Opozycja swój / obcy a problem językowego obrazu świata

Author(s): Jerzy Bartmiński / Language(s): Polish Issue: 19/2007

Starting from an analysis of the us (belonging to us) / them (alien) opposition, the article addresses the issue of future comparative research on Slavic linguistic worldviews. The first part presents four conditions of successful comparative study: (1) the establishment of tertium comparationis; (2) the establishment of an approximate level of generality; (3) the establishment of the limits of the research domain; (4) the collection of comparable data. While accepting that the plane on which worldviews can be compared may be, among others, oppositions of the type us / them, belonging to us / alien, male / female, left / right etc., the author also points out that descriptions based solely on oppositions are limited and that distinctive features are always selections from a larger set of positive features. The categories us / them or belonging to us / alien are analyzed on the basis of Polish data of three types: systemic (loan words), lexicographic (definitions of the expressions swój ‘one’s own’, swojak ‘one of us; a countryman’, swojski ‘native, home, familiar’, obcy ‘alien’) and questionnaires. It is confirmed that the us (belonging to us) / them (alien) opposition is scalar, that there exists a language-internal category of ‘alienness’ and that the category ‘one’s own, familiar’ is multidimensional or multiaspectual. An individual speaker connects in his or her consciousness the feature of being native/familiar with spatial and psycho-social closeness and his or her identity is more and more frequently described as a simultaneous participation in many communities of a local, national and cultural nature.

Opozycja swój / obcy a skuteczność komunikacji – wybrane zagadnienia

Author(s): Paweł Nowak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 19/2007

The US – THEM opposition is significant for the efficiency of communication, for a successful realization of each speech event. The opposition can assume various forms and the author attempts, on the basis of contemporary Polish advertising and political discourse, to present the most important ones. Starting from Krech, Crutchfield and Ballachey’s (1962) hypothesis that effective communication is possible above all among people of common observations, desires and attitudes (i.e. among US, not THEM), as well as referring to Bralczyk’s (1991) work on propaganda in communism, the author discusses the strategies used by the speaker in communicating messages to US about THEM, to THEM about US and to US about US. He is especially concerned with the means of identifying oneself with a group of US by accepting their style and communicative rituals. In social communication (advertising, public relations, mass media, politics) one continually comes across new means of using the US – THEM opposition, not always successful. In order to achieve communicative success, speakers use a specific speech genre, refer to the common experience of mass recipients, pander to (or in fact sincerely accept) the tastes, attitudes and views of the recipients.

Swoi i obcy przy wspólnym stole

Author(s): Ewa Masłowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 19/2007

The article is an attempt to reconstruct the US - THEM relationship, with the (dinner) table as the central place in a familiar setting, the home. For a speaker of Polish and a representative of a traditional culture, meetings at a family table are prototypical situations of the pole of “familiarity” (US) and allow one to establish, in the form of concentric circles, its relationship and distance to the opposite pole of “foreignness” (THEM). The author presents images of the home and the table (the central place in the home), established in phraseology and proverbs, with special importance of the rules of ritualistic behaviour. Then she discusses the linguistic and cultural pictures of the sacrificial table (pre-Christian, biblical and Christian), the family table (a major element of Polish culture), the table laid for special occasions (ritualized behaviour is especially important at the wedding or Christmas/Easter table), the table laid for a feast. The author also takes note of special and peripheral varieties, such as a conference table, a table for playing cards or for a seance. The analysis reveals that the conditions of building a long-lasting feeling of community are connected both with the place and the purpose or kind of feelings accompanying a given encounter. An important factor is the openness to the outside world: real and supernatural. With a view to the stability of the bonds linking the community at the table, the most important role is played by the family table, where the bonds between US are constantly being revived. Meetings at the family table model the creation of cultural patterns of behaviour, which enable people to establish broader communities.

