• Linguistische Treffen in Wrocław •

In the media public discourse linguistic structures are chosen and used in order to express one’s own attitude towards events in society and to highlight certain emotions such as indignation, anger and dissatisfaction. The present paper analyses journalistic texts published in the column Meinung und Bericht of the newspaper „ADZ für Rumänien“ which contain a negative attitude towards the political situation in Romania. For this reason, the paper takes into consideration the pejorative depiction of the sociological category precariat and of the Romanian governing party PSD (social democratic party). The linguistic forms and structures used in the articles have an emotional content and express emotions of discontent and anger. The linguistic data are analyzed at lexical, morpho-syntactical and pragmatic level. The authoress takes the theoretical stance of pragma linguistics, speech theory and emotionality in assessing language facts.

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of framing. The aim of the analysis was to show that numerous frames of interpretation which are conveyed by the ubiquitous media and establish themselves in public opinion reach the recipients and have a certain effect on them. With the help of established frames, the journalists can process and merge information without investing a lot of time and effort in a comprehensive analysis of the topic (cf. Matthes 2009: 120), because “[n]ot facts, but frames are the basis of our everyday life social, economic and political decisions” (Wehling 2016: 45). Thus, it seems necessary to investigate how media makers’ framed messages influence the recipients. Based on the corpus evidence obtained through online research, it was possible to establish that the most conspicuous frames arise when dealing with contemporary problems that society has to face. The most popular frames address, among other things, taxes, social benefits, terrorism, refugee, policy and environment issues. The media frames ensure that certain emotions and attitudes towards the given situation are evoked in the recipient. In order for the frames to reach the recipient’s consciousness and evoke emotions, the facts to which they point must be expressed verbally, i.e. put into appropriate words. The analysis carried out shows that a well-thought-out linguistic packaging – for example framed complex words such as Menschenschwarm, gigantische Migrationswelle, Schutzsuchende, Steuerhölle, Steuerparadies – can shape the recipients’ perception of reality. Compounds – which are often metaphorically charged – are particularly suitable as framed terms because they are rich in content and attract the recipients’ attention. These frame compounds can, in very particular ways, activate desired – positive or negative – ideas in the recipients and control their expectations. Based on the results of the analysis, it can be concluded that frames to some extent assess and interpret social and political conditions from a specific perspective and often have a direct influence on the recipient’s emotions as well as their actions.

The contemporary German language surprises with ever more innovative renewal tendencies of its vocabulary. The need for language development and vocabulary renewal still seems particularly great. One of the main tendencies of language development is the internationalisation of vocabulary, which can be directly attributed to globalisation and the economic and technical revolution. Thus, this approach questions the extent to which code-switching, hybrid production and bricolages shape the language of one of Germany’s best-known rappers with an immigrant background – Haftbefehl – and contribute to his lyrics based on multilingualism becoming patchwork poetry. The analysis of the lexical and stylistic level of the well-known song “Chabos know who the babo is” revealed that Haftbefehl’s language is a kind of patchwork that does not represent an entirely defined grid for language development and leaves many questions open for future linguistic research.

Press interviews have an established position both in the tabloid and in the quality press. Since their basis are conversation and interpersonal communication, the press interviews can express emotions. This study explores the question of emotions in the selected interviews and their realization in language. After presentation of the theoretical foundations the results of the analysis of twenty interviews are given. It will be proven that the emotions in press interviews are not just explicitly called. In the first place, they are expressed and signalised thanks to various formulas, adjectives or interjections. The emotionality of press interviews makes them particularly interesting for the readers.

This work was carried out within the framework of the German-Polish research project ‚Interdiscourse’, which investigated various aspects of text organization and routines of formulation in papers written by German and Polish students. The present paper analyses the use of tense in introducing and concluding parts of academic texts written in German by students of German philology, who are German and Polish native speakers. The study takes into account such types of text as master’s and bachelor’s theses as well as seminar papers in linguistics. The purpose of this study is to identify and to compare tendencies in tense usage in introducing and concluding parts of academic texts written by German and Polish students. The present analysis focuses on three questions: 1. Which tenses occur (most frequently) in the above-mentioned sections of the works of German and Polish students? 2. Which differences regarding tense usage between texts written in German by Polish students and the texts of German native speakers can be observed? 3. Does the tense usage in texts written by students of both groups comply with standards applying to German academic texts and are there any differences between German and Polish students’ works? To answer these questions the tense usage in students’ texts is further compared with the use of tense within articles written by German-speaking linguists. The analysed collection of data (almost 4000 instances) encompasses examples gathered from introducing and concluding sections of 20 German and 20 Polish students’ texts and 10 research articles on linguistics. The analysis reveals that German and Polish students generally observe the rules of tense usage applied to academic texts. The most frequent tense in all groups of texts is present tense. However, Polish students seem to use past tenses more often than German authors (students and linguists). However, because of limited number of examined texts these results should be interpreted with caution. Therefore, it would be advisable to extend the analysis to more texts in the future.

