For the purity of Polish speech? Discussions on loanwords in "Język Polski" between 1913–1939 Cover Image

O czystość mowy polskiej? Dyskusje o zapożyczeniach na łamach „Języka Polskiego” w latach 1913–1939
For the purity of Polish speech? Discussions on loanwords in "Język Polski" between 1913–1939

Author(s): Sylwia Przęczek-Kisielak
Subject(s): Applied Linguistics
Published by: Towarzystwo Miłośników Języka Polskiego
Keywords: history of language; borrowings; the journal Język Polski

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of the discussion on loanwords in the magazine "Język Polski" between 1913–1939. The author divides her views into three basic parts. In the first one she discusses the history of the Język Polski magazine between 1913–1939 and makes an abridged analysis of its contents in that period. In the second part she looks at a certain tendency in the years after regaining independence, namely eliminating foreign words from the language connected with different areas of social, economic and cultural life, such as geography, technology, chemistry, trade, craft, film, etc. which manifests itself in many articles, studies and dictionaries of Polish equivalents of loanwords, especially from German and Russian languages. Next, the author passes to the analysis of the attitude of authors and editing groups of "Język Polski" to foreign words, visible in 50 studies published in 24 annuals of the magazine between 1913–1939. It discusses the most important articles from the area and then observes a clear promotion of substituting the loanwords with native words, the proof of which is the number of foreign words which were offered Polish equivalents in the "Język Polski" magazine, already existing in the dictionaries (152) or neologisms, first of all word-formative ones (43). The latter ones became the subject of close scrutiny due to the mechanisms of creating Polonized words. However, in the conclusion of the article the author emphasizes the fact that apart from two neologisms noted in the "Słownik języka polskiego" by W. Doroszewski (niebotyk instead of drapacz chmur ‘skyscraper’ and życian instead of witamina ‘vitamin’) the proposals of Polonized words discussed in "Język Polski" did not take root at all in the language for formal and semantic reasons, a phenomenon which has also become the topic of a short analysis.

  • Issue Year: 2020
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 24-46
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Polish
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