, contextual adaptability and influence on context, as well as their functions in actual use.

Niezgodność i jej rozwiązanie

Anna Krasowska — 2024-11-18

INCONGRUITY AND ITS RESOLUTION – ON HUMOROUS (PUNCH)LINES FROM A LINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE

The aim of the article is to discuss linguistic research on the types of incongruities and ways of resolving them in humorous texts. The author of the article tries to answer the following questions:
– Is incongruity necessary to achieve a humorous effect?
– Is incongruity a sufficient condition for humour?
– Do humorous incongruities exist?
– Is incongruity in humorous texts resolvable and to what extent?
– What mechanisms underlie the resolution of humorous incongruities?

For this purpose, the author refers to, among others, the assumptions of IDM, SSTH, GTVH and FR. Then, she verifies the theoretical assumptions using examples of sixteenth-century Polish jokes (based on Łukasz Górnicki’s Dworzanin polski). Most of the cited assumptions are confirmed; others (such as the possibility of distinguishing one general mechanism for resolving incongruities) are rejected.

Mikro- i makrostruktura słownika neologizmów Obserwatorium Językowego Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego

Katarzyna Kłosińska — 2024-11-18

MICRO- AND MACRO-STRUCTURE OF THE DICTIONARY OF NEOLOGISMS OF THE LANGUAGE OBSERVATORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW

The author of the article discusses the principles of acquiring and compiling entries for the crowdsourcing dictionary of neologisms created at the Warsaw University. The dictionary is also briefly shown against the background of other dictionaries of neologisms and other community dictionaries. The sociolinguistic background of the emergence and functioning of new lexical units is also outlined, and the vagueness of the term ‘neologism’ is signalled.

Wybrane problemy opisu neologizmów środowiskowych w słowniku Obserwatorium Językowego Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego

Barbara Pędzich — 2024-11-18

SELECTED PROBLEMS OF DESCRIBING SOCIOLECTAL NEOLOGISMS IN THE DICTIONARY CREATED BY THE LANGUAGE OBSERVATORY AT THE WARSAW UNIVERSITY

The article is devoted to some questions connected with lexicographic description of new sociolectal words. The selection of effective methods for this description is discussed by Obserwatorium Językowe UW (Language Observatory at the Warsaw University; Polish abbreviation: OJ UW), creating a dictionary of Polish neologisms (obserwatoriumjezykowe.uw.edu.pl). The author of the article presents the solutions developed by the OJ UW and considers such aspects as various possibilities of interpreting sociolectisms or the problem of relative neologisms. The focus is not only on the vocabulary of traditionally understood sociolects, but also on the lexis used within communities of interest.

Idee i wartości w dyskursie wspomnieniowym powstańców warszawskich (na materiale wywiadów z Archiwum Historii Mówionej Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego)

Beata Duda — 2024-11-18

IDEAS AND VALUES IN THE MEMOIR DISCOURSE OF THE WARSAW INSURGENTS (BASED ON INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE IN THE ORAL HISTORY ARCHIVE OF THE WARSAW UPRISING MUSEUM)

The objective of the article is to present selected lexical ways of expressing ideas and values in the memoir discourse of the Warsaw Uprising participants (more precisely: in answers to the question concerning the sense of the uprising outbreak) and, on the basis thereof, to further define the axiological system of memory in the community of our interest, which consists of: dominant, declared and desired ideas/values; anti-values; basis of valuation. The source material comprises approximately 3.400 interviews developed as part of the project entitled the Oral History Archive of the Warsaw Uprising Museum, preserved in the form of transcripts and constituting the text base of the searchable corpus. The analyses are methodologically and theoretically based on the assumptions of linguistics of memory, corpus linguistics and axiolinguistics.

Zanikanie odmiany liczebników głównych jako przykład zmian we fleksji nominalnej współczesnej polszczyzny

Halina Kurek — 2024-11-18

DISAPPEARANCE OF PRINCIPAL NUMERALS AS AN EXAMPLE OF LINGUISTIC CHANGES IN THE NOMINAL INFLECTION IN CONTEMPORARY POLISH

Based on the example of principal numerals, the author of the article discusses the changes that have been taking place in Polish nominal inflection at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. As a result of the simplification of numerals, by taking over the functions of collective and ordinal numerals by principal numerals, both in official and colloquial Polish, the phenomenon of a significant increase in the occurrence of principal numerals is noticed. At the same time, the increasing tendency to move away from inflection means that, in multiword principal numerals, none of the parts is inflected. This trend is also extending to single-word numerals. As a result, the simplification of the system of grammatical cases of principal numerals is heading towards their being indeclinable, or, more precisely, towards the introduction of the nominative form in place of objective case forms.