People perceive everything that is unknown from their point of view as foreign. This circumstance can also be observed with religions, world views and faith practices. Strangeness can generate curiosity, which expresses itself in interreligious dialogues, for example, but can also lead to reservations, which in the worst case can develop into hatred and discrimination. The perception of foreignness is based on a subjective perception. However, foreignness or alterity can also be constructed to serve possible manipulative purposes. An example of this with regard to people of other faiths is the so-called “Jewish excursus” within the “Historiae”, one of Tacitus’ main works, which is also the most detailed ethnographic report on Judaism by a Roman author. The article asks, firstly, with which perceptions the Roman historian looks at Judaism and how he structures them in terms of content and form, and secondly, which emphases he sets in the construction of Jewish ethnicity and how he shapes it with a view to alterity. As a basis for the analysis, the passages relevant to the perceptions are listed in Latin and German in the appendix and given consecutive numbers. It becomes clear that Tacitus directs his perceptions of Judaism, which from his perspective was of a different faith, to different areas, for example cult practice, faith, physique, portraying them for the most part in strongly misanthropic colours and thus constructing Jewish ethnicity as alterity. This digression was repeatedly used as “historical evidence” to polemicise against Jews until modern times. Tacitus’ motives, however, are not to be associated with anti-Semitism – as has often been done in the research literature – but are rooted, on the one hand, in the valorisation of an enemy of war in order to justify its unusually successful resistance against Roman troops, and, on the other hand, in the warning to the Roman against proselytism. By way of example, it becomes clear that forms of expression of subjective perception of people of other faiths inevitably construct alterity, which is fanned out into different perceptions.

The Corona pandemic has dominated our lives for more than a year, profoundly affecting almost every facet of public as well as private life. The Corona crisis does not leave language untouched either, making it an extraordinarily broad, diverse and multidisciplinary field of research. Inspired by the current discussion on the corona pandemic, this article aims to make a linguistically oriented contribution to coronavirus investigation. The aim of the article is to show that corona language provides an efficient picture of the reality of life in pandemic times and at the same time helps to shape this reality. To this end, German-language online news reports from the period between mid-February 2019 and early November 2020 will be analysed with regard to the specific Corona lexis. First, the analysis focuses on the newly formed compound nouns. In the next step of the analysis, the corona vocabulary borrowed from English and the specialist terminology will be discussed. Selected occasional contaminations will also be examined. Furthermore, it is intended to address the connection between human mind and language by determining the cognitive image of coronavirus (pandemic) by means of the conceptual metaphors in the sense of Lakoff/Johnson (2014). Conceptual metaphors structure human thought and action and must be considered as an important means of knowing the world. The conceptual structure of coronavirus is reflected in the metaphorical expressions excerpted from online reports. The diversity of coronavirus metaphors reveals the complexity of the semantic structure of coronavirus. The research on corona language provides evidence that language as a living organism responds to the deep crises and (co-)creates the new corona world.

Nowadays there is a tendency to use the Internet for everything, e.g. evaluate products, services, people, etc. Online reviews play a major role because they can help determine the likelihood of buying a particular product, the use of a service, or the pre-evaluation of a particular person. In this context, doctor reviews are analyzed in the article, which are understood as texts in which a patient can rate his doctor after the visit or after the treatment. Thus, subjective opinions of the patient about the doctor come to light in doctor reviews. The function of doctor reviews, which are accessible online for everyone, is basically to take your own position on the doctor‘s visit and to describe the impressions. Linked to this, however, is the fact that such texts also have an appealing character in that they can induce other possible patients to choose an appropriate doctor. The corpus of the investigation includes almost 160 medical reviews from an orthopedic surgeon, which were taken from the medical evaluation portal jameda.de in October 2019. In this context, the present article tries to examine which argumentation patterns and schemes are used by Internet users in order to convince other potential patients to visit a doctor and to recommend him to others. In the case of argumentation models, recurring statements about the doctor‘s competence, success of the treatment, friendly and competent care by the doctor and the entire team, about communication skills and stress reduction could be found. These factors determine the overall positive evaluation and the recommendation of the doctor, as well as contribute to the fact that patients thank the doctor in the evaluation. The identified categories, however, also refer to the expectations of the patients with regard to the doctor‘s visit. In the case of argumentation schemes, on the other hand, linguistic means could be identified that introduce a certain type of argumentation (causal, pragmatic and symptomatic argumentation as well as argumentation based on analogy). The analysis is anchored in the field of pragmalinguistics, the results of which can also be important for practice owners and doctors who attach great importance to online marketing.

