Grypsera na szklanym ekranie ("Symetria" Konrada Niewolskiego)
Grypsera (‘Polish prison slang’) on TV (Konrad Niewolski’s Symetria)

Summary/Abstract: The article is about the film stylisation of grypsera in the 2003 feature film Symetria, directed and scripted by Konrad Niewolski. Grypsera is understood here as (1) a set of rules, a system of values and norms of behavior which exists in prison, (2) the slang of prisoners. The author focused primarily on the linguistic aspect, discussing 80 lexemes and syntactic constructions. In addition, he characterized the basic rules and norms of behavior that are expressed by these lexemes. The analysis included classifying the lexical resource into 9 semantic categories. The discussed words and phraseological units have been juxtaposed with the content of Klemens Stępniak’s Słownik tajemnych gwar przestępczych (Dictionary of Secret Criminal Slangs). As a result, it turned out that the film meticulously reflected the prison reality in the linguistic aspect. What’s more, grypsera in this stylisation contains all the features attributed to sociolects, i.e. secrecy, professionalism and expressiveness.

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