Research in Romance linguistics in Poland at the beginning of the XXI century
The article presents the scope and methodology of research of the Romance linguistics in Poland at the beginning of the XXI century. A certain review of the state and the tendencies in that research are featured in an array of articles published within this volume; and at the same time being a result of the Meeting of the Romance Linguists in Poland that took place at the end of November 2010 at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. This Meeting in a way represents a revival of the old already almost forgotten tradition of regular meetings of Polish Romance Linguists.

Metaphorical conceptualization of joy and happiness in Spanish and Polish. A corpus-based study
The purpose of this paper is to present a corpus-based contrastive analysis of some metaphorical conceptualizations of the notions expressed by the Spanish words alegría and felicidad and their translation equivalents in Polish: radość and szczęście. The investigation shows some intralingual and interlingual differences in the degree to which these lexemes participate in the conceptual metaphors based on the source domains of GIVING, SEARCHING and FINDING, JOURNEY and LIQUID IN A CONTAINER. The results of the analysis of the language data allow the formation of hypotheses about the way of understanding the feelings of joy and happiness in Polish and Spanish.
 

Language and dialect in a conversation
This paper deals with the issue of relations between language and dialect in conversation analysis with special emphasis being put on phenomena defined in English and American research work as code-switching and code-mixing. These phenomena usually appear in the context of bilingualism and diglossia (cfr. Ferguson 1959), where two national languages come into contact. However, within the Italian speech community, interlinguistic contact occurs between language and dialect, which provides a good basis for considering specific functions of pragmalinguistic nature which may be implied by the use of both the linguistic codes in concrete communication situations.
 

Exception, restriction, exclusion?
About the heterogenous meanings of the so-called “ exceptive” prepositional constructions
This paper describes French prepositional constructions usually called “exceptive”. Basing on the syntax of predicative expressions and the semantic features of these constructions discerned by G. Kleiber, we aim to show that their meanings are not only exceptive but also can express two other relations: restriction and “mise à part” (exclusion).

About some borrowed Romance augmentatives in Polish
Creating augmentative forms is one of the common word-formation processes. Augmentatives are used for naming a referent of a larger size or to express an emotional (mostly negative) attitude of the speaker to the referred content. Presented Polish words, ended in -ard(a), -as and -on, come from French words with suffixes -ard (< germ. Hart), -asse (< lat. -aceu(a)m) and -on (< lat. -onem), sometimes considered in the source-language as augmentatives. Their etymons, inherited from Latin or borrowed from other Romance languages, were stylistically marked too, but this mark becomes neutralized during the borrowing process, firstly to French (e.g. lampion, ballon from Italian augmentatives lampione, pallone), but also from French to Polish, e.g. brouillon > brulion, coquarde > kokarda.
 

Culture-bound terms in translation of subtitles. Challenges posed by two target cultures: Polish and Spanish
In the article there are presented the results of comparative analysis of translations of two films by W. Allen: Mighty Aphrodite and Annie Hall into the Polish and the Spanish language. The main objective of analysis is to observe: how and to what extent the knowledge of the language of origin and acceptance of loan words can become a factor that influences translation of culture-bound terms in subtitles. According to the hypothesis of the article, there is a visible relation between acceptability of the English language in both cultures of destination: the Polish and the Spanish and translation preferences in subtitling. This hypotheses is supported by numerous examples from the analyzed texts.

Space in abstract meanings of two French motion verbs: ‘descendre’ and ‘tomber’
In this paper, we provide a semantic study of the space in abstract meanings of two French motion verbs, which both are marked by vertical orientation and downstairs direction: ‘descendre’ and ‘tomber’. The examples are divided on three groups, depending on the presence / absence of elements of the space: 1) defined space, 2) partially inferred space, 3) totally inferred / non pertinent space.

How to determine the functions of the futur antérieur tense?
The aim of this article is the analysis of the context in order to distinguish the elements which influence the interpretation of the futur antérieur tense. Research takes into account: temporal and modality adverbs, the adverbs jamais and rarement, comparative constructions, verbs of opinion, type of sentence (interrogative, exclamatory, negative), type of subordinate clause (temporal, relative), subject of the sentence, aspect of the verb, position of the sentence with the futur antérieur tense in the text and type of the text. This analysis allows the construction of rules by which we can automatically identify the meanings of the futur antérieur tense.