This paper presents war literature for children and young people. The perspective of the analysis is multi-layered and the whole work deals with the important and difficult topic of warfare, persecution of ethnic, religious and national groups, expulsion and the Warsaw Uprising. It takes into account both the nature of the topic covered and the age of the audience, which is important because of the vocabulary used in the text. The article has inaccuracies resulting from the lack of specific guidelines for adapting the literature to the competence of the young addressee. (This is not the case with guidelines for computer games or school reading). These are additional difficulties that an adult has to deal with when choosing a book for a child. Therefore, it is important to know the child, their maturity level and their knowledge of the story, and often the best solution is to simply read together. When analysing the books discussed in this article, attention should also be paid to the time period of the plot – pre-war, war, post-war – the form of the narrative and the language or stylistic devices used to describe the war. The most popular ways of telling about war are metaphors, similes, personification. War is often compared to a monster or a giant that destroys everything around it – both materially and spiritually. In turn, the characters and situations described are presented on the basis of the opposition of good and evil, white and black, or in the situation of description from the perspective of time: past and present. In addition, linguistic activities that convey the emotions the reader feels while reading and experiences together with the characters are presented. The language games, e.g. Władza Ludowa described as Władza Lodowa, or the diminutive sklepiszcza, are not only interesting solutions that add variety to the text, but also facilitate the understanding of the atmosphere of the time described. An important element of the analysis is the narration from the perspective of children, both Poles who grew up during the war and Jews who were separated from their families and hidden. Such a description makes it easier for the reader to identify with the character and better understand the content.

“Shout Over the Radio, when You Are Ready!” Of Emotions in Railwayman’s Sociolect Polish studies related to the Railwayman’s language date back to the 1970s. The most frequently analysed material included proper names of railway connections (i.e. railway chrematonyms), which were excerpted from official railway timetables. However, the research concerning the Railwayman’s sociolect has only been undertaken very recently and is primarily based on the paper by Piotr Żmigrodzki entitled „Uwagi o języku internetowej grupy miłośników kolei” (2006). Thus, the scope of studies on the Railwayman’s sociolect in Polish should be expanded to cover new aspects. I verified the status and role of the Railwayman’s language on the basis of the functional typology of sociolects proposed by Stanisław Grabias. I discussed the relevant background literature and indicated the sources published in the 20th and 21st century by Polish linguistics who focused on the Railwayman’s vocabulary. Also, I distinguished the sources of information which may be used to study the Railwayman’s sociolect (official ones – e.g. dictionaries or journal articles, and unofficial ones – e.g. online fora transcripts). Apart from this, I briefly characterised each of these sources. The article focuses on the analysis of the spoken language – the material was gathered during research conducted between 2017 and 2020 which was interrupted by COVID-19 pandemic. The aim was to verify whether the Railwayman’s sociolect performs an emotive function, and to discuss the ways of conveying emotions in this sociolect. The research material included 150 samples and was divided into 6 categories. The results suggest that the Railwayman’s language cannot be characterised as expressive, and that emotions, though present in some of the collected samples, were evoked only in extraordinary circumstances. As stated in the theoretical section of this article, the Railwayman’s sociolect can be identified as professiolect (i.e., professional slang) used for professional communication. Hence, it is oriented at an effective and concise exchange of thoughts in an explicit way. We exclude the preliminary assumption that the Railwayman’s language is a professional jargon.

Neighbours’ languages, like Polish, are gradually playing a greater role not only in school education, but also in cross-border rescue services and emergency medical communication. There have only been a few studies on communication in emergency services in general, and no research concerning professional communication in Polish, so this research has an original value. It is a study on emergency medical communication in the InGRiP project. This article explores the question of code switching by German-speaking paramedics and doctors who learn Polish as a foreign language in the InGRiP project. The focus of the study is the foreign language didactic perspective. Polish is learned as a third language. Therefore, the question is investigated whether the foreign languages already learned have an influence on emergency medical communication. From a methodological point of view, a conversation analysis is carried out on the basis of recorded and transcribed language data. The results show that Russian in particular plays a role in communication in the form of non-functional code switching and in learning Polish as a resource. Russian is activated by the trigger words and code switching occurs, which can also have a positive effect, if this is managed correctly during the learning process. This resource should certainly be used more intensively, e.g., by reflectively including Russian in the lessons, in order to strengthen the learning of Polish.

