Panchronia, czyli język jako symbol doświadczenia
Panchrony, or Language as a Symbol of Human Experience

Author(s): Przemysław Łozowski
Subject(s): Theoretical Linguistics
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: language in time; diachrony vis-à-vis panchrony; system vis-à-vis symbol; structuralism vis-à-vis cognitivism; swiftly-adverbs
Summary/Abstract: Steven Ullmann’s (1957) conception of panchrony is discussed in the context of the on-going polarization between structurally- and functionally-oriented linguistic paradigms. Panchrony is, thus, understood as “polychrony”, or similarities – in form and substance – in various languages owed to a specific set of favourable conditions and circumstances. Ullmann’s conception is related to a group of so-called swiftly-adverbs, which serves the purposes of exemplifying the difference between diachrony and panchrony. It is concluded that Ullmann’s panchrony is merely a kind of comparative synchrony, and that panchrony must be attempted not in terms of linguistic synchronic universals, but in terms of functional universals, such as cognitive and experiential patterns of behaviour.

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