Language Culture and Historical Monuments of the Polish Language

Flashcards covering the history of the Polish language, historical documents (monuments), linguistic theories by de Saussure and Chomsky, and the foundations of language culture.

Kultura języka (Language culture)

The awareness where people not only speak but think about how they speak; in a normative sense, it includes linguistic correctness, efficiency, ethics, and aesthetics of speech.

Język (Language)

Defined by F. de Saussure as an abstract, socially created system of signs used for communication.

Mówienie (Speaking)

According to F. de Saussure, a manifestation of language that is an individual process and the realization of the linguistic system.

Język ogólny (General language)

A cultural variety of the national language disseminated by the school system, administration, literature, and media; it serves as a means of communication for all members of the nation.

Księga Henrykowska (Henryków Book)

A Latin document from the second half of the 13th century (around 1270) containing the first written sentence in the Polish language.

Bulla gnieźnieńska (Gniezno Bull)

A document from 1136 containing 410 Polish words (proper names); it is stored in the archive of the Gniezno chapter.

Bogurodzica

The oldest Polish religious song and an original work (not a translation); it contains numerous lexical, phonetic, derivational, and syntactic archaisms.

Archaizm leksykalny (Lexical archaism)

Vocabulary that has completely fallen out of use, also referred to as dead vocabulary.

Kazania świętokrzyskie (Holy Cross Sermons)

The oldest monument of religious Polish prose, dating from the mid-14th century and discovered in the late 19th century by Aleksander Bruckner.

Kazania gnieźnieńskie (Gniezno Sermons)

A collection containing 103 Latin sermons and 10 Polish sermons, dating from the end of the 14th century or the beginning of the 15th century.

Roty przysiąg sądowych (Court oath formulas)

The most valuable source of knowledge about the spoken Old Polish of residents from various regions of Poland.

Traktat o ortografii (Treatise on Orthography)

Written by Jakub Parkoszowic around 1440, it is considered the earliest document of Polish language culture.

Biblia szaroszpatacka (Sarospatak Bible)

A translation of the Old Testament from the second half of the 15th century, also known as the Bible of Queen Sophia, which partially disappeared during World War II.

Biblia Jakuba Wujka

Considered the most perfect 16th-century full translation of the Old and New Testaments into Polish.

Retoryka (Rhetoric)

The art of beautiful and effective speaking, also defined as the science of persuasion using spoken or written texts.

Puryzm (Purism)

An excessive concern for the purity of a language, often involving the combatting of foreign borrowings (macaronisms) and neologisms.

Bożycze

A specific word from Bogurodzica that serves as a derivational archaism (archaizm słowotwórczy) used in the vocative form.

Zyszczy nam

An archaic phrase from Bogurodzica meaning 'gain for us' or 'obtain for us'.

Stanisław Szober

A Warsaw linguist who wrote that language culture begins where people reflect on how they speak.

Język Polski (Journal)

A journal published since 1913 in Krakow, serving as the organ of the Society of Lovers of the Polish Language (TMJP).

Poradnik Językowy (Journal)

A journal popularizing linguistic knowledge since 1901, serving as the organ of the Society of Language Culture (TKJ).

Styl informacyjno-naukowy (Informational-Scientific style)

A stylistic variety of the general language used primarily for the objective presentation of reality.

Kryterium uzualne (Usage criterion)

A linguistic standard based on the idea that if a form is used by the majority of people for a long time, it is eventually codified as correct.

Wydwarzanie

A term condemned by Jan Kochanowski and Ł. Górnicki referring to pretentiousness in social life, specifically the uncritical use of foreign borrowings.