The article shows the current state of research of the Polish minority in Hungary, particularly of the Polish language developing in the Hungarian linguistic and cultural environment, i.e. its standard, émigré and dialect form. The Polish diaspora in Hungary, although small (Polish nationality is declared by approx. 7000 people), became a subject of many valuable historical, geographic, cultural and linguistic studies. In case of linguistic studies, there is a gap with regard to the lexical layer, which has been given least coverage so far.

The article attempts to describe the untypical and paradoxical position of comics in contemporary culture. It is almost always seen as different from the mainstream artistic canon. Yet analytical tools and concepts used in the study of comics most often originate in well-established, canonical disciplines within the academic fi eld. Composite nature of comics provides arguments for its independence as a genre and medium, however the infl uence of other media and forms of artistic creativity on its meaning and fi nal shape proves that it maintains strong relations with other arts. What is more, critics are in dispute about whether comics is an original or derivative form of creativity. The article also tries to present the debate between those who claim that comics is a creative and dynamic genre and those who see in it only as a parasitic element within the realm of genuine art.

The article contains information from several Polish surveys oriented to self-perception of Poles, as well as data gathered for the purpose of individual research for a diploma thesis at the Palacký University in Olomouc. The introduction points out the highly critical self-image of Poles, stresses the most distinct features of the Polish society, and presents a list of the mentioned features. The Polish homogeneity and nationalism, emphasized in the study, are presented in a wider context of international relations; the discourse of the Czech-Polish relations has also been discussed in more detail. The surveyed respondents, beside inhabitants of Warsaw, included Miroslav Karas, Mariusz Surosz, Dr. Marcin Stawski or Marta Chwalińska-Stach. The participants spoke, among others, about the specifi c nature of Czechness and Polishness. The text attempts to approximate the character of this binary system and the way the self-references of the Poles are hypothetically refl ected in the current socio-cultural order.

The essay covers the dialectics of silence–secrecy and speech; an apparent antinomy of silence and speaking is considered in various aspects: linguistic, philosophic, sociologic, religious and marketing; in this last aspect, the meaning of silence in advertising and public relations is discussed

The article examines problems arising during confrontation of able-bodied people with those who have a defect qualifying them into a stigmatized group. It points out the signifi cance of the way a given individual is perceived by the interlocutor as a factor infl uencing the disturbance of an act of communication. The author analyzes the role of mechanisms of approach and avoidance in interpersonal contacts. She emphasizes the fact that often the so-called embarrassing moments apply not so much to stigmatized people as to ‘normal’ individuals. Such situation results from the impact of several significant factors during the creation of a message content, such as: stigma, fear, lack of experience, embarrassment, taboo, or repression of thought. They become a reason to infringe the principles of conversation. The awareness of this fact allows one to create a clear message, which will be correctly interpreted by the receiver, and to reduce the misunderstandings.