XClose

UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES)

Menu

Discourses about Polish. Conceptualisations, Language Ideologies and Language Myths in Poland

30 May 2019, 6:00 pm–8:00 pm

Anna Stanisz-Lubowiecka

This event is part of the SSEES Research Student Seminar Series. Join us to hear SSEES research students discuss their projects. On the 30th May, Anna Stanisz-Lubowiecka with:Discourses about Polish. Conceptualisations, Language Ideologies and Language Myths in Poland and Ksenija Iljina with: The Myth of the Great Patriotic War in Commemorative and Ritual Practices in Modern Latvia.

This event is free.

Event Information

Open to

All

Availability

Yes

Cost

Free

Organiser

SSEES

Location

Engineering Front Executive Suite 103
Engineering Front Building
TORRINGTON PLACE,
London
WC1E 7JE

At the present time language correctness issues in Poland are subject to open debate: there is legislation on the protection of Polish and national awards for Polish language activists. There are also numerous (and massively popular) manuals, articles, YouTube channels, social media platforms and other sources on how to speak correctly. Polish linguists are involved as well (primarily through the Polish Language Council), but they seem to strongly disagree as to whether Polish should or should not be protected in the first place.

In my research project I explore discourses about the Polish language in Poland. The aim of my research is to explain the phenomenon of the massive popularity of language correctness issues in Poland by identifying underlying language ideologies. I investigate the issue looking at three inter-related spheres: institutional (legislative), academic (Polish linguists), and popular (views of ordinary language users).

The questions I ask are: Why are Polish people interested in the Polish language? How do they conceptualise Polish and what symbolic values do they attach to it? What are their views about language and where do they come from? How do these beliefs shape everyday reality and contribute to what Poland is today?

About the Speaker

Anna Stanisz-Lubowiecka

PhD Candidate at UCL SSEES

Anna is a first year CEELBAS-funded research student at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), University College London (UCL). Her doctoral research focuses on language ideologies in Poland. Her research interests include: linguistics (especially linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, pragmatics and cognitive linguistics), Polish and English literature (in particular the poetry of Wisława Szymborska) and translation studies. She completed a double BA in English Philology and Comparative Polish Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (Poland) as well as an MA in Translation and Intercultural Communication at the Jagiellonian University and a Masters’ degree in General Linguistics and Comparative Philology at the University of Oxford.