Jak zwracamy się do osób nieznajomych? Granica między swoim a obcym we współczesnej polszczyźnie
How Do We Address Strangers? The Border between „Ours” and „Others” in Contemporary Polish Language

Summary/Abstract: The subject of this article is the manner of addressing strangers in Polish. In order to verify the current use of the language in this regard, two research methods were used: a survey method and an analysis of comments on a website aimed at the business community. As the respondents of the survey indicated, the contemporary Polish language speakers recognise the importance of the traditional border of officiality when choosing the appropriate forms of address. However, a problem in communication arises when the conceptual opposition of the official / unofficial intersects with the opposition of ours / others. This problem is sometimes observed in a business conversation, in which a recruiter addresses a job candidate using Polish ty form from the first contact and treats them as a person on the “our” side. The analysis of the comments from the internet showed that the relationship between the recruiter and the candidate basically remains between strangers and it is better to avoid the use of unofficial forms, especially those which use the addressee's first name.

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