Humanities and Social Sciences

LINGUISTICA SILESIANA

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LINGUISTICA SILESIANA | 2018 | vol. 39

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Abstract

The aim of the paper is to discuss vagueness of denominal adjectives in English in their qualitative usage. Semantic indeterminacy will be illustrated for selected denominal adjectives with the suffi x –ial, focusing on the lexeme professorial. The range of the qualitative senses of such adjectives will be exemplifi ed by sentences culled from COCA and other linguistic corpora. It will be argued that typicality effects (as discussed by Lakoff 1987) are relevant to the identifi cation (and fl exibility) of meanings of denominal adjectives.
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Authors and Affiliations

Bożena Cetnarowska
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Abstract

Adopting the standpoint of Construction Grammar (Goldberg 2006) and the corpus- based method known as Distinctive-Collexeme Analysis (Gries and Stefanowitsch 2004; Hilpert 2014), the investigation seeks to identify lexemes that indicate a strong preference either for the it is ADJ to V-construction or the it is ADJ that-construction. On the basis of data extracted from the academic sub-corpus of COCA, the study reveals that there are adjectives exhibiting a strong preference for one construction instead of the other, and that the constructions have a tendency to occur with adjectives evoking different semantic frames.
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Authors and Affiliations

Jarosław Wiliński
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Abstract

The paper discusses the primary and secondary endings of the Indo-European middle. It is suggested that, rather than being a local (Italo-Celtic) innovation, the r-endings of the middle voice represent a Proto-Indo-European archaism. Numerous middle forms containing the element -r- are found not only in the Tocharian languages, but also in most of the Anatolian languages attested in the second millennium BC (including Hittite, Palaic, Cuneiform Luvian and Hieroglyphic Luvian). Other Indo- European languages (including Greek and Indo-Iranian) display a zero marker, whereas the oldest Hittite texts attest the primitive feature -t-. The Old Hittite middle marker *-ti, it is claimed, was more archaic than its late variants *-ri as well as *-i. The original primary middle endings in non-Anatolian Indo-European should be reconstructed as follows: 1 sg. pres. *-mh2eŘi, 2 sg. *-sh2eŘi, 3 sg. *-toŘi, 1 pl. pres. *-mesdhh2oŘi, 2 pl. *-sdh(u)u̯ eŘi, 3 pl. *-ntoŘi for transitive verbs and 1 sg. *-h2e/oŘi, 2 sg. *-th2eŘi, 3 sg. *-oŘi, 1 pl. *-medhh2oŘi, 2 pl. *-dh(u)u̯ eŘi, 3 pl. *-roŘi for intransitive verbs. The Indo-European phoneme *Ř seems to be a refl ex of a Proto-Indo-European (i.e. Indo-Hittite) dental stop *Ď, probably identical with the Indo-European dental spirant *đ.
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Authors and Affiliations

Krzysztof Tomasz Witczak
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Abstract

Although formulaic expressions found in earlier correspondence have drawn scholarly attention, their (un)grammaticality has not been thoroughly researched. The present paper thus focuses on the two types of formulae with the verb remain found in private correspondence: one headed by 1st person pronoun (as in: we remain(s) your daughters), the other one starting with but/so/also/and/only (as in: but remain(s) your affectionate child until death). For the purpose of the study a corpus of 19th-century correspondence has been compiled and analyzed; additionally, the data from Dylewski (2013) have been taken into account. Next to the corpus scrutiny, an Internet search has been carried out to verify whether the use of the formulae at issue goes beyond the 19th century. An analysis from both a qualitative and quantitative angles allowed for putting forth a number of hypotheses concerning the origin of variation between -s-marked and unmarked forms as well as their distribution across letter-types and different geographical locations. The results of the analysis also corroborate the claim that -s on remain in the structures under discussion is neither a “part of the authentic local vernacular nor of authentic contemporary standard English, but part of a specifi c, localized practice of letter writing, which had its own linguistic rules” (Pietsch 2015: 226).
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Authors and Affiliations

Radosław Dylewski
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Abstract

In this paper we shall discuss the semantics of the lexical items which have been employed with reference to nakedness. The theoretical framework adopted in this article is that of cognitive linguistics, whose emergence in the second half of the 20th century gave a new impetus to semantic research. In particular, we shall discuss the words which denoted nakedness in the past, but which fell into oblivion (e.g. unbehelod, nscrȳdd), we shall also focus on the similes (e.g. as naked as a jaybird, naked as a robin, naked as a worm, naked as a needle) as well as the phrases and idioms (e.g. mother naked, belly naked, in the buff, in stag, in the altogether, in the nude, in one’s birthday suit, in a state of nature, in the raw) which pertain to the conceptual category NAKEDNESS. Furthermore, we attempt to answer the following research questions: (1) What processes are the most productive in terms of creating new synonyms of nakedness? (2) How many metaphorical schemas can be formulated on the basis of the analysis? (3) How many and which conceptual domains play a crucial role in the rise of the new lexical items whose senses are connected with the conceptual category NAKEDNESS?
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Authors and Affiliations