The vocabulary of fashion – linguistic tendencies
In the French language of fashion, the number of foreign borrowings, especially from English, is rapidly increasing. Some of them, describing new styles, cuts, types of clothing or materials are indispensable, but most of them could be effortlessly substituted with French equivalents. Most often their usage has a ludic character. They acquire unique connotative values, which the analogous French terms lack. The brevity of the English terms is also an important factor in their favour.
Borrowings sometimes fulfill the same grammatical function as in the language of their origin, but often the noun takes on the role of the adjective or the other way round. There are also verbs used as nouns or adjectives, which proves that this phenomenon does not occur merely in order to fill lexical blanks. A decisive factor influencing vocabulary is the worldwide popularity of the culture of English speaking countries.

“The fact that you speak an indigenous language doesn’t mean that you’re more Angolan than me” – some observations on the linguistic reality of Angola
This article presents the historical factors that influenced the development of the current linguistic situation of Angola. Taking into account the fact that Angola is one of the few African countries, where urban residents are not familiar with any national language, a lot of space is devoted to the description of the characteristics of the Portuguese language used in cities and beyond. The article emphasizes the influence of national languages on grammar and vocabulary of Portuguese language and explores the vocabulary of Portuguese origin used in national languages. The paper ends with an interview with Emanuel Marta, an Angolan from Luanda, that reveals the attitude of youth living in the capital city towards the Portuguese and national languages.

Some remarks on diminutives in Portuguese and Romanian
The subject of the paper is a comparison of basic information concerning formation of diminutives in two Romance languages traditionally called peripheral – Portuguese and Romanian. After general considerations about the phenomenon of diminutive derivation comes a comparison of its mechanism in analysed languages, systematized in a table and illustrated with numerous examples. Special attention is put on words which only structurally reveal their primitive meaning and today are not at all understood as diminutives. The productivity of the diminutive derivation in Portuguese and Romanian is mentioned too, in reference to the results of B. Hasselrot’s studies.
 

Predication in a legal language
Law is connected to a language by means of which it is expressed. The important issue that should be taken into account involves not only understanding and interepretation of a legal language, but also the process of preparing of legal texts as well as their translation and edition. So as to reach the aim, a broad description of linguistic facts in the area of language for special purposes seems to be significant. The analysis of the professional discourse allows distinguishing a spectrum of typical features.
The recent research points out the need to describe the phenomenon of predication (verbs, nominals and participles) in order to consider the complexity fo legal language phenomenon (Lerat 2001, 2002, 2008).
The main objective of this paper is to give an outline of predication expressed in a legal language by means of the description of the lexical-semantic as well as morpho-syntactic parameters based on the corpus of the selected texts.

Periphrastic verbal expressions in European Portuguese (EP)
The author’s intention is to show difficulties related to the definition and the classification of periphrastic constructions in Portuguese as well as to present the range of verbal periphrases in EP. At the same time author points out the fact that the value of periphrastic constructions is influenced by the tense of auxiliary verb, the class of verbal predicate, quantification of nominal sintagmas and adverbial expressions.

The integration of direct speech into narratives in French and in Polish

The present paper states how the choice of the introductory verb and the form of the quoting discourse are determined by the tenor of the quoted utterance, the linguistic context and the kind of narrative text. The same three factors explain some of the prominent features shown by the translations of press texts vs. literary texts. In the first case, the kind of text is essential (as neutral verbs mówić, powiedzieć are frequently used in Polish press articles, undertranslation often occurs in the process of translation from the French). In the second case, namely of the literary texts, the modification of the quoted utterance and the choice of the introductory verb depend mainly on how the translator did reconstruct the situation of enunciation.

Communiqué: from official dementi to contest message

In this article, we present the development of an announcement as an example of a new type of discourse in French language. The term communiqué first appeared in 1853 as an official correction. Historical and technical changes had an effect on the form, pragmatic type and number of contexts the word was used in. It became the word to be used only for special situations, including politics or health. During the World War I, it was a document containing information about the state of military operation. Recently, the companies started to use the Internet to issue announcements. They are not only informative, but they also create one’s image. In Polish language, there are also so called pseudo-announcements, which are branded communiqué, but have no connotations with an announcement, as a genre. A good example of this are contest text messages.

Discours analysis and teaching foreign languages for specific purposes

In foreign language teaching a more and more frequent opinion is that communicative and task approach should be supplemented with linguistic analysis, specifically discourse analysis. It seems particularly useful in teaching foreign languages for specific purposes, where teachers must develop the course content and didactic materials on their own. Unfortunately, the term “discourse analysis” may convey a variety of meanings. Also in teaching LSP in different language regions the traditions of defining discourse analysis vary. Analysis of teaching materials used in practical training of teachers of Français sur Objectifs Spécifiques reveals the vagueness of both the notion of discourse analysis and the ways of its application. Therefore the actual implementation of discourse-approach in class practice would require a conscious choice from among the available discourse analysis methodologies and their popularisation among the teachers.

