Dlaczego kwiaty są dobre i niewinne? O językowo-kulturowym obrazie kwiatu słów kilka
Why flowers are good and innocent. A few words on the linguistic-cultural view of flowers

Summary/Abstract: The article aims to discover why the Polish language contains an entrenched positive image of flowers that involves the properties of ‘beauty’, ‘good’, ‘purity’, or ‘innocence’. Beginning with an analysis of the poetic vision of flowers in the poetry of Maria PawlikowskaJasnorzewska, which counters the generally accepted wisdom, the question is asked why Polish conceals features of a flower related to its reproductive organ – the features that the poet considers crucial to the nature of flowers. An analysis of the internal structure of the category flower (Polish kwiat) and the motivation of its semantic features shows that speakers entertain positive associations with the plants’ esthetic aspects and disregard the ambiguous sexual connotations. The esthetic aspects additionally motivate numerous features relating to moral values. Amplification of positive connotations and downplaying the ambiguous ones is largely shaped by cultural taboo, which treats the reproductive process as indecent and embarrassing.

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