Agnieszka Grząśko
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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to conduct a diachronic analysis of the Polish word rżysko ‘stubble’, whose root retains the primary designation of rye, namely reż ‘rye, obs.’. Although this noun was ousted by żyto ‘rye’, a derivative of the verb żyć ‘to live’, its cognates are still used in many Slavic and Germanic languages, e.g. Russian rožь (рожь) ‘rye’, and English rye. The paper presents other cognates with a view to contrasting the English word rye with its obsolete Polish cognate reż and understanding the evolution of both words. For this purpose, the study seeks to identify the sound changes responsible for the discrepancy between the Polish-English cognates which developed from *rughi-. The derivative rżysko ‘stubble’ has been analysed in the context of other nomina loci as well as the semantic change which affected the word. It is suggested that the phenomenon exemplifi ed by rżysko can be referred to as a root archaism.
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Authors and Affiliations

Mikołaj Rychło
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Abstract

The objective of the paper is to use the model of Complexity Scales and Licensing (Cyran 2003, 2010) to account for the existence of two prosodic types: ‘syllable’ and ‘word’ languages (Auer 1993, Szczepaniak 2007), which roughly correspond to syllable-timed and stress-timed languages. We will postulate that these categories are not primitive and that many of their phonological characteristics can be derived from simpler mechanisms of licensing. It will be also argued that the phenomenon of contrast plays an important role in prosodic typology and may infl uence syllable structure. Languages use more marked syllabic confi gurations in order to optimise contrast expression. We will carry out an analysis on a simple hypothetical language in order to demonstrate the interdependence of syllabic complexity and the contrastive potential of a syllabic unit.
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Authors and Affiliations

Marcin Fortuna
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Abstract

In this paper an attempt will be made to analyse a number of surnames either directly derived from animal names or variously associated with representatives of the animal world which may be said to embody and provide a variation on the general conceptual metaphor HUMAN BEING IS ANIMAL and/or the ANIMAL NAME FOR PERSON ASSOCIATED WITH THAT NAME metonymy. Animal-related surnames represent a fragment of the English lexicon where morphology and (broadly understood) semantics meet and exert mutual infl uence on each other. It seems that in animal-based nomination language users employ such morphological mechanisms as, for example, affi xation or compounding which, in turn, seem to be conceptually motivated by metaphor and metonymy.
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Authors and Affiliations

Robert Kiełtyka
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Abstract

The present paper aims at analyzing the conceptual metaphors for sin identifi ed in the English version of the Bible. The experience of moral evil belongs to basic human experiences and in theological interpretation, its existence is the reason for the salvation brought to people by Christ. However, from the semantic point of view, the concept of sin itself is highly abstract and diffi cult to defi ne. In order to conceptualize that notion, people frequently employ conceptual metaphors which enable them to refer to the abstract through the use of the concrete. This study is based on the English translation of Scripture published as the New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition (2007[1989]). That version of Scripture is a revised edition of the famous King James Bible (1611) and it is widely used among Christians representing various denominations. The identifi ed sin metaphors are based on either sensorimotor or cultural experience. There are conceptualizations of sin that are motivated by preconceptual image schemas, ontological metaphors, and metaphors that combine cultural scripts and image schemas.
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Authors and Affiliations

Marcin Kuczok
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Abstract

The title of the paper harks back to Schopenhauerian ‘der Positivitȁt des Schmerzens’, a formulation which, stripped of its broader philosophical context, reads to most of us paradoxical if not overtly contradictory. The folk (non-medical) perception of pain may be evaluatively negative, but there are also pain conceptualizations which reveal that humans infrequently think about this phenomenon along more positive lines. Thus, being predominantly construed as an ‘evil-doer’, pain does not preclude more positive construals, both in medical and non-medical fi elds. ‘Positivity of pain’, then, is often explored within literary, anthropological, psychological, theological, social, therapeutic and utilitarian realms, and, as Sussex puts it, “in its interdisciplinary span, pain language is a prototypical example of a problem of applied linguistics” (2009: 4). With this in mind, I take a closer look at some verbal as well as verbo-pictorial manifestations of pain. The focus of the present study is specifi cally on the overarching metaphor +PAIN as ‘GOOD-DOER’+ (naturally contrasted with the previously hinted +PAIN as ‘EVIL-DOER’+), further broken into more specifi c sub-metaphors. An attempt at capturing and describing some of these apparently counter-intuitive pain metaphorizations reveals their ‘positive potential’, a potential of tools with which to obtain control over pain and, in many cases, re-forge it into something ‘better’, something evaluatively positive.
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Authors and Affiliations