Legal linguistics: from specialized language to specialized linguistic

The main aim of this article is to present the issue of legal linguistics as an interdisciplinary and multidimensional linguistic field. The author discusses the genesis of the discipline, which is derived from both the jurisprudence and the science of language. Then, the author provides the description of the competing names for the discipline placing it in accordance with a well-known range of divisions of linguistic fields. What is more, the research issues of the legal linguistics are also outlined.

In the footsteps of Boy-Żeleński – Julian Rogoziński, translator of Marcel Proust

Between 1936 and 1939, Poland’s most famous translator of French literature, Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, translated Proust’s cycle of novels, Remembrance of Things Past. Alas, the outbreak of WWII prevented the publication of Boy’s translation of the last two volumes. In 1941 Boy was executed by the Nazis, and in 1944 his unpublished volumes were destroyed by fire during the Warsaw insurrection. In this paper, the author introduces Boy’s successor, Julian Rogoziński, author of the first published translation into Polish of Time Regained, the final volume of Proust’s novel.

Evolution of genres of political discourse under the influence of advertising: pact aimed at a dream and illusive offer

The objective of the paper is to capture the changes, which are taking place in the genres of political discourse under the influence of advertising. The paper outlines the methodology known as the French discourse analysis, and defines both the political and the media discourse as well as the concepts of the contract, genre and strategy. The latter notion is of key importance for studying the influence of some genres and their design on others. The rhetoric of the advertisement, developed by the contemporary consumerist society, is primarily based on emotions. Emotional persuasion of advertising contrasts with classical political argumentation. The political genres are being penetrated by the logic of a dream and an illusive gift.

The origin of the Creole languages from the Gulf of Guinea

The aim of this article is to identify the origin of the Portuguese-based Creole languages which developed in the Gulf of Guinea in the 16th century. In order to achieve this aim, we shall analyze the socio-historical as well as lingual conditions in which the creolization process occurred.
The archipelago Saints Thomas and Prince was discovered by the Portuguese at the end of the 15th century and was populated by the black slaves originating from the African coasts who spoke different languages mainly representing the groups Kwa and Bantu. Under such favourable conditions, the creolization process quickly took place. As a result the Proto-Creole language developed, out of which slightly later four other Creole languages developed.

Borrowings and fashion – examples from Portuguese and Polish magazines and web sites

The main objective of this following paper is to present the loan words from Portuguese and Polish fashion magazines and websites. We are trying to describe the main characteristics of the vocabulary of fashion, with particular emphasis on loan words. Analyzing the women’s press articles and websites, we find a variety of borrowings, primarily from English. There are many words which have already integrated with Portuguese and Polish language well in the material we gathered. On the other hand there are words which are in the first phase of adoption as well as those which are used only once mostly because of their style. There are some cases where loan words are very difficult for readers.

Etymology of names and forms of chemical elements and their symbols

The etymology is one of the oldest branches of linguistics, semantics is a more modern” – said Stephen Ulmann. These two areas of language coexist and help understand the origin of words and the link between signifier and signified. In this paper we analyze the etymology and the semantic motivation for the chemical elements.
We examine the trend was to appropriate a name of a concrete meaning to a substance in the time before and after the revolution of technology, if the meaning refers to a physical or chemical property of the item or returns to its discoverer, his place of origin or discovery or if the name was motivated differently. We are considering whether the Latin language was dominant as a source of lexemes for the creation of the classification of materials or whether it was Greek.
The etymological study of the materials is important in terms of chemistry because as knowledge of the elements is necessary to understand the process and the formation of chemical compounds, analysis of the names of chemical elements and then the trivial names of compounds helped their systematic nomenclature.

Methods of interactive analysis in monologal texts on the basis of reader’s letters

The aim of this article is to show how some instruments of interaction’s analysis can beused in the description of letters. The application of the theory of Face Threatening Acts and Face Flattering Acts is possible when we want to describe relations between writers and readers of letters. The structure of a letter is similar to the structure of a conversation. These features prove that the exchange of letters, through the form imposed by the Internet becomes a real interaction.
 

Starting “at the bottom” of the French même in the semantics of nouns

On the basis of the semantics of the identity même, which we present in the part I, in the II one try to describe the behaviour of different nouns’ types towards the interpretation of taxonomic identity of the même. The explication of differences and similitudes, which such a confrontation shows, permits to put forward some semantic dimensions of the different types of tested nouns. Our analysis brings new elements of knowledge about the types of standard nouns, which are conrete countable nouns and matter nouns, as well as about less studied nouns like colour and smell.

