PORADNIK JĘZYKOWY

ISSUE 10 / 2008

ARTICLES AND DISSERTATIONS

  • Renata Grzegorczykowa : A Few Remarks on Religious Language: its Scope and Characteristic Features

    Religious language is a variation of standard language used in the area of human religious life, consequently, in expressions referring to sacrum (transcendental reality).

    Religious language can be analyzed in its particular and broader sense. In the former one, it concerns sacrum directly, while in the latter one, it refers to any talk about the phenomenon of religion and related phenomena (e.g. organizations serving religious life). Religious language in its particular sense includes the one of theology, homily and catechesis, as well as the one of cult (liturgy, sacraments and prayer) and the one of testimony of religious experiences.

    Religious expressions in the particular sense characterize with the unique function, absent in other speech acts, (namely, they serve participation in sacrum), and with other features, like e.g. the unique sender-recipient relation, formulaic character of prayers accompanied by simultaneous involvement of the praying person.

  • Andrzej Bogusławski : More about the Verb wierzy, że (He believes that)
    The author resumes M. Danielewiczowa’s and his own reflections on the verb whose Russian form (described in their 2004 article) is verit, čto and whose Polish form (described in Danielewiczowa 2002) is wierzy, że. He proposes a partial revision of their earlier explanation of how it comes about that sentences which in a way contrast with the presupposition adopted by the authors for the verb in question to the effect that the object state of affairs in belief’ is deemed good’ by the believer can, after all, be embedded under the verb, cf. (1) Karol wierzy, że tego, komu przebiegnie drogę czarny kot, spotka coś złego. %K. holds the belief that whoever meets a black cat on his way will face a mishap’, (2) Karol wierzy, że Szatan istnieje. %K. holds the belief that the Satan exists’, (3) Diabeł wierzy, że Bóg istnieje. %The devil holds the belief that God exists’. A detailed analysis of a sample of non-deviant occurrences of the verb leads the author to uphold the explanation turning on the idea of the positive value of knowledge which is enhanced in such sentences and to reject the alleged basis of the admissibility of sentences like (1) in the form of the imaginable prevalence of “lucky” outcomes in the kind of situation as illustrated with (1).
  • Marek Cybulski : About the Language of the Oldest Polish Psalters
    There are two complete translations of the Psalter which remained from Polish Middle Ages. The former one, represented by Florian, Puławy and Cracovian editorials, is a verbal translation, pursuing a straightforward delivery of the Vulgate text. The technique introduced into the Polish text foreign syntactic structures, strange phrases and unusual use of vocabulary in unfamiliar contexts. Consecutive editions were reduced mainly to changes in vocabulary, graphic form, phonetic or inflectional forms, avoiding syntactic shifts, if they were expected to increase or decrease the number of words within the text. The impact of Czech tradition is a source of seemingly rich synonymy. Taking care about audio effects occasionally led away from verbal translation. Another example, Żołtarz by Walenty Wróbel, is a free translation, familiarizing theologically and Latin illiterate people with Biblical topics. It characterizes with syntactic amplifications, by which logical relations between the content of sentences were expressed more precisely, the utterances became more coherent, complete and precise. These qualities remained in Glaber’s printed version, as his corrections were irrelevant to the stylistic shape of the work, concerning: orthography, phonetics and grammar.
  • Izabela Winiarska-Górska : Biblisms in Postil by Mikołaj Rej

    The Article raises the issues of formation of Biblisms in 16th-century Polish, understood as single or phrasal lexical units of Biblical origin, though functioning in general language in metaphorical meanings. Assuming that Biblisms were introduced into general language not only by the so-called canonical translations of the Bible, the author considers also spreading the research area on free translations, including postils, as crucial for historical-linguistic analyses. The first part deals with terminological and theoretical issues, associated with functioning of Biblisms in Polish. The latter part of the article analyzes examples of various units, considered by the author as potential Biblisms. The lexical material comes from the first part of phototypic edition of Postil (1566).

    This is a description of equivalents of contemporary Biblical phrases. The author studies a few types of units: motives working as literary allusions (kamienie wołać będzie – %he will call stones’), mottoes, exposing quotations characteristic for a particular Gospel (e.g. Jam jest głos wołający na puszczy – %I am a voice calling in the wood’, etc.), units functioning as phrases być ciało z ciała, krew z (czyjejś) krwie – %be flesh from flesh, blood from (somebody else’s) blood’ (undergo contamination, occur in the metaphorical meaning). Besides, the article includes an analysis of units, which, though similar to contemporary Biblisms, function in primary meanings in Postil by Rej.

    There are also units of Biblical origin which used to be Biblisms in the 16th century, though nowadays, they have disappeared or have become replaced by other units (licemiernik – faryzeusz – %Pharisee’).

  • Joanna Wierzchowska : Revision of the Meaning of Cross as a Symbol in Andrzej Towiański’s Works

    The article raises the issue of romantic dialogue of with Christian heritage exemplified by Towianism. Andrzej Towiański, its founder, communicated his believers the need of religious enthusiasm, able to transform the world. Metamorphism, then, is the key word in the article. It reveals itself in expanding the Christian symbol of cross onto two contrary signs: the black cross and the white cross.

    The former one symbolizes God’s dispensation, i.e. fate sent on the man. It is, according to Towiański, something unwanted, because it is opposed to the white cross. The latter one is a symbol of being chosen %marked in the Bible’, i.e. by Christ for a hero.

    In the article, the author tries to prove Towiański’s contradiction to religious archetypes, which shows Towiański’s critical approach towards Catholicism as a theory spread by the Church. The aim of the paper is to reveal relation between vocabulary and ideas of the epoch in which it was used.

  • Jagoda Rodzoch-Malek : Linguistic Mechanisms of Winning over the Recipient of Religious Advertisement
    The article is devoted to selected persuasive elements, popular in commercial advertising, applied in religious advertisements, or, to be more precise, it focuses on linguistic mechanisms of winning over the recipient, such as: positive presentation; complement technique – flattering the recipient; provocation; referring to values commonly recognized as precious and desirable. The linguistic analysis covers selected posters, billboards, T-shirts and religious gadgets as well as adverts from Polish Catholic websites.
  • Maria Borejszo : Antroponyms in Polish Carols of the 17th and 18th Century
    The subject of the description is approximately 300 antroponyms included in one of the biggest collection of carols left from the 17th and 18th century. The analyzed names of people have been classified into two sets: 1) antroponyms associated with Biblical and broadly with church situations (the names of Biblical characters and Catholic saints) and 2) the names of shepherds, their wives and nuns of Cracow Carmelite convent. The most numerous and linguistically interesting turned out to be the collection of shepherds’ names, which mainly consists of one-unit antroponyms (usually diminutives) and apparently less numerous are two-unit origin defining names or nicknames.

WORDS AND PHRASES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • Jadwiga Latusek : A Review of Polish Works and Linguistic Periodicals Published In 2007