This paper addresses the role of intertextuality as a part of argumentative competence of prospective students with and without first language German in written reasoning. An explicit and an implicit concept for the analysis of intertextuality is proposed. The focus of the analysis is a corpus of 40 articles, written by students. The test subjects are on the one hand 20 students who have German as their first language or who were born and socialized in Germany, and on the other 20 students with a migrant background who have a different first language (e. g. Turkish, Serbian, Croatian, Albanian, Arabic, Kurdish, etc. ). The aim of the analysis of this authentic corpus is to try to find empirically supported answers to the following questions: Which elements of intertextuality are found in students‘ texts at the upper level? By which elements of intertextuality are which argument types constructed? Are there differences between students with German as their first language and those with German as Second Language (= DaZ)? And how relevant are the respective arguments? After discussing the different concepts of intertextuality, this paper formulates its own definition. My method is quantitative and at the same time qualitative. The article addresses questions to the corpus, e. g. whether there are explicit or implicit elements of intertextuality; And if so, which ones? And to which reference texts (e. g. texts, authority, experience, world and media knowledge, etc.) could these elements of intertextuality be traced? And which of the identified elements serve to construct or present an argument (e. g. authority arguments, analogy arguments)? The paper concludes that most of the arguments constructed intertextually are the authority arguments, the analogy, and generalization arguments. In addition, the article comes to the conclusion that the directly or indirectly quoted texts were often misunderstood or manipulated. The paper therefore argues for a more conscious inclusion of intertextual competence in argumentation didactics.

The present article investigates, from the perspective of the Cognitive Linguistics, the trajector (TR)/landmark (LM) configurations in the spatial meanings of the preposition an on the conceptual level and compares them with their Polish counterparts. The selected samples from the DWDS corpus and their translational equivalents form the subject are the subject of the investigation. The established TR/LM relations are checked for similarities and differences. The main focus is on the concept of the surface as the LM in its vertical and horizontal alignment as well as the determination of the case. The cognitive-linguistic studies of the semantics of prepositions mainly concern the English language. Thus the original value of the present analysis is its contrasting German-Polish orientation. The aim of the analysis is to determine the TR/LM relations, differences in the conceptualization of the scene depending on which objects form the LM and which are highlighted as TR. The question of how the conceptualization of the LM and/or the TR of the preposition influences the conceptualization of the scene and the meaning of the preposition is investigated. The analysis is based on findings of Cognitive Grammar to understand the meaning as conceptualization (Langacker 2008) and on the schematic conceptualization of the TR/LM relation as a spatial relation of two points (Herskovits 1986). The TR is seen as the point in focus and the LM as its spatial reference point (Langacker 2008). As a result of the analysis, the schemas of locomotion, transfer and localization with different TR/LM configurations were selected. The comparison of the analyzed utterances with their Polish counterparts revealed differences in the conceptualization of the scene, which were manifested in the choice of prepositions. It further turned out that the German preposition an and its Polish counterparts differ in terms of relevance/irrelevance of the movement, non-movement and direction for determining or choosing a case as well as in terms of the conceptualization of the surface as the LM with regard to its vertical and horizontal orientation.

The well-known Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) published his significant essay “The Way to Wealth” in 1758. It became known worldwide in numerous editions and translations and appeared for the first time in German as “Der Weg zum Reichtum” in 1794. The 93 proverbs contained in it are the basis of the so-called Puritan work ethic in America. Some of the proverbs are texts that were current in English and also in other languages before Franklin. Among them are however also 17 proverbs that were invented by Franklin. This article investigates how six translators have rendered the proverbs into German (see the comparative catalogue) and how Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Wander included these texts with or without source references in his five-volume “Deutsches Sprichwörter-Lexikon”.