Selected problems concerning Polish-Spanish contrastive syntax: the relative clauses

In the introductory part of this article we present several opinions of the Polish and Spanish linguists referring to the relative clauses. Next, we write about their forms – both in the past as those existing nowadays, and the difference in the number of these forms arising from inclusion or exclusion of relative adverbs among them. Finally, we mention the classification of the clauses, taking into consideration the presence or absence of the antecedent to which the relative refers, as well as the syntactical function displayed by the relative clause or the information which is given by its restrictive or appositive character.

Translation Meemories: a necessary tool or a source of problems for translators

The Translation Memories can be characterised as databases of text fragments in source language with their equivalents in target language that make it possible to effectuate the translation process in a more effective and automatic way. This is a tool that is a part of Computer Aided Translation (CAT) domain and at present seems to be an excellent solution for translators. However, there are also some disadvantages concerning the usage of those mechanisms. This short analysis tends toward determining who can use such software and in what case will it be most effective in creating various types of translation.

Do semantic categories really exist? A few cognitive remarks on French

Many researchers in cognitive linguistics support an idea that all categories used in a speech event are carriers of meaning. What is more, it is claimed to be unnecessary to differentiate between categories on the basis of their position and function in a language in order to know their meaning. Here I argue that by analysing French subjonctif mood and prepositions – we can demonstrate that this is context that it of great importance in the construction of meaning as a product of data processing. I would also try to prove that French does not lack asemantic items considering the importance of an interlocutor who has an impact on the frequency of use. The frequency of use underlies a process of forming new lexical items in long-term memory which are subsequently grouped in a hierarchy of semantic-cognitive patterns.

The Italian progressive periphrasis and stative verbs

In the present paper, the author analyzes the use of the Italian progressive periphrasis with Vendler’s stative verbs. One of the tests for stative verbs is their incompatibility with the progressive aspect; however, several authors have already found this criteria is not complete, and there may be exceptions. Using several examples and searches with Google, and following the theories of aspect of Bertinetto and Karolak, the author tries to explain and make a classification of such cases.

Stupidity’ as an object of insult.

Analysis of the colloquial and slang vocabulary in contemporary Spanish
This paper presents a short analysis of the Spanish insulting vocabulary related to the lack of intelligence of an insulted person. Nearly 150 lexical units were selected from the following dictionaries: Inventario general de insultos by Pancracio Celdrán Gomáriz and Diccionario de argot by Julia Sanmartín Sáez. The analysis focuses on distinguishing word formation processes and semantic displacement types in the words belonging to this category of insult in the Spanish language. The results single out the semantic and thematic fields used most frequently in the metaphorization process in the investigated group of words, and point out to the most recurrent word formation processes occurring in this lexical category.

Linguistic Competence and its role in the acquisition of Communicative Competence in Italian as a FL (levels C1 and C2)

The paper analyzes the role of linguistic competence in the acquisition of communicative competence in Italian as a FL taught at C1 and C2 levels (romance languages departments). The author of the paper claims that linguistic competence is an essential component of communicative competence as it provides the linguistic resources and cues for constructing a message. The communicative competence, in fact, bridges linguistic knoledge and knoledge of social contexts and allows in such a way to formulate acceptable messages from linguistic and social points of view. However in the author’s opinion lack of linguistic knowledge is a major factor in communication breakdowns. If a student (levels C1 and C2) is sufficiently motivated and wants to achieve an excellent command of Italian, he or she must be able to utilize the repertoire of grammatical and lexical structures in socially strategic ways in order to be properly understood. He or she must not forget that linguistic structures are markers of social status and have a great deal of importance in Intercultural Communication. Thus teaching Italian as a FL at levels C1 and C2 cannot disregard grammar in order to give benefit to purely communicative abilities because not only different pragmatic strategies play a role in the outcome of any interaction.

Irregular sound change due to frequency in French

Until now, irregular sound change due to frequency has been considered as something sporadic, affecting only the vocabulary, whereas the present writer believes that irregular sound change due to frequency, which concerns also reductions in morphemes, especially in inflectional ones (which are even more frequently used than words), is the third essential factor of linguistic evolution, in addition to regular sound change and analogical development. There are six arguments which can be mentioned in favour of the theory of irregular sound change due to frequency. (1) If a frequency dictionary for a given language and for a given epoch is available, we may use it, since the majority of words showing an irregular sound change due to frequency belong to the thousand words most frequently used in the given language. And so on.