Swój i obcy w mieście – kilka uwag o stereotypie kielczanina (rzecz o stosunkach polsko-żydowskich)

Author(s): Marzena Marczewska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 19/2007

The author reconstructs the stereotype of an inhabitant of Kielce. The reconstruction shows that Kielce dwellers are generally seen as people who are hostile and very reluctant towards strangers. The stereotype seems to result from the town’s history. Kielce, the Cracowian bishops’ property, was a restricted area where Jewish settlement was forbidden until 1862. Although the hostility of the residents of Kielce is commonly associated with the pogrom of Jews in 1946, the stereotype of an inhabitant of the Kielce region is much older and was described in tourist guidebooks in 1920’s. The 1862 pogrom (often called “the disgrace of Kielce”) is also strictly connected with the persistence of the stereotype in question. The data on the Kielce pogrom in the archives of the Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs in Warsaw and in the local archive in the town of Kielce show that both stereotypes: the stereotype of a Jew (a stranger, dangerous, rich, of a different religion) and the stereotype of an inhabitant of Kielce (nicknamed “pocket-knife”, hot-tempered, backward, poor) were used by the secret police in propaganda materials after the pogrom.

Роль оппозиции свой/чужой в организации концептосферы «когнитивная деятельность»

Author(s): Elena Rudenko / Language(s): Russian Issue: 19/2007

The article deals with motivation in the naming of mental processes. In particular, it is concerned with conceptual metaphor and the competition of various models of conceptualization. The data are Byelorussian and Old-Byelorussian verbs. The starting point is the assumption that the naming of intellectual processes is primarily motivated by three meanings: ‘have’, ‘give’ and ‘take’. The last of the three is the most widespread in the system of the nomination of cognitive activity. The article also contains a juxtaposition of the postulates of cognitive onomasiology and diachronic cognitive onomasiology. A discussion is offered, too, of the competition between conceptual metaphors in the synchronic and diachronic aspect. The following conclusions are drawn: conceptual models reappear at different levels of development of a language. They also appear in related languages but rarely replace other models.

Славянский корень *pust- в контексте концептуальной оппозиции свой / чужой

Author(s): Margarita V. Žujkova / Language(s): Russian Issue: 19/2007

An assumption is made that in the Old-Slavic era the root pust- was one of the means of verbalizing an alien (untamed) space. On this basis the author reconstructs the archaic semantics of the concept. She first analyzes the semantics of the comparative pušče (puščij), then through an analysis of contemporary semantics of the Russian verb pustit’ and its derivatives she establishes a semantic link between the nominal and verbal root *pust-, which allows her to explain the emergence of the semantics of motion in the verbal element. A claim is made that the verb *pustiti was primarily connected with the forest and meant ‘let a forest grow’. Because the growth of plants (especially trees) was seen as active encroachment on free, empty space, the idea of growth became strictly connected with motion. It is on this basis that the verb *pustiti received the meaning ‘let move’, found in contemporary Slavic languages.

Patriotyzm i nacjonalizm w polskim dyskursie ideologicznym

Author(s): Małgorzata Brzozowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 21/2009

The article presents an analysis of two highly ideological concepts designating a positive attitude towards one’s homeland and nation, as well as towards foreigners: patriotism and nationalism. The analysis has been conducted according to the principles of the cognitive definition. Patriotism is an attitude (or ideology) manifested by the love of and sacrifice for one’s homeland (as well as its defense, if necessary), care of her development and well-being. Patriotism is viewed as a „normal” and socially desirable attitude, focusing on one’s own country but recognizing the right of other countries and nations to exist and self-govern. One can observe, however, a degree of distancing from patriotism, a banality of discourse (in liberal discourse, which extends the notion onto everything concerning humans) or even negative valuation (anarchist discourse, which treats patriotism as the cult of the state, and feminist discourse, according to which patriotism leads to state absolutism).Nationalism is also an attitude (or ideology) concentrating on the love of one’s nation but not of one’s homeland. It is valuated negatively as potentially or factually dangerous for foreigners. It is only in national and right-wing discourse that nationalism is closer to patriotism than to chauvinism and as such receives positive valuation.The concepts investigated clearly fall on a cline of positive-negative, and even healthy-ill.