The article is devoted to research into the Hanse concept from a linguistic and cultural view and is therefore an addition to the current studies in the field of culturally oriented German linguistics. The focus of this work is a corpus-based analysis of the use of the lexeme Hanse and other culturally bound lexemes (Realia), such as Hanseatic City, Hanseatic, Hansetag, Hanse Sail and others, which represent the Hanse concept in the current discourse and provide an insight into its сonceptual content. It was found that the lexemes Hanse, Hansetag, Hanseatic City represent a cultural concept whose important semantic / conceptual features are community, trade alliance of merchants (of cities) and the past (middle ages). The old Hanseatic League is an association of merchants, and later of trading cities in the Middle Ages, formed to represent common, above all economic interests. It is also called Deutsche Hanse, Latin Hansa Teutonica or Hansa Alemanniae and is considered a unique phenomenon in German history. The Hanseatic League of the Modern Era, founded in 1980 (the city union DIE HANSE), which comprises 16 countries, is a new kind of community, a living and cultural community of cities across borders. It is an alliance of European cities in a common multicultural area with the aim of making a contribution to the economic, cultural, social and national unification of Europe. Today the alliance includes 195 cities in Central, Northern and Northeastern Europe, including cities outside the German-speaking area. The Lexem Hanse is embedded in new contexts in contemporary discourse, it appears with adjectives used attributively such as new and international: The New Hanse, the International Hanseatic Day. The lexem Hanseatic City is part of the name of numerous European cities that used to belong to the Hanseatic League. The new Hanse term consequently contains the semantic / conceptual characteristic international. From this it can be concluded that the mono-cultural Hanse concept (German Hanse) has developed over time into a transcultural, as well as a multi- and intercultural integration concept (international Hanse) that connects different cultures.

Both in German and in Slovak, the reflexive constructions, i.e. those with the component sich in German or sa/si (in the longer form seba/sebe) in Slovak, are common constructions with significant parallels but also contrasts in usage. The reflexivity is largely polysemantic in both languages; reflexivation can be motivated in different ways; the reflexive can have different morphosyntactic features and fulfil different functions. In the context of German-Slovak contrastive linguistics, the phenomenon of reflexivity has been dealt with rather peripherally. Therefore, the article aims to outline the similarities and contrasts of the reflexive constructions in both languages from the linguistic point of view, comparing their semantic and morphosyntactic features. It also aims to illustrate the most important functions of reflexivity. For this purpose, the approaches in German and Slovak grammar theories were analysed and compared using specific examples. The author discusses following categories: obligatory reflexive verbs, reflexive forms of non-reflexive verbs, verbs with semantic reflexivity, reciprocal verbs and reflexive constructions with passive perspective: reflexive passive, medio-passive and sich-lassen-constructions. The findings show that there is a terminological discrepancy between the two languages regarding the classes of verbs with reflexive pronoun, but this can be eliminated by an expanded definition. The reflexivity is polyfunctional in both languages. Rather than coreference, some of the most important functions of reflexivity are primarily expressing passive perspective and, especially in Slovak, the word formation. The most important difference derives from the fact that the reflexive passive in Slovak is considered to be the equivalent of the German werden-passive. In all respects it can be seen that the area of reflexivity in both languages extends far beyond verb semantics.

The PiS party, which has been in power in Poland since October 2015, has completely subjugated the public television TVP. Every day, it runs the state propaganda, whose symbol has become the headlines in the main Polish news called Wiadomości (The News). Germany, along with the opposition and the EU, is most often attacked in them. Headlines such as “Germany does not want a strong Poland”, “Brussels, Berlin and the opposition are against Poland”, “The opposition and Germany want to punish Poland” are not uncommon and are jokingly called paski grozy (horror headlines) by internet users. The aim of this article is to examine selected headlines in relation to the linguistic persuasion strategies that serve to reinforce the negative image of Germany in Poland on the one hand, and lead to the heating up of anti-German emotions on the other. A headline is understood here as a short sentence or sentence ellipsis that has a visual character and fulfils an introductory function for the right journalistic material. The character and communication pragmatic role of such headlines coincide with those known from the press. The corpus comprises 34 headlines coming from the period of 2016–2019 and was divided into four domains with regard to the topics touched upon in them: Politics, History, Society or Economy. In the analysis, elements related to the linguistic expression of reality assessment were taken into account. Four groups of these elements were distinguished: words and expressions independent of the author, interrogative sentences, evaluative elements at the system and sentence level, and evaluative elements referring to the external linguistic context. The analysis shows that with the help of the evaluation elements at the system and sentence level, connotations and implicatures, Germany and Germans were presented in a clearly unfavourable light. In eight headlines, negative information was implied, five headlines contained negative connotations, and in six headlines other negatively charged evaluation elements were added to neutral terms. Finally, in seven headlines, lexemes occur that have exclusively a hostility-increasing role. Only 3 headlines were classified as neutral.