Adam Palka
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Abstract

The present contribution focuses on one specifi c fi gurative usage of proper nouns, namely paragon names, currently employed as derogatory or scornful terms in the debate about public affairs in Poland, as exemplifi ed by the sentence Dlatego Kaczyńscy-PL i Trumpy-PL wygrywają wybory1 [That is why Kaczyńskis and Trumps win elections]. The article argues that metonymic approaches advocated by cognitive linguists (Lakoff 1987, Kövecses and Radden 1998, Barcelona 2003, 2004, Brdar and Brdar-Szabó 2007, and Bierwiaczonek (2013, in press) proffer a more felicitous and precise explanation of the motivational processes behind paragonic uses of names than the metaphoric model advanced in Polish onomastic research, represented, among others, by Kosyl (1978), Kaleta (1998), Cieślikowa (2006) and Rutkowski (2007a, 2007b, 2008, 2012, 2017). We provide a detailed discussion of the recent cognitive linguistic literature on paragons, followed by an analysis of two Polish examples of paragonic uses, which serve as illustration of the explanatory power of selected metonymic frameworks presented in the paper.
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Authors and Affiliations

Joanna Paszenda
Iwona Góralczyk
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Abstract

The object of analysis in the paper is semantic extension of a lexical unit. In order to approach it, the author chooses one of the cognitive linguistics theories – Cognitive Grammar (Langacker 1987; 1990; 2000a; 2000b; 2008, etc.). Two of the issues of semantic extension are emphasised. First, it is the grounding of semantic extension in the encyclopaedic knowledge shared by the interlocutors and second, the emergence of the schema implied by the relation of extension. The paper begins with an outline of the postulates of Cognitive Grammar, which are subsequently applied to an analysis of the French lexical unit corps [body], whose extended senses are found in the domain of the structure of musical instruments. In the conclusion the author discusses the dimensions of complexity of the process of semantic extension, one of which is a chain of relations based on metonymy and metaphor.
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Authors and Affiliations

Barbara Taraszka-Drożdż
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Abstract

The aim of the paper is to explore metaphorical expressions used in informal Polish in the area of computers and the Internet. The study is based on a corpus, compiled and analyzed by the present author; the corpus consists of short informal texts (entries) taken from Polish Internet message boards devoted to computers and the Internet. Altogether, the corpus comprises around 1,500,000 words. The metaphors found in the corpus will be discussed within the cognitive framework. Special attention will be devoted to one of the most frequent conceptual metaphors found in the corpus, namely COMPUTERS ARE HUMANS, or, to be more precise, BADLY WORKING COMPUTER IS A SICK PERSON. Some place will also be devoted to the infl uence of English on metaphorical expressions (in the domain of computers and the Internet) in Polish.
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Authors and Affiliations

Marcin Zabawa
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Abstract

This paper has two parts to it. The fi rst part is about the presence and possible impact of Hindi and Polish as foreign words in the contemporary English language. This is measured via the proposed tool of CRAC (Cumulative Average Relative Count). The research is done on the basis of the British National Corpus (2001, 2007) and Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (2004, 2009). The focus is laid on the overriding heuristic metaphor LANGUAGE LAWS are PHYSICAL LAWS, where laws of lexical assimilation are viewed as analogous to physical laws of gravity. The second part marks the transition from a theoretical-descriptive perspective into a more practical, intercultural dimension. It is about translation of foreign proper names from the viewpoint of legal (certifi ed) translation. This is a signifi cant issue as many foreign words are actually proper names in English. This part relates then to specifi c controversies and proposed solutions concerning translation of Polish and Hindi proper foreign names in view of the presence and absence of their diacritic forms in English. The framework for adoption of the argument are institutionally established standards of certifi ed translation practice in Poland.
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Authors and Affiliations

