PRAGMATYCZNA SKUTECZNOŚĆ APOKTYFICZNYCH FORMUŁ MAGICZNYCH W KONTEKŚCIE METAFORYZACJI JĘZYKA
THE PRAGMATIC EFFECTIVENESS OF APOCRYPHAL MAGIC FORMULAS IN THE CONTEXT OF METAMORPHOSATION OF LANGUAGE

Summary/Abstract: Perceiving language as a form of activity being closely related to the context of a speech act determines its real meaning and leads, among others, to the metaphorisation of language. Language did not create a full symbolic and semantic structure in its earlier stages of development – a “bridge” between a purely pragmatic language use and symbolic thinking is constituted by magic speech, which frequently uses metaphorical expressions. Magic formulas based on metaphor are present also in the language of apocrypha from the Old Polish period. Examples of linguistic metaphors in apocryphal texts illustrate the semantic multi-dimensionality of their language. Metaphors (and metonymies) are one of the exponents of the magic and pragmatic functions of apocryphal phrases in apocryphal utterances. Magic (performative) formulas in apocrypha are characterised by bidimensionality – they cause effects in the fictional (sacred) reality of the apocrypha, at the same time influencing the reality of the apocryphal text recipients (profane reality), that is the history of the humankind. Trans. M. Czarnecka

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