Synaesthesia is undoubtedly a very complicated and complex phenomenon. Regarding its nature and definition, it poses a wide variety of difficulties not only from the neurocognitive but especially from the linguistic perspective. Both, the weak and strong linguistic synaesthesias are generally considered as metaphors. The first part of the paper aims at presenting at first the types of synaesthesia and some problematic issues with its definition from the neurocognitive perspective. Subsequently, various approaches to the linguistic-conceptual nature of synaesthesia as well as related problematic theoretical and analytical questions are discussed; especially those pertaining to regarding synaesthesia as a metaphor (much more seldom is this phenomenon interpreted as metonymy, metaphor or neither of them). It has been shown that from the theoretical point of view the weak linguistic synaesthesia can unequivocally be classified as a metaphor. Similar unambiguous categorisation in the case of strong linguistic synaesthesia is questionable. Based on the analysis of the co-ocurrences of the lexeme Freude in corpus, the second part of the paper demonstrates that even seemingly uncomplicated instances of weak synaesthesia turn out to be puzzling and pose some problems in terms of their interpretation. Depending on the contextual embedding, they can be viewed as metaphors or metonymies (of different types). This leads to the following conclusion: if the weak linguistic synaesthesia cannot unequivocally be seen as a metaphor, it is much less possible to classify the strong linguistic synaesthesia generally as a metaphor. In such a complex domain as perception, the contextual embedding is of fundamental importance for the categorisation of the synaesthetic expression.

It goes without saying that the current life is reflected in the lexicographical works and that they therefore have a documentary character of the times in which they were created. This concerns the content, v. a. definitions and examples that come together to form a picture of specific epochs. A special component of this picture are also lemmas that are derived from country names, since information about the respective people can be found in such lemma entries. How extensive are such dictionary articles and what information they contain are the goals of the analysis of adjectives derived from two country names: deutsch/niemiecki and polish/polski in biscopal dictionaries for the German and Polish language pair. Both meanings and examples in the dictionary entries are subject to analysis. The aim is to uncover similarities and differences and to answer the question of whether the adjectives derived from the country names contain information about the respective people in their lexicographical description. The contribution is also an attempt to create templates for the creation of the dictionary entries of the analyzed origin adjectives. The analysis shows that the lemma articles are not particularly developed around the named adjectives of origin and only contain basic information. On the basis of the analysis, therefore, it is argued that such lemma articles should be further developed by, inter alia, adding more information which would better characterize the national character. The analysis can thus make a contribution to the dictionary production – design of the dictionary articles.

The historical loss of motivation causes many compound words to become arbitrary like simple words or to become only partly motivated. This situation doesn’t please the language community. People search for a new morphological and semantic integration of the lexemes into the network of the lexicon by having recourse to lexical items with similar sound. The results are explainings of the meaning by additional morphemes, folk etymological changes, corruptions, malapropisms, playings on words. Lost primary motivation is replaced by secondary motivation. The relation between both is investigated in detail. Are both expressions connected with each other only by common phonetic features or is there also a semantic continuation by common semantic features or by the same situational context of use? What is the nature of the „semantic jump“?

Tongue-twisters, extremely strange structures, are examples of linguistic acrobatics and creative play with the language. Although they incorporate many comical forms and ideas and are characterized by structural diversity, they rarely become the subject of linguistic research. Many of them are based on repetitions of similarly sounding words or phrases; some are almost meaningless, which, however, does not distort their function but highlights their specificity. For these reasons, among others, the aim of the article is to show and discuss characteristic features of tongue-twisters, methods of creating them and mechanisms for generating comical effects. Tongue-twisters are examined in terms of their formal features (morphology and syntax) and semantic properties (puns, modifications, irony, unexpected content, etc.). The analysis confirms that there are no limits to their flexibility and creative potential. It identifies a wide range of possibilities for their construction and points out their inherent humour indicators even if many tongue-twisters resemble flat jokes.

