Verse Forms as Bearers of Semantic Values

Verse forms may be employed as bearers of semantic values. The present paper intends to show the richness of this resource in literary texts. The semantic values of particular verse structures are interpreted here in terms of the semiotic categories introduced by C. S. Peirce: as symptoms, symbols, or iconic signs. The basis for this kind of reflection is earlier systematic study of various verse forms and their linguistic morphology conducted by a group of Polish and Slavic researchers (as part of the Comparative Slavic Metrics programme).The semantic value can be attributed to the fact that verse forms function as filters of various linguistic units. It is why the metrical organisation of a text determines its stylistic characteristics. A verse form may be employed and interpreted in many different ways; for instance, to represent the social status of the speaker or to differentiate between various literary genres. Many metrical forms perform an iconic function. Some semantic values are derived from the intertextual relationships of a poem. Verse structure may also be seen as a kind of author’s signature. It may also be employed to perform axiological functions

Cierpki smak rajskich jabłuszek. Nazwy przedmiotu w różnojęzycznych wersjach tekstu literackiego a rozbieżne interpretacje utworu

The article discusses the consequences of specific linguistic expressions of a motive in a literary text and its translations. The analysis concerns the names of fruits appearing in Vladimir Nabokov’s short story entitled Signs and Symbols, which is available in Polish in two versions: Znaki i symbole or Sygnały i symbole. The juxtaposition of the excerpts from these Polish versions with the English original reveals different motivations for the names of the same fruit in different languages, and these names carry different connotations. These differences can give rise to divergent interpretations of the work.W artykule omawiane są konsekwencje określonych językowych ujęć pewnego motywu w tekście literackim i jego przekładach. Analiza dotyczy nazw owoców pojawiających się w opowiadaniu Vladimira Nabokova pt. Signs and Symbols, które jest dostępne po polsku w dwóch wersjach: Znaki i symbole lub Sygnały i symbole. Zestawienie fragmentów tłumaczeń tego utworu z angielskim oryginałem ujawnia odmienne motywacje nazw tych samych owoców w różnych językach, a owe nazwy są nośnikami innych konotacji. Te różnice mogą stanowić podstawę rozbieżnych interpretacji utworu

Badania struktury tekstu - nowe źródło inspiracji stylistyki

The possibility of asking questions in stylistics is always determined by the current situation in linguistics as it identifies linguistic units and categories to be chosen for some personal, social or communicative reasons. The development of a new linguistic discipline - ,,text theory" (,,text linguistics" or „discourse analysis") - enables a real progress in stylistic investigation: it offers a large number of specific textual categories and relations to be discussed in their connection with all factors relevant to stylistics. This progress is also due to the fact that the very object of the text linguistics is the most obvious unity of human communication: the discourse, and the text analysis enables us to give an order and a hierarchy to linguistic elements and categories chosen by the speaker, even those apparently unconnected. hl the paper four main topics of the text linguistics are discussed: the delimitation of a discoyrse as a communicative entity; the transformation of a sentence Qinguistic unit) in an utteran� (part of a discourse ); the coherence and the cohesion of a text; the typology od text structures and speech genres. The author points at some stylistic implications of different linguistic means belonging to those four topics of discourse analysis and postulates farther investigations in this domain

Metafora w dyskursie politycznym

Metaphor is not infrequently madę use of in political discourse as a suggestive means of expressing a meaning and communicating assessments, that is, as an instrument of persu- asion rendering it possible to shape the recipients’ views, opinions and behaviours from the standpoint of interests of a specified political party or social group. This role is best served by metaphors with a simple syntactic structure, highly conventionalised and em- ploying stereotypical content in their vehicle. In her description of metaphor’s me- aning-creating mechanism, the author emphasises the particular status of metaphoric pre- dicate that is suggested by the utterance’s sender and independently produced by the rece- iver using the metaphor vehicle’s connotation. The valuing so expressed is not subject to direct negation and so is quite powerful in terms of persuasiveness. Use of metaphors car- rying different valuing connotations whilst originating from a single notional field, as well as inventive witty transformation of the metaphor carrier practised in order to divert one’s attention from the evaluating content transferred by the same, can serve to neutrali- se an assessment being suggested by a metaphor. Ludic operations, often carried out on metaphors, enhance by themselves the persuasive power of utterances madę by politi- cians

Od zamkniętego tekstu do nieskończoności (uwagi przy lekturze wiersza A. Mickiewicza "Aryman i Oromaz")

Starting from A. Mickiewicz’s poem Aryman i Oromaz. Z Zenda-Westy, which describes a mythical event, and is composed as an element of a series (the final part repeats the initial verses, making the final situation similar to the initial one), the author discusses various sorts oftexts based on the mechanisms ofrecurrence, that is, the texts that include a semantic loop. Such texts constitute the context of interpretation for Mickiewicz’s work. Thus, the event described in it acquires the features ofrepeatability and gains an infinite perspective

Metafora w dyskursie politycznym

Metaphor is not infrequently madę use of in political discourse as a suggestive means of expressing a meaning and communicating assessments, that is, as an instrument of persu- asion rendering it possible to shape the recipients’ views, opinions and behaviours from the standpoint of interests of a specified political party or social group. This role is best served by metaphors with a simple syntactic structure, highly conventionalised and em- ploying stereotypical content in their vehicle. In her description of metaphor’s me- aning-creating mechanism, the author emphasises the particular status of metaphoric pre- dicate that is suggested by the utterance’s sender and independently produced by the rece- iver using the metaphor vehicle’s connotation. The valuing so expressed is not subject to direct negation and so is quite powerful in terms of persuasiveness. Use of metaphors car- rying different valuing connotations whilst originating from a single notional field, as well as inventive witty transformation of the metaphor carrier practised in order to divert one’s attention from the evaluating content transferred by the same, can serve to neutrali- se an assessment being suggested by a metaphor. Ludic operations, often carried out on metaphors, enhance by themselves the persuasive power of utterances madę by politi- cians

Language Play as a Form of Persuasion in the Public Discourse

The usage o f play elements in the public discourse tends to become common in the contemporary Poland. This article shows different kinds o f that language play. A ll the examples were taken from the speech activities o f the Polish politicians and journalists during the parliamentary campaign o f 2007. The author emphasizes the persuasive character o f those linguistic techniques and at times their extremely aggressive nature. The most influential sources o f this tendency typical for the modem political discourse are in the creative language activities o f “Gazeta Wyborcza” daily and are also present in the works o f “linguistic poets”

Metafora w dyskursie politycznym

Metaphor is not infrequently madę use of in political discourse as a suggestive means of expressing a meaning and communicating assessments, that is, as an instrument of persu- asion rendering it possible to shape the recipients’ views, opinions and behaviours from the standpoint of interests of a specified political party or social group. This role is best served by metaphors with a simple syntactic structure, highly conventionalised and em- ploying stereotypical content in their vehicle. In her description of metaphor’s me- aning-creating mechanism, the author emphasises the particular status of metaphoric pre- dicate that is suggested by the utterance’s sender and independently produced by the rece- iver using the metaphor vehicle’s connotation. The valuing so expressed is not subject to direct negation and so is quite powerful in terms of persuasiveness. Use of metaphors car- rying different valuing connotations whilst originating from a single notional field, as well as inventive witty transformation of the metaphor carrier practised in order to divert one’s attention from the evaluating content transferred by the same, can serve to neutrali- se an assessment being suggested by a metaphor. Ludic operations, often carried out on metaphors, enhance by themselves the persuasive power of utterances madę by politi- cians