Towards new perspectives in terminology research in Poland

Terminology as a discipline of linguistics is developing in dynamic and diverse ways in Francophone countries. The multiplicity of ideas is the result of the gap between the onomasiological approach proposed by Eugen Wüster, the founder of modern terminology and the semasiological approach defended by linguists for whom not the notion, but the term is the main subject of terminology. The author proposes to reconcile these two methods needed for terminological research in the full sense of the word. In this way she contributes to the development of terminology in Poland through the proposed methodology, as well as the subject of study which is the denomination of the conceptual structure ‘family’ in French and Polish.
 

Noun, noun phrase, construction Vsup+N/NPh et their aspectual value.
Contrastive analysis French–Polish

The definition of the aspect as a semantic category authorises aspectual analyse of the noun phrase. This one is considered as an equivalent of the verbal phrase and is submitted to the same type of aspectual decomposition: the question is to know how the noun expansions contribute in evaluation of its aspectual value.
 

Means of verbalization of the emotional state in the linguocultural context

In this article, we seek to study various means of verbalizing emotional concept of “fear”. We present a lexicographic analysis of the nominees ‘fear,’ discuss various contextual connotations as well as associations and beliefs associated with this concept in the linguistic consciousness of the French people.

About some mistakes of translation from Polish into French: “już” = “déjà”

Generally speaking, this contrastive study of the Polish temporal adverb już and the French déjà is based around the idea that już and déjà have an invariant meaning but it is also true that they follow different idiosyncratic usages. The author analyzes two cases in which the Polish adverb już can’t be translated by the French déjà. This fact is explained by the conventionalization of deictic meaning of już, which is absent of déjà.

About numerical philology as a part of the text semantics

The aim of the article is to outline the concept of numerical philology, as proposed by François Rastier the French linguist, in the context of a project to federate disciplines engaged in languages and cultures as part of the semiotics of cultures. This project is the consequence of the concept of text as a cultural object. The starting point for the article will be the presentation of that position followed by a discussion of the issue of numerical philology and an explanation of its roots. The next part will present the methods for obtaining text from the Web which Rastier compares with the text semantic method, a constituent of which is numerical philology. The final chapter of the work will show practical examples of the use of this method in identifying racist websites.

Persuasive strategies in ecological advertising campaign

In our paper we discuss from a pragmatic perspective (Sperber, Wilson 1989) how persuasive strategies are used in ecological advertising. Prototypical discursive configurations in our corpus are analyzed in the light of two criteria: interlocutive relation and the orientation of interpretation. The first has shown the discursive function of communicator and the second how he imposes the interpretation of the message. Both criteria represent the form of ostensive-inferential communication. We have shown that the main strategy consists in ‘introduction’ of the audience to discursive space (ethos, interactive forms). The communicator tries to make a message optimally relevant, transparent and comprehensible to achieve his persuasive goals.

Didactics of foreign languages at the uniwersity, and traslation training. A few hypotheses

The article focuses on some problems connected with didactics of translation and particularly of translation of languages for special purposes. The didactics of translation that deals with such a type of texts must take into consideration not only the development of students’ linguistic competence but L’apprendimento della lingua straniera all’università e la formazione alla traduzione also their cultural competence thanks to which they can compare one language and one reality with another one. The problems mentioned in the article are mostly related to the current university curriculum and difficulties which the teachers face if they search for some possibilities of self-training. At the moment it is impossible to solve definitely these problems but the author will concentrate on that issue in her future research.

Expressing the spatial relationships in French and Finnish from the historical perspective

The article presents completely different ways and sources of expressing the spatial dimension in two unrelated language families.
The French language, by inheriting the Latin and Indo-European system, uses prepositions, prefixes and adverbs mixing them sometimes with nouns and verbs. The novelty is also seen in the more frequent use of postpositions.
Finnish, by inheriting the Uralic system, uses cases (often compound ones), postpositions containing suffixes of cases as well as adverbs – also often with suffixes of cases. Thanks to the contacts with the Indo-European languages, its affluent system of expressing spatial dimension has been further enriched with prepositions. The Indo-European languages also influenced the more frequent use of postpositions in the form of prepositions that gives even more precision of a word.

Interjections in Italian and Polish – contrastive approach

A comparison of occurrence of so specific forms in both languages such as interjections could seem to be useless, yet it can lead to many valuable observations. The differences between the Polish and Italian interjections occur on a range of levels: graphic, phonetic, semantic... In this article a lot of attention has been dedicated to the graphic aspect in order to demonstrate the fact that many Polish and Italian interjections, although identical in terms of the graphic or phonetic aspect, significantly differ in terms of the meaning. A number of examples of secondary interjections have been quoted, where their meaning as an interjection diverges from the meaning of their “basic form” – noun, adjective or verb. Finally, the article briefly presents the issue of euphemism serving to ease vulgar forms or swearwords.