In the recent thirty years, much of the research carried out in the field of linguistics has been based on the experientialist philosophy formulated by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, treating language as a key to uncover the cognitively unconscious in human thought and operating with notions such as conceptualization, conceptual metaphor, or image schema. Nevertheless, despite the great success of the cognitive linguistics enterprise, the basic philosophical assumptions that lie at the foundation of the paradigm may still raise controversies and trigger lively discussions. The present article aims to shed more light at some of the essential issues pertaining to the modern-day cognitive approach by tracing its roots to the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Benjamin Lee Whorf. To start with, the article discusses the place that the philosophy of experiential realism takes in the basic division between realism and anti-realism, and attempts to demonstrate that the quest to uphold the basic realistic stance while still giving a chief role to human conceptualization is in many ways an elaboration of Kant’s “Copernican revolution”. Even more traces are found in the late works of Ludwig Wittgenstein, who with his “Philosophical Investigations” laid foundations for the current cognitive theory of categorization, not only helping realize the blurry character of category borders but also questioning the hitherto dominating atomistic approach to meaning. Perhaps the most noteworthy inspirations, however, can be found in the writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf who, like the modern-day cognitive linguists, was deeply interested in the variety of the different models that humans impose on the real world, and who may have prefigured much of the currently popular theory of conceptual metaphor. Overall, a deeper insight into the philosophy of the three discussed thinkers allows us to better understand the roots of the modern-day cognitive linguistics and erase some of the controversies that have arisen around it over the years.

During the early 20th century, the linguistic turn in Western philosophy takes place. The phenomenon of language, its characteristics are explored by philosophers of that time. The article focuses on the German language philosophy of the 20th century. Martin Heidegger, whose ideas influenced a lot of thinkers, and Bernhard Welte suggested their own approaches to the issue of language in philosophy, being sure that it played a significant role in achieving the truth. The ideas of the philosophers are considered to be the crucial point of the philosophy of the 20th century, and this research is important for the understanding and purpose of modern philosophy of language as such. For this reason, a reconstructing method is helpful, by means of which the issue of the article can be profoundly studied. Martin Heidegger’s philosophy is based on his terminology that helps to perceive the depth of his thinking. Bernhard Welte elaborated upon the concept of language theory. His purpose was to reveal possible ways to a proper communication. By way of conclusion, it should be underlined that both philosophers confirm the necessity of language within relations between God and man and thus inspire new researchers. The results of this research may be applicable to courses of modern Western philosophy, discourse linguistics and scientific studies of the philosophy of language.

Many abstract phenomena and concepts can be described with the help of language. The world is perceived through language and language is one of the tools for describing it. Starting point of my article forms the concept of the linguistic worldview Bartmiński (2012). Particular means of expression are phrasemes, which reflect in a compact way the perception of the world by the users of a certain language. As part of the research, a comparative analysis of the German and Polish phrasemes is carried out, the obligatory component of which is the lexeme Hand/ręka. The empirical material comes from the phraseological dictionaries of both languages. Phraseological units are divided into groups according to their semantics. The aim of the analysis is to show the variety of meanings of the examined phrasemes and the possibilities of expression that the structures mentioned above open up for us. The analysis of the compiled corpus allows a general conclusion to be drawn: the semantic groups of phrasemes that have been created and examined, which contain the lexeme Hand/ręka, show a visible symmetry. Among other things, it can result from the fact that the hand and its functions are perceived in a similar way in both German and Polish, which seems to be important information for the linguistic worldview of both cultures. The added value lies primarily in gaining insights into the linguistic worldview of both cultures and thus preventing linguistic decals, incomprehension or linguistic rudeness that result from a lack of knowledge of the possible different meanings of certain expressions between languages. This analysis can contribute to further research into the linguistic world view that is visible in phrasemes with the lexeme Hand/ręka.

This article is part of the research on football linguistics. Its goal is to analyse and compare the banners appearing in German and Polish football stadiums in the light of speech act theory. The aim is to show that not only football matches take place in a football stadium, but also social or political concerns are addressed and processed. The following questions serve as a criterion for the analysis: In which aspects are the German and Polish banners similar? What are the differences between them? With what linguistic intention do the authors of these texts act and how should they be classified according to the emotional charge? After the theoretical introduction, which briefly describes the conceptual foundations of text linguistics and refers to football and its language, the analysis of the collected corpus is presented. The corpus consists first and foremost of texts published on banners, transcribed according to the original spelling, as well as precise details of the respective matches. One or more speech act types are assigned to each text, although their number is limited to 26. The assignment is based on Searle’s speech act theory. Furthermore, each text is evaluated axiologically. For this, in most cases it is indispensable to know the exact context in which the banner is embedded, and the vocabulary and the addressee group also play an important role. The results of the analysis are summarised numerically. Their discussion is rounded off by conclusions which refer, among other things, to the fact that the language of football fans is very masculine in character, direct, sometimes vulgar and brutal. In the stands, the collective clearly stands above the individual. However, values such as dignity, honour and respect also come to the fore. This analysis is not only a linguistic examination of a linguistic phenomenon, but also an overview of a diverse and multifaceted culture that is part of society.

