PORADNIK JĘZYKOWY

ISSUE 2 / 2009

ARTICLES AND DISSERTATIONS

  • Elżbieta Sękowska : What Vilnius Polish Language Studies Say About Mother Tongue and National Identity in their Works

    The article is an attempt to reconstruct the ethnic identity of the young generation of the Polish living in the Vilnius region based upon data gained from the works of Vilnius Polish philologists. The works include: definition of language fluency level, areas where Polish is used, attitudes towards Polish language and Polish culture in the Vilnius region.

    The results of the analysis support confirm the idea of the dual Polish-Lithuanian identity and cultural bivalency of the objects of the research. The conclusions, however, must be carefully observed as the process of identity formation requires application of interdisciplinary tools.

  • Andrzej Kominek : What We Think While Talking About the Choice of ‘Less Evil’?

    The subject of the article is the notion of ‘mniejsze zło’ (‘less evil’). The phrase is presented only in the most recent Polish dictionaries, defining it similarly to ‘the necessary evil’ (malum necessarium): ‘it is something bad, that we choose consciously, or agree to, in order to avoid something worse’. Nowadays, it is mainly associated with the marshal law (1980s), though it is not mentioned in dictionaries.

    In the first part, the author attempts to explain the cognitive mechanism of gradation, used in the expression. Gradation usually occurs when the viewer is able to notice two physical objects of the same kind A and B, though different in size (smaller and bigger) and we can formulate judgments like: ‘A is bigger than B’; ‘B is smaller than A’. Apparently, gradation ability may be excellently used in metaphorical projection concerning ‘moral choice’ between smaller and bigger evil.

    In the latter part of the article, the author points out that, apart from descriptive character of the phrase, though extremely handy in a philosophical and ethical discourse, there is a danger of using it for relativisation of moral evil.

  • Piotr Zbróg : Old Polish and Contemporary Appositional Groups Like ‘the City of Warsaw’
    The object of analysis in the article is comparison of interior syntax of Old Polish and contemporary appositional groups like miasto Warszawa (the City of Warsaw), rzeka Wisła (the River Vistula), wieś Górki (the village Górki). The analysis of the collected material has proved the occurrence of significant differences between the past and present habit. In Old Polish syntactic agreement between the superior and subjected element was predominant (e.g. albo na gorze Kalwaryje – as on the mountain Carvary), while the syntax of government was rare (e.g. k temu miastu Betsaida – to the town of Betsaid). At present, though, both types of syntax compete with each other, resulting in doublets of similar frequency of usage, especially in the most irregular group of names containing the element miasto (city) (e.g. Urząd Miasta Toruń (the City Council of Toruń) / Nagrody Prezydenta Miasta Torunia (the Awards of the City of Toruń President). Not univocal is also the syntax of apposition with the noun rzeka (river) (e.g. podczas spływu rzeką Wieprz (during the rowing trip down the River Wieprz) / Most na rzece Wieprzu (the bridge over the River Wieprz); w rzece Wiśle (in the Vistula River) / na rzece Wisła (on the Vistula River). It causes hesitations among Polish language users and doubts about which syntactic type is correct. The described habit and opinions of many linguists show that it is not possible to form a univocal rule at present, which would handle the use of appositional groups with the noun ‘miasto’ (‘city’). However, there are more predictable groups containing such elements as: gmina (region), wieś (village), góra (mountain), jezioro (lake) – almost without any exceptions, they are dominated by the syntax of government (e.g. na jeziorze Jeziorak – on Jeziorak Lake).
  • Alicja Gałczyńska : ‘Person’ and ‘Number’ Categories in Utterances Addressed to Small Children

    The paper presents a few selected morphological features of utterances addressed to children. The author is interested in two grammatical categories: ‘person’ and ‘number’ used in verbal forms. The article answers some questions connected with the discussed categories, for example:

    1. Why (when we talk to children) do we use verbs in the third person, i.e. Mummy is preparing dinner for you?
    2. Why do we use plural forms of verbs (even if the co-situation is totally inadequate), i.e. And now we are changing the nappy.

    The analysis is based on the linguistic material collected during the so-called participating observation – all the analyzed utterances represent texts created by adults and addressed to infants and toddlers.

  • Kamila Gądek : Inverted Commas as a Sign of Uncertainty and Distance in Texts Concerning Computer Games
    The article analyzes one of linguistic features which are characteristic for computer games players, namely non-standard usage of inverted commas in texts concerning computer games. The author studies its usage in order to distinguish notions typical of a certain domain and to emphasize the speaker’s distance towards certain elements of his own utterances. There is a presentation of con¬nections between the use of inverted commas and the players’ search for ways to describe the player’s interaction with some elements of the game world. The uniqueness of the language of computer game players has been presented and based on the material concerning adventure games created for personal computers (articles from selected magazines and Wielka encyclopedia gier DVD 2007 (‘Great Encyclopedia of DVD Games 2007’, game user’s manuals and opinions of players at internet forums).

REPORTS, NOTICES, POLEMICS

  • Janusz Siatkowski : The Relation Between Team and Individual Work in General Slavonic Atlas (with Reference to B. Falińska’s Publication, Leksyka dotycząca hodowli na mapach „Ogólnosłowiańskiego atlasu językowego”, I. Substantiva, II. Verba i adiectiva, Białystok 2001)
  • Barbara Falińska : A Reply to J. Siatkowski’s Article (The Relation Between Team and Individual Work in General Slavonic Atlas)
  • Malwina Łozińska, Urszula Zdunek : A Report of the Linguistic Part of the Interdisciplinary Scholarly Conference Entitled Text in the Net

REVIEWS

  • Irena Kamińska-Szmaj : Marcin Miodek, Niemcy. Publicystyczny obraz w „Pionierze” / „Słowie Polskim” 1945–1989, Wrocław 2008
  • Ewelina Kwapień : Magdalena Pastuchowa, Ukryte dziedzictwo. Ślady dawnej leksyki w słownictwie współczesnej polszczyzny, Katowice 2008
  • Marzena Stępień : Podmiot w języku i kulturze, red. Jerzy Bartmiński i Anna Pajdzińska, Lublin 2008

WORDS AND PHRASES

  • Stanisław Dubisz : On February, February Character and February Linguistic Politics
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