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Anna Żurek : Nie ma ijo haka or about language strategies in children’s speech
The research perspective assumed in this study
is derived from the theory of second language
teaching and learning (L2 T/L), in which the
dichotomy between learning strategies (including but
not limited to cognitive strategies) and communicative
strategies is an object of a heated debate. The notion
of interlanguage (a certain intermediate language
which is under continuous transformations)
introduced by Selinker (1972) was used for the
purpose of research on first language acquisition.
Two types of strategies applied by pre-school children
are described in this study on the basis of the
collected empirical data. These are cognitive and
communicative strategies. The former group of
strategies is oriented directly towards the linguistic
knowledge acquisition process and comprises the
following phenomena: overgeneralisation, application
of prefabricated linguistic patterns, replacement of
one linguistic structure with another, paraphrase,
multiple repetition, formation of new words and
patterns. The latter, in turn, supports interpersonal
communication through making attempts to interact
despite linguistic shortcomings. They were divided
into risk strategies (i.e. multiple repetition, asking
another person for help, self-correction, and
application of non-verbal signals) and avoidance
strategies (phonological, lexical and semantic
avoidance, change of subject and conversational
avoidance). Adapting the theory of strategic speech
acts to the research on child speech seems
interesting and innovative since no systematic
studies have occurred in Polish literature to date.
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Barbara Boniecka : Children’s indirect and direct speech acts
The author wishes to address children’s
utterances and examine the extent to which children
express their thoughts indirectly and directly, and
under what circumstances they do so.
She wants to show that indirect speech acts
(proving the acquisition of communication
competence) are involved in shaping child speech
from the earliest years to a greater extent than direct
ones, and that it can be a sign of children’s learning
effective and polite speech at the same time.
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Halina Zgółkowa : W przedszkolu jestem trochę grzeczny, a trochę niegrzeczny (I am a bit good and a bit bad at pre-school ) – about pre-school children’s linguistic etiquette
This paper is dedicated to verbal manners of
expressing politeness/impoliteness by pre-school
children. The research is based on the collected
corpus of authentic spontaneous utterances obtained
from children. A specific correlation between speech
(verbal) acts and emotional needs as well as relations
between the child and the adult community is
noticed. The impact of educational efforts (or the lack
thereof) on manifesting politeness/impoliteness is
also visible. A highly probable hypothesis about clear
generational relativisation manifested by differences
in children’s speech acts (including with respect to
politeness/impoliteness) can be formulated. This is
related to the need to collect as extensive corpuses of
utterances of children representing different
generations as possible and to carry out insightful
comparative studies with the application of such
corpora.
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Ewa Haman,
Krzysztof Fronczyk,
Magdalena Łuniewska : Applying the notion of a norm to quantitative research on mental lexicon development
This paper presents an interpretation of
the notion of a norm in interdisciplinary research
verging on the domains of psychology (including
psychometrics), psycholinguistics and applied
linguistics. The empirical descriptive norm is
contrasted with the prescriptive norm, also called
the postulative norm. The authors point to the need
to elaborate empirical descriptive developmental
norms for tests designed for the purpose of
diagnosing linguistic competence in children and
describe the recommended elaboration methods. The
discussed issues are illustrated with examples
derived from Obrazkowy Test Słownikowy –
Rozumienie (Picture Vocabulary Test: Comprehension)
(OTSR, Haman & Fronczyk, 2012). This test is a
standardised psychometric test for assessing the
passive vocabulary size in children aged 2-6. It can be
useful as a component of a child’s overall language
development assessment.
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Anna Czeniek : The same school, the same class, but is the Polish language the same? – about diverse levels of acquisition of Polish among children of Polish descent on the example of essays written by children living in Great Britain
Children of Polish descent living outside Poland
acquire the Polish language to varying degrees, which
results from diverse family circumstances, the number of
years spent abroad, and motivation to learn the
language, as well as individual learning capabilities. The
author intended to demonstrate how considerable the
differences among children who not infrequently go to
the same class in the Saturday school might be by
analysing four selected idiolects. In order to obtain as
complete information about the examined persons as
possible, the author decided to apply several different
research techniques, such as analysis of five essays
written by each student, a survey questionnaire which
they completed, and a grammatical and syntactic test
which they took. The results of the conducted analysis
confirmed significant differences as to use of syntax
between children born in England and those who have
immigrated there recently. On the other hand, the
examinations showed that the syntax of both groups of
children was poor because the majority of them did not
acquire the written variety of the language well.
Moreover, in the case of the children who have recently
come to the British Isles, gradual regression of
competence in Polish is expected due to limited contact
with the language.
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Kinga Banderowicz : Przepona nadaje mocy słowom (...) (The diaphragm gives power to words...) – the knowledge of voice production among students of Polish studies (reconnaissance)
Voice production is an obligatory subject for
those philology students who wish to obtain teaching
qualifications. The level of rudimental knowledge with
this respect among students beginning their
university education is the object of this paper. What
became the point of departure was the questionnaire
survey conducted among the respondents who did
not attend phonetics and phonology classes. The
survey questionnaire comprised 5 questions: How is
voice produced?; What is diaphragm? What function
does it fulfil in (spoken/sung) voice production?; Define
voice production. What is this discipline concerned
with?; How do you understand the terms ‘diction’ and
‘articulation’?; Enumerate characteristics of a wellproduced
voice. The knowledge of the respondents
proved to be wrong or incomplete, it reinforced
common perceptions, it was simplified and grossly
schematic. The results of the analysis of student
statements presented in this paper can be considered
interesting from the documentation point of view and
valuable because they show the extreme significance
of precision in explaining notions from the primary
discipline. They can also serve teachers of this
subject, who will work on establishing the knowledge
of voice production and theory of phonetics.
