The troublesome chronological status labels in the dictionaries of the Polish language Cover Image

Kłopotliwe kwalifikatory chronologiczne w słownikach języka polskiego
The troublesome chronological status labels in the dictionaries of the Polish language

Author(s): Agnieszka Piela
Subject(s): Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics
Published by: Towarzystwo Miłośników Języka Polskiego
Keywords: lexicography; dictionary; lexicographical status label; chronology; diachronic and synchronic linguistics

Summary/Abstract: The subject of the article constitutes a survey of the techniques of labelling the lexical resources which are chronologically marked in early and contemporary general-purpose and phraseological dictionaries (dictionaries of collocations) of the Polish language. Despite a tradition which spans some centuries (starting from the 17th century), the system of the chronological labelling of language units is quite inconsistent. Lexica feature various types of indication of archaic/anachronic nature of words and lexical combinations, cf. inter alia non-literal status labels (*), literal status labels (which appear in an abbreviated form, e.g.: arch., daw., przestarz., histor., rec. or in a non-abbreviated form, e.g.: dawny, wychodzący z użycia), information about the antiquity of words contained in the definitions of headwords (e.g.: w dawnej Polsce [in early Poland], w starożytności [in antiquity]). The chronological marking of words is also indicated by other status labels, i.e. the frequency-related label (rzad.) and the style and usage labels (książk., podn.). The article demonstrates the fundamental problems associated with the evaluation of the extent of the currency of dictionary units.

  • Issue Year: 2020
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 58-72
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Polish