PORADNIK JĘZYKOWY

ISSUE 2 / 2010

ARTICLES AND DISSERTATIONS

  • Maria Borejszo : The picture of St. Joseph in Polish Christmas carols of the 17th and 18th century (based on the material of Carmelite Canticles)

    The author of the article reconstructs the picture of St. Joseph documented in the manuscriptal collection of 357 Christmas Carols texts which come from the 17th and 18th century. The manuscript was drawn up to be used in Carmelite Monastery in Cracow. It was issued in 1980 by Barbara Krzyżaniak. The figure of St. Joseph appears in much about one quarter of the collection analyzed (precisely in 87 songs).

    In the carols of solemn and sacred character, St. Joseph is presented in a static way, as one of figures worshiping the Holy Infant together with his Mother, shepherds and the Wise Men from the East. It is the approach based on the evangelic text.

    We find a wider, more interesting and detailed picture of St. Joseph in the carols with an elaborated shepherd plot which uses apocryphal clues, Christmas plays and native folklore (folk way of imaging). In this case, St. Joseph appears as a grey-haired, bearded old man, a carpenter by profession, a careful protector of Marie and little Jesus who participates in nursing the Infant and playing with the shepherds by the crib. The picture is probably very close to the authentic image of an old, poor Polish peasant, respected by people but also treated a little more familiarly than other members of the Holy Family.

  • Ewelina Kwapień : Word formation of Polish nouns in the 19th century
    The article presents the class of word formation of Polish nouns in the 19th century. This is an interesting topic, regarding the fact that word formation was willingly chosen to enrich lexis in the 19th century as far as nouns were concerned. The basis of the study was the material of 2206 lexical units excerpted on the grounds of lexicographic sources. The structual analysis was conducted on the types of structure among native nouns. Then formal classification of simple derivates (including productivity of suffixal formants) and compounds was presented. In the field of interest lay the division of simple derivates in view of the attachment of the word formation basis to parts of speech. Next, native words were discussed in view of the attachment of simple derivates (substantival, verbal and adjectival) to the word-formation categories. Within the categories the most productive word-formation types were discussed.
  • Izabela Kępka : The axiological dimension of spiritual battle in the language of sermons by priest Hieronim Kajsiewicz (1812–1873)

    The article is sacrified to the axiological aspect of spiritual battle in the language of sermons by priest Hieronim Kajsiewicz. It shows the units of language and structure of the text which serve valuation, according to methodological recommendations of J. Puzynina connected with the axiological analysis. The evaluation of spiritual battle in the collection of speeches by Kajsiewicz was contrasted with the stereotypical views in the speaker’s environment.

    The spiritual battle presented in Kajsiewicz’s sermons is the people’s action aiming to distinguish good from evil and to reject the last one. Spiritual battle combined with suffering leads to cleanse the sins – of both the single human being and the whole nation. Its final aim is Christ therefore salvation and eternal life. Its evaluation is always positive.

  • Małgorzata B. Majewska : The Digitisation project of Dictionary of the Polish Language edited in 1861 in Vilnius
    The article presents the basic issues connected with the process of digitisation of collections. Different types of digitisation were discussed in the paper. The author draws her attention to differences in library and linguistic attitude to digitisation. She discusses linguistic and computer tasks necessary in digitisation actions. She presents financial assumptions done by Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the digitisation project of Dictionary of the Polish Language edited in 1861 in Vilnius.
  • Yordanka Ilieva-Cygan : The verb zażyć (się) in the history of Polish language and Bulgarian language (the lexicographic analysis)
    The author of the article tracks the semantic evolution of the verb zażyć (się), derivative from *-žit’- and derivated in the process of prefixation and confixation in the history of Polish and Bulgarian. The analysis was conducted on the material from Polish dictionaries containing vocabulary from the Old Polish times up to contemporary period and from Bulgarian dictionaries storing vocabulary from the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 21st century. Indo-European ground of the verb (*g’uei-) was specified and its Proto-Slavic form (*žiti, *živą). After the analysis it was possible to define the course of changes in the meaning of the verb zażyć in Polish as far more dynamic contrary to Bulgarian. However, in both Slavic languages one may notice specialisation of the motivated verb in a particular semantic sense of the verb base where newly accepted semantic range enlarges its content. Prefixal equivalence does not translate into semantic equivalence except in the meaning of ‛zagoić się’ (heal). In case of all Polish verbs derived from żyć (to live), including zażyć process of repartition of word-formation doublets is characteristic.

POLISH LANGUAGE ABROAD

  • Kinga Geben : Linguistic situation of Polish people in Vilnius

    The article presents the analysis of the recent linguistic situation of the Poles living in the capital of Lithuania. Tha aim of the paper is to describe the linguistic consciousness of the Poles in Vilnius through the analysis of the respondents’ answers regarding: a) choice of the native language b) self-assessment of language skills c) assessment of the languages they speak. Multilingualism of the respondents as well as the use of language in public and private discourses is also analysed in the article.

    The findings of the present study highlight tendencies of the development of the multilingualism within the Polish community in Vilnius – 84,5% of the respondents identified Polish as their native language (or one of the native languages) and claimed to possess good knowledge of Lithuanian, Russian and Polish.

  • Anna Czeniek : Attitude of pupils in Polish Saturday Schools in Great Britain to writing skills
    The article presents the results of pilot study conducted in Polish Saturday Schools in Great Britain. Children in the age of 13–15 who are preparing to British high school exam from the Polish language took part in the study. The aim of the study, involving completing the questionaries by children, was to check if and in what way pupils who normally speak English in their every day lives, develop the writing skill. Furthermore, the study was to examine how often pupils communicate with their families and friends by using the writing code. The results of the study clearly showed that, contrary to stereotypes, the vast majority of children like to write, do it very often and, what is important, want to learn to write correctly in Polish. The study proved that writing skill in the Polish language is perceived by the pupils as very useful now and in the future.

REPORTS, NOTICES, POLEMICS

EXPLANATIONS OF WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS

WORDS AND PHRASES

Wersja polska