Marek Kuźniak
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Abstract

The paper aims to discuss the specific characteristics of Italian employment contract from a linguistic point of view as well as from the point of view of the translation. First of all, the employment contract as a legal document will be discussed in regard to the text classifi cation proposed by Sabatini (1990). Moreover, the general typology of Italian and Polish employment contracts will be taken into consideration. The analysis is complemented by Polish equivalents of the main Italian terms and phrases used usually in the employment contact. The fi nal comments will be dedicated to the issue of translation procedures used for dealing with the translation shifts proposed by Vinay and Darbelnet (1958) and Cosmai (2007).
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Authors and Affiliations

Lucyna Marcol-Cacoń
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Abstract

The article discusses the relations between contrastive linguistics and applied phraseology. Applied phraseology, and particularly phraseodidactics and phraseotranslation, respond to the vast needs of the contemporary world in terms of effi cient didactics and successful translation of the broadly conceived phraseological structures. The author demonstrates how the disciplines in question may use the developments of contrastive linguistics in order to expand their own areas of interest.
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Authors and Affiliations

Monika Sułkowska
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Abstract

The article deals with the Russian and Polish phraseologisms including some proverbs and sayings describing madness and the lack of mind. The material has been presented with regard to dominating imaginations of madness and stupidity being displayed in the semantics of examined units. These units include – hitting, aside movement, the lack of sensitivity to outer stimuli, the fragmentation of entirety, lack of components, etc.
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Authors and Affiliations

Maciej Walczak
ORCID: ORCID
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Abstract

This article discusses selected aspects of the organisation of the academic article introduction – a section of a central academic genre, recognised as both troublesome (Swales 1990) and strategically important, as it is at this stage that the reader forms the fi rst, and often lasting, impressions of the whole text. Based on Swales’ (1990) revised CARS model of article introductions and drawing on previous Polish–English contrastive studies (e.g., Duszak 1994; Golebiowski 1998, 1999), it looks into the placement, realisation, and role of the purpose statement in introductions to articles published in the years 2001-2006 in linguistics-related peer-reviewed Englishand Polish-language journals. It seeks answers to the following questions: (i) Is the statement of purpose a typical/recurrent feature of introductions to Polish-language articles? (ii) If it does occur in Polish, in which part of the introduction is it usually made by Polish authors as compared to English writers? (iii) What is the preferred way of announcing it in both groups of texts? and (iv) Can any assessment be made of its prominence in both languages on the basis of what precedes and what follows it? Contrary to what might have been expected on the basis of previous studies, the article demonstrates that the statement of purpose is in fact a stable element of the introduction to a Polish-language linguistics article, although its prominence depends on the presence of other rhetorical moves.
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Authors and Affiliations

Krystyna Warchał
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Abstract

The aim of the paper is to investigate to what degree the linguistic means used to emphasize a certain element in the text are received by German native speakers. The research is based on a purpose designed questionnaire consisting of two excerpts taken from parliamentary speeches in Bundestag. The questionnaire was administered to 55 German philology students at the University of Leipzig. The students’ task was to read the excerpts carefully and then to decide which elements in the text were emphasized by its author. The fi ndings of the study indicate how different means of textual emphasis (syntactic, lexical and rhetorical ones) are recognized by the students.
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Authors and Affiliations

Agnieszka Poźlewicz

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Reviewers

The Linguistica Silesiana peer-referees 2017-2020

  • Beata Abdallah-Krzepkowska
  • Magdalena Bartłomiejczyk
  • Magdalena Bator
  • Monika Bielińska
  • Bogusław Bierwiaczonek
  • Krzysztof Bogacki
  • Jan Čermák
  • Bożena Cetnarowska
  • Magdalena Charzyńska-Wójcik
  • Grzegorz Drożdż
  • Radosław Dylewski
  • Henryk Fontański
  • Danuta Gabryś-Barker
  • Piotr Gąsiorowski
  • Łukasz Grabowski
  • Ireneusz Kida
  • Robert Kiełtyka
  • Marcin Krygier
  • Marcin Kuczok
  • Katarzyna Kwapisz-Osadnik
  • Czesław Lachur
  • Andrzej Łyda
  • Ewa Miczka
  • Ewa Myrczek-Kadłubicka
  • John G. Newman
  • Mikołaj Nkollo
  • Jerzy Nykiel
  • Ewa Piechurska-Kuciel
  • Tadeusz Piotrowski
  • Adam Pluszczyk
  • Andrzej Porzuczek
  • Hans Sauer
  • Czesława Schatte
  • Piotr Stalmaszczyk
  • Monika Sułkowska
  • Konrad Szcześniak
  • Krystyna Warchał
  • Halina Widła
  • Krzysztof Witczak
  • Adam Wojtaszek
  • Marcin Zabawa

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