Język polski w krajobrazie językowym Ostrawy

Jiří Muryc — 2024-11-18

THE POLISH LANGUAGE IN THE LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE OF OSTRAVA

The purpose of this text is to present several aspects of language landscape research using the example of public places in Ostrava – the third largest city in the Czech Republic with historical and still (to some extent) close ties with Poland. The Polish language in Ostrava’s linguistic landscape was analysed from a synchronic perspective using the author’s own field research, conducted in 2023–2024. The subject of the research were inscriptions (but also various types of voice messages and audio announcements of an informative or persuasive nature) in Polish found in public spaces in Ostrava and recorded by the author of this text in the form of photographs and recordings. In order to collect material for description and analysis, all signs in Polish on the outside of buildings, exceptionally also in their interiors (e. g. in the foyer, lobby) were photographed, virtually all over Ostrava. Linguistic signs appearing in Ostrava’s urban space were analysed in accordance with the methodology adopted in linguistic landscape studies, and were divided into monolingual, polyphonic and mixed ones, as well as into signs of public or private character.

Problem utożsamiania liczby porządkowej z rangą w polskich słownikach frekwencyjnych

Tadeusz Lewaszkiewicz — 2024-11-18

THE PROBLEM OF IDENTIFYING AN ORDINAL NUMBER WITH A RANKING POLISH FREQUENCY DICTIONARIES

The frequency dictionaries listed in the title contain three ranking lists based on the F index (absolute frequency), U index (relative frequency) and D index (measure of uniformity and distribution in styles). There are serious objections to the method used, according to which, when the F, U or D index values are equal, the entry rank (i.e. the number in the list) is decided by the alphabetical order. In case of words with high frequencies, each word is usually assigned a separate rank, because they differ in frequency. With increasingly lower frequencies, the same frequency is shared by a few, a dozen, a few hundred or even thousands of words (for example frequency 2 or 1). Words with the same frequency should have the same rank. In Polish frequency dictionaries, however, their rank differs depending on the alphabetical order. Hence, the ordinal number of a word is made equal to its rank. I believe that such method falls short of scholarly standards, because words with the same frequency differ considerably in rank. For example, in the Polish frequency dictionary (Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej, Kraków 1990), words with frequency 4 are assigned ranks from 8739 (abstrahować) to 10355 (żywot) – a difference of 1616 places on the ranking list. For words with frequency 3, 2 and 1, the differences in the ranking list would be much greater. The ordinal number of words is not equated with their rank in, among others, frequency dictionaries of Slovak and Croatian as well as the Bulgarian dictionary of colloquial speech. Nevertheless, many frequency dictionaries of various languages do equate the number and the rank. Therefore, a discussion involving linguists interested in statistical linguistics is necessary.

Dystrybucja wykładnika stopnia wyższego -sz-/-ejsz-

Rafał L. Górski — 2024-11-18

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE MARKER OF DEGREE -SZ-/-EJSZ-

Polish comparative of adjectives is marked by suffix -sz-, which has a variant -ejsz-. The distribution of the two variants is a matter of debate. Whereas there is no doubt that only -sz- can occur after stems ending with a single consonant, consonant clusters generally require the extended form. Still, there is a number of clusters which can be followed by the shorter form, which is often (at least implicitly) considered basic. There were numerous attempts to precisely define the contexts governing the distribution of the two variants, often connecting it to the sonority scale. We suggest that it is rather the distribution of the shorter form, which is more restricted, namely it may follow only a cluster of two consonants ending with a stop, or a single consonant. At the same time, any cluster can be followed by the longer form. Therefore, in the reminder of the article we examine the frequency of the longer forms following the clusters ending with a stop or affricate, which prove to be attested for a number of adjectives, however they are very rare. The article is based on large bodies of data, namely a morphological dictionary with over 1000 morphologically gradable adjectives (Polimorf) and three corpora.

W Ukrainie czy na Ukrainie?

Marcin Kudła — 2024-11-18

W UKRAINIE (IN UKRAINE) OR NA UKRAINIE (ON UKRAINE)? ON PREPOSITIONS AND TOPONYMS IN POLISH FROM A HISTORICAL AND COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

The author of this paper discusses the usage of the preposition na (‘on’) with some country names, such as Ukraina (Ukraine), Litwa (Lithuania) and Węgry (Hungary) in Polish. The above examples are exceptions to the general rule according to which names of countries take the preposition w (‘in’) and do (‘to’) to describe, respectively, static and dynamic relations. Na, in turn, regularly occurs with names of Polish provinces. Historically, the pair w/do was used with both categories of place-names, while na was a linguistic innovation in that context. Statistical analysis of historical texts shows that its spread was gradual. Individual toponyms adopted the preposition na in different periods, reflecting the loss of their autonomy. However, following the partitions of Poland at the end of the eighteenth century, na started to be used with most Polish provinces and several foreign ones (which are currently independent states). Thus, the linguistic change was caused by a change in the perception of the terms in question, the latter being a shift from political to ethnographic terms. The mechanism itself can be best accounted for with the use of the term zooming, or change of the vantage point, which, in this case, was zoomed in.

