The influence of Polish language on medical terminology in the Old Believers’ dialect in Suwałki-Augustów region Cover Image

Wpływ języka polskiego na leksykę medyczną w gwarze staroobrzędowców regionu suwalsko-augustowskiego
The influence of Polish language on medical terminology in the Old Believers’ dialect in Suwałki-Augustów region

Author(s): Magdalena Katarzyna Grupa
Subject(s): Cultural history, Customs / Folklore, Regional Geography, Lexis, Western Slavic Languages, Health and medicine and law, Social Informatics
Published by: Instytut Slawistyki Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: Old Believers; medical terminology; Russian dialect; Polish language; bilingualism; borrowings; assimilation;

Summary/Abstract: The Old Believers in Poland are a bilingual community. They use two languages: Russian dialect and Polish language. Polish influence on the Old Believers’ dialect increased after two World Wars, when they became separated from their co-religionists in other countries and had more often contacts with Polish neighbours. Their language situation may be characterized as diglossia – they choose one of their languages depending on the domain of life and other social conditions. The medical terminology is a specific part of the Old Believers’ dialect. There are a lot of borrowings from Polish language caused by the need of protection of health and life in Poland, where the Old Believers met first of all with Polish health care system. The article is an attempt to characterize the influence of Polish language in the lexis describing medicine and health care.

  • Issue Year: 2016
  • Issue No: 40
  • Page Range: 167-185
  • Page Count: 19
  • Language: Polish