Dokąd zmierza polszczyzna?
Where is the Polish language headed?

Summary/Abstract: The article presents the results of the newest research of the contemporary Polish language. Combinedwith the author’s own findings, it summarizes the changes in the newest Polish language.The author emphasizes the new emerging research fields: the functioning of the Polish languageoutside Poland, Polish as a foreign/second language, and teaching Polish as a foreign language.In her presentation of how the extralinguistic reality influences the language, she mainlyfocuses on the vocabulary changes. Among these changes there are the rapid increase in the numberof neologisms and neosemantisms. These new lexical items often perform the expressive functionwhich is when they become the source of language brutalization and vulgarization. This process iscorrelated with the simplification of social relations. The author points out to the reassesment of thevocabulary formerly associated only with the colloquial language, the sociolects or the dialects. Inher opinion, the observed increase of the number of loanwords from English (especially AmericanEnglish) – although worrying – seems to be a temporary trend, which the Polish language willovercome as it did in the past. However, she notices the danger in the shifts in the stylistic system.

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