Kłopoty z kategoryzacją polskich pluraliów tantum

Marta Nowosad-Bakalarczyk — 2024-11-18

PROBLEMS WITH CATEGORISING POLISH PLURALIA TANTUM

The author of the article discusses problems with the status of the nouns, in contemporary Polish, traditionally classified as pluralia tantum. These problems are mainly related to the Aristotelian model of categorization the essence of which is marking categorial boundaries. Linguistic facts reveal the inadequacy of this approach. An alternative approach is the prototype-based model of categorization, which can accommodate not only those nouns that lack the singular form but also nouns that are similar to them in some respects. This broad understanding of the pluralia tantum category allows one to show the peculiarities of its elements, their unequal status within the category, and the relationship of similarity between them.

Na Nowy Rok przybywa dnia na kurzy krok, a na Trzy Króle na owczy skok

Emil Popławski — 2024-11-18

NAMES OF MEASURES OF THE LENGTHENING DAY RECORDED IN POLISH PROVERBS

The article concerns the characteristic names of time measures that appear in the proverb calendar in Polish and other languages. These include: barani/kurzy owczy/wilczy/zajęczy skok; kurzy krok; kurze postąpienie/stąpienie; kurza stopa/stopka; kura pianie zapianie oraz wołowe wyleżenie/zależenie. These measures refer to the slightly lengthening day after the winter solstice (22 December). They indicate fairly short stretches of time, between a few and several minutes, which are almost imperceptible to the average person. These names are motivated by observations of the behaviour of farmed and wild animals. The most common of these references to the hen (Polish: kura or kur) have roots in ancient beliefs.

Nosowanie i jego synonimy w profesjolekcie logopedycznym, dawnej i współczesnej polszczyźnie ogólnej oraz w gwarach

Marceli Olma — 2024-11-18

NASALISATION AND ITS SYNONYMS IN SPEECH THERAPY, ANCIENT AND MODERN GENERAL POLISH AND DIALECTS: DESCRIPTION OF A MAN WHO TALKS THROUGH HIS NOSE

The paper belongs to linguistic research devoted to the terminology used in speech therapy. The author discusses lexemes referring to pathological pronunciation accompanied by abnormal nasal resonance. He indicates and discusses words of foreign origin (mainly Hellenisms and Latinisms) as well as using native words taken from dictionaries and studies devoted to the old Polish language and dialects. Moreover, he mentions names referring to a man who speaks indistinctly, through his nose, citing common words and anthroponyms that remain a testimony to the sensitivity and linguistic culture of our ancestors.

Od redaktora naczelnego

Maciej Rak — 2024-11-18

Profesor Władysław T. Miodunka (1945–2024)

Iwona Janowska — 2024-11-18

Palatalizacje słowiańskie i koncepcja ich praałtajskiego pochodzenia

Marek Stachowski — 2024-11-18

SLAVIC PALATALIZATION AND THE IDEA OF ITS PROTO-ALTAIC ORIGIN

Roman Jakobson was the first to suggest that the palatalization process in Slavic was a result of Altaic influence. He did not define the term “Altaic” or the place and time of the alleged Altaic-Slavic contact. Nevertheless, his idea, although primarily politically motivated, was accepted by some linguists and remains accepted even today. This author has already challenged it in English (Stachowski 2020, 2024), and now does so again in Polish.

Changes in the Language Behavior and Language Attitude of Residents of the Black Sea coast of Ukraine after February 24, 2022

Tetiana Kuznietsova — 2024-11-18

CHANGES IN THE LANGUAGE BEHAVIOR AND LANGUAGE ATTITUDE OF RESIDENTS OF THE BLACK SEA COAST OF UKRAINE AFTER FEBRUARY 24, 2022

The article presents the results of a sociolinguistic study conducted in 2020-2021 and 2023 among residents of the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions of Ukraine. The main focus is on the trends of changes that occurred in the language behavior and attitude towards the languages used in everyday communication among the residents of the southern region of Ukraine after the large-scale Russian invasion of the country. The results of the research testify to the formation of a collective Ukrainian identity in the south of Ukraine. This is reflected in the attitude of all citizens to the issue of the status of the state language: in 2023, 100% of respondents expressed the opinion that Ukrainian should be the only state language in Ukraine. At the same time, Ukrainian-Russian bilingualism began to be perceived by the vast majority in a distinctly negative way. The activation of Ukrainian-language behavior models and the decrease in the frequency of using the Russian language are observed. The change in the attitude towards Suržyk, which acquired some new functions during the war, is also observed: it became a marker of a “friend”, as well as a conditional code for the transition from the Russian-speaking to Ukrainian-speaking behavior.

