The meaning of a word has a layered structure with the clearly distinguished center (prototype, lexical meaning) and – the further towards the peripheries – with semantic connotations more and more weak-established in the system. Giving-up ofthe purely structuralist understanding of connotations (verified by semantic and morphological derivatives, collocations, repeatable lexical oppositions, or various tests) has created a danger that semantically irrelevant components may be recognized as relevant qualities. The article proposes a rule for verification of weak connotations. Underlying the principle of internal motivation of qualities is the conviction that the meaning of a word is internally structured, while each quality, especially weak connotations, are motivated by the overall structure of meaning and are explained in the context of this structure.
The aim of this paper is to present the linguistic image of love derived from the wedding sermons published in the Internet. The idea of love is rarely defined in the analyzed texts and it is rarely presented in different aspects. Love is presented in the positive way by repeating the same, mostly conventionalized metaphors. What is more, the idea of love in the analyzed texts is stereotyped and schematic, because the authors of sermons refer to the common texts such as St. Paul Hymn to Love or different examples from everyday life. On the on hand, language of the sermons resembles the science and theological language that is not understandable for recipients, and on the other hand it is colloquial with the huge amount of expressive words.
The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate that the grammatical structure of a language is derived from conceptual models belonging to the linguistic image of the world. Grammatical categories are connected with historical, cultural, social areas of experience creating models of knowledge contained in the human mind. Every language expresses the interpretation of the world and make the interpretation possible; it is “the mediator” between people and the world. The conventional character of a language is specially emphasized in creative (poetic) texts; it is often the subject of individual reflection: a conventionalized way of expressing human experience may be dubious, provoke discussions, surprise or become the subject of poetic games with the language. The games with grammar (creating new word formations, new syntactic schemas, using grammatical categories which are contrary to the principles of the language) lead to the disclosure that we speak about the world that we see, not about the world that really is. The article analyzes unconventional expressions found in present-day poetry. Such expressions prove that the poetic interpretation of the world is connected with the linguistic worldview but can also express textual re-interpretation of the way of thinking characteristic of a given speech community.
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.
PL
W artykule autorka próbuje dociec, dlaczego w języku polskim utrwalił się zdecydowanie pozytywny obraz kwiatów, budowany wokół cech ‘piękna’, ‘dobra’, ‘czystości’, ‘niewinności’. Wychodząc od analizy poetyckiego obrazu kwiatów (przedstawionego przez Marię PawlikowskąJasnorzewską), który stanowi wyraz polemiki z powszechnie akceptowanymi sądami, autorka zastanawia się, jakie czynniki spowodowały, że w polszczyźnie zostały ukryte cechy motywowane organem rozrodczym kwiatu (cechy, które poetka uznaje za oddające istotę kwiatów). Badanie wewnętrznej struktury kategorii kwiat i motywacji cech semantycznych pozwala stwierdzić, że użytkownicy języka upatrując w kwiatach elementy czysto estetyczne, wiążą z nimi same pozytywne skojarzenia, a usuwają skojarzenia seksualne, dwuznaczne. Dodatkowo wartości estetyczne kwiatów są źródłem motywacji dla licznych cech odnoszących się do wartości moralnych. W rozbudowywaniu pozytywnie wartościujących konotacji, a ukrywaniu dwuznacznych, niemałą rolę odgrywa w końcu tabu kulturowe, nakazujące traktować problematykę rozmnażania za temat wstydliwy, nieprzyzwoity.
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