Polska i jej miejsce w Europie. Europa jako konstrukt dyskursywny

Author(s): Przemysław Wilk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 24/2012

The author analyzes images of Europe in the press discourse of the „Guardian”, against the background of Poland’s accession to the European Union. In an analysis of 44 press articles published between 2002 and 2006, the author shows that Europe and its image in the press is a dynamic discourse construct. The date of May 1, 2004 (the date of the accession) appears to be a turning point in perceiving and construing Poland and hence also Europe by the British newspaper. The author shows how the evaluative categories of Eastern and Western Europe (the latter being equivalent to the European Union) polarize European countries. Seen from the perspective of an EU applicant country, Europe is construed in terms of various metaphors. The article focuses on four most conspicuous of those, namely Europe as a stronghold, Europe as an elite club, a dominant Europe and a Europe of exclusion. The author concludes that it is difficult to talk about one monolithic image of Europe, constructed from one perspective. This is visible, for example, in the fact that although the discursive distance between Poland and Europe has shortened after Polish accession to the EU, Europe’s attitude towards Poland is still skeptical and distrustful. Hence, one rather deals with several images of Europe, which make up its dynamic image in discourse.

Badania etnolingwistyczne a etymologia

Author(s): Mariola Jakubowicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 24/2012

Etymological dictionaries can be a source of interesting data for ethnolinguistic research. The author discusses some relevant examples drawn mainly from Slavonic languages but at the same time relating to the ProtoIndoEuropean period.The article’s aim is to draw attention to pitfalls involved in the use of data found in etymological dictionaries. The fundamental issue here is the fact that while etymological reconstructions can be more or less reliable, dictionaries do not always indicate whether a particular etymology is the only one that exists and is generally accepted. Another issue is the limited character of information supplied by these dictionaries. Problems may also arise due to a sometimes unclear order in which individual meanings have evolved, as well as the order in which certain meanings generated others.The author infers that in order to be able to use etymological data in fields of linguistic research other than etymology, one should also possess solid etymological expertise.

Teonimy staroruskie w świetle teorii trzech funkcji Georges’a Dumézila (Stribog, Perun, Weles)

Author(s): Vladimir N. Toporov / Language(s): Polish Issue: 24/2012

The article concerns the mythological system of pagan Slavs from the linguistic point of view. The author analyses Old-Russian theonyms, such as Perunъ, Velesъ and Stribogъ, and tries to reconstruct their etymological and typological correlations in other mythological traditions. The aim of this study is to establish the typology of Old-Slavic deities, based on the theory of trifunctional ideological system of Indo-Europeans, proposed by the French sociologist Georges Dumézil. The author describes selected mythological names and reconstructs a semantic context of the names of Slavic deities within the hypothetical model. The first function (sovereign power) is assigned to Stribogъ, the second function (war) to Perunъ, and the third (economic) function – to Velesъ. The article is one of the first studies of V. N. Toporov devoted to an aspect of old Balto-Slavic world and first of the many texts concerned with Proto-Slavic beliefs and mythology.

Номинации заключенного в русском и польском жаргонax преступного мира

Author(s): Kazimierz Bajor,Walentina Gawriuszenko / Language(s): Russian Issue: I/1996

Приглагательные в славянских языках, мотивированые заимствованными основами

Author(s): Emiliya Agafonovna Balalykina,Tatjana Nikołajewa / Language(s): Russian Issue: I/1996

Существительные со значением подобия в современных в русском и польском языкax

Author(s): Edward Siekierzycki / Language(s): Russian Issue: I/1996

Wschodniosłowiańskie cechy językowe w nazewnictwie osobowym Podlasia

Author(s): Zofia Abramowicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: I/1996

Koncepcja "Atlasu etnolingwistycznego Pobuża"

Author(s): Michał Sajewicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: I/1996

Metropolita Piotr Mohyła : człowiek dialogu na pograniczu kulturowym grecko-słowiańskim i łacińsko-polskim

Author(s): Ryszard Łużny / Language(s): Polish Issue: I/1996

Polacy na Uniwersytecie Charkowskim na przełomie XIX i XX wieku

Author(s): Artur Kijas / Language(s): Polish Issue: I/1996

O specyfice artystycznej folkloru białoruskiego na Wileńszczyźnie w dwudziestoleciu międzywojennym : (miejscowości Rukojnie i Kosina Wielka)

Author(s): Walenty Piłat / Language(s): Polish Issue: I/1996

Z węgiersko-polsko-białoruskich związków kulturalnych w XVI wieku : ("Athila" M. Oláha w przekładzie polskim i białoruskim)

Author(s): András Zoltán / Language(s): Polish Issue: I/1996

Problematyka słowiańska na łamach pisma "Rusałka" (1838-1842)

Author(s): Irena Rudziewicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: I/1996