Fleksja rzeczownika w małopolskich rotach przysiąg sądowych

Sylwia Przęczek-Kisielak — 2024-11-18

INFLECTION OF NOUNS IN THE LESSER POLAND JUDICIAL OATHS: LESSER POLAND MIDDLE ROTA – MASCULINE AND NEUTER DECLENSIONS

The author of the article reviews the declensional forms of nouns found in the oldest Middle Polish judicial oaths according to Leski’s declension system. Within each declension, subtypes were distinguished by gender, taking into account the division into hard- and soft-stem nouns. This review was limited to common nouns, excluding anthroponyms and toponyms due to the volume constraints of this study. For the same reasons, masculine and neuter declension nouns were analyzed, first presenting material suitable for each case and number, then subjecting it to formal and statistical analysis. The conducted research allowed us to conclude that, in this fragment of the inflectional system, the persistence of its fundamentals is still quite evident. The most innovative forms, however, are as follows:
– acc. sg. declension -o-//-jo- (appearance of genitive forms in the accusative function in almost all animate nouns),
– instr. sg. declension -o-//-jo- (new ending -em< *-ъmь from the -ŭ- declension and -‘em< *-ьmь from the -i- and -en- declensions),
– loc. sg. for soft-stem nouns with almost exclusive ending -u transferred from the -ŭ- declension.

In other represented forms of inflected nouns of masculine and neuter declensions in the rotes, newer forms from the clearly expansive -ŭ- declension appeared. Variations in the distribution of endings or the process of newer and older forms rubbing against each other are illustrated by examples of parallel facultative endings, such as lista//lystu or vszitka/ vszitku in gen. sg., kmeczv//kmeczovi in dat. sg., penandzi/penandzy, grossij/groszy/grossz/grossow in gen. pl., or stawech/stawach in loc. pl.

Sposoby wyrażania śmierci w inskrypcjach nagrobnych ze Starego Cmentarza w Zakopanem

Agnieszka Szczaus — 2024-11-18

MEANS OF EXPRESSING DEATH IN GRAVESTONE INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE OLD CEMETERY IN ZAKOPANE

The article investigates linguistic and extralinguistic means of notifying of death through gravestone inscriptions in Zakopane. The analysis of 595 inscriptions from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries allowed us to establish that the repertoire of linguistic means of signalling death is much more differentiated than the extralinguistic one. Linguistic measures include: 1. lexemes directly communicating death (e.g. verbs: to die, to commit suicide; participles: killed); 2. euphemistic expressions for death (death is metaphorically expressed as: rest, sleep, transformation in the world of flora, extinguished flame, journey, sacrifice); 3. date of death. Extralinguistic measures include: 1. ideograms in the form of an obelisk (dagger) †; 2. placing names in a certain context, in the burial area, at a cemetery gravestone. The analysis results were compared with results of studies of inscriptions from other cemeteries in Poland, which showed that the fundamental manner of speaking of death is constant, independent of place or time – discrepancies pertain to nuances only.

Prestiż nazw obiektów handlowych i usługowych

Monika Jabłońska — 2024-11-18

THE PRESTIGE OF THE NAMES OF TRADING AND SERVICE POINTS

The paper presents the names of trading and service points, such as salon (hairdresser’s salon), instytut (cosmetic institute), galeria (trade gallery), centrum (sports centre), which have been replacing older names like zakład (zakład fryzjerski), dom (dom towarowy) or ośrodek (ośrodek sportu). These new words, created as a result of neosemantisation, seem to be better because of their higher prestige. The term prestige has been used, so far, to describe people, institutions and jobs, however, in this article, it will be related to words. The aim of this paper was to find semantic and pragmatic components which indicate prestige of lexemes constituting the names of trading and service points. They are: emotional character of words, their territorial extent and relation to objects which are generally respected, because they refer to important values and higher-level needs. Choosing more prestigious names for trading and service points makes their position higher. It also increases the respect of jobs which are not prestigious.

Back Matter

2024-11-18