Translation of culinary products is a topic that is often taken up in research. Culinary names appearing on the menus are a special case, as they have individual features in the composition of the names. The aim of the article is to make an attempt at the typology of mistakes in the field of Polish-German translation of culinary products based on the selected menus and to establish a diagnosis of the causes of mistakes. A review of reality shows that many Polish restaurants make mistakes in translating culinary products into German. The empirical basis are 31 Polish menus from restaurants in three Polish cities: Wrocław and Szklarska Poręba in Lower Silesia and Świnoujście in West Pomerania. Three different regions of Poland were studied. The focus is on translation mistakes and their types as well as the diagnosis of the causes of these mistakes. The article begins with the theoretical part and explains such terms as menu, type of text, mistakes and culinary. The objective includes the following questions: Which translation strategies are used in the translation of culinary products? Which mistakes are made during the translation? What types of mistakes occur with other types? The results of the analysis are presented in a tabular form. More than 1200 mistakes were found. Using selected examples, the analysis is carried out with the aim of typologizing the mistakes and pointing out translation strategies in the mentioned area. The classification of mistakes by Andrzej Markowski and the omission as a mistake type by Krzysztof Hejwowski are taken into account for the purposes of the analysis. It can be concluded that restaurants use different translation strategies in the case of culinary products, which result in many incorrect translations. In the light of the material analysed, it must also be stressed that Polish restaurants do not attach great importance to translating culinary products into German. This article is therefore intended as an example of practice-based analysis.

Emotions are a basic human aspect and play a major role in fictive orality (cf. Bednarek 2008: 2). A distinction is made between the expression and the thematization of emotions, i.e., emotional experience can be the subject of communication or can be communicated on the side, whereby the subject is something completely different (cf. Fiehler 1990: 36–37). This article analyses emotions in the novel Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling and their translation into German. The emotions in the selected emotion-laden scenes from the novel are sorted and analysed according to Ortners (2014: 189–197) classification of linguistic means. Furthermore, the translation of these scenes into German is analysed. The aim is to determine how emotions are expressed and thematized in fictive orality, which linguistic means are used and how they are translated into German.From the analysis it follows that most emotions are expressed and thematized on the lexical and phonetic-phonological level. The emotions that appear in these scenes are mostly anger and rage, as well as fear and sadness. In conclusion, one can claim that the occurrence of the expression and the thematization of emotions in fictive orality cannot be precisely analysed, but tendencies can be emphasized because the emotions overlap on these levels, i. e. they can be expressed and thematized in the same example on several levels. As far as the translation is concerned, all linguistic means are included in the German translation, with the exception of missing italics for the purpose of emphasizing.

Metaphors were considered the research privilege of literary studies for a long time. However, with the cognitive turn of the 1980s a new approach emerged in modern linguistics, and linguists, for the first time, turned sharply away from the classic rhetorical understanding of metaphor. With Lakoff and Johnson’s cognitive metaphor theory („Metaphors we live by,” 1980), a new linguistic discipline emerged that recognized metaphors as conventionalized linguistic units and even extended their capacity for understanding the human cognition. Although the cognitive approach brought an innovative direction to linguistics, it was viewed critically mainly by discourse linguists, who, unlike cognitive linguists, argued for a contextual interpretation of linguistic metaphors. As a result of the lively critical exchange between the two approaches, the metaphor analysis of the discourse dynamics framework emerged, which examines linguistic metaphors in their discourses in a context-dependent manner and conceptualizes them on the basis of their discourse metaphoricity. This study analyzes metaphors in this discourse metaphorical sense and aims to elaborate discourse metaphoricity of the source domain darkness and to represent the identified discourse metaphoricity with the help of linguistic indicators. In doing so, the paper addresses the so-called gradability of metaphoricity, which, to the best of my knowledge, has not yet been explored in the sense of this study. The paper analyzes discourse metaphors based on the cognitive tension between their source and target domains, answering the following questions: Are the identified metaphors strong and active ones („first-level metaphors”) or linguistically (strongly) conventionalized ones, whereby they unfold their metaphoricity only through discourse dynamics („second-level metaphors”)? By which linguistic indicators do metaphors become noticeable and how are these indicators to be described? Methodological means of the analysis are the metaphor identification method MIPVU with my own study-specific operationalizations, working methods of the discourse dynamics framework and discourse linguistic results on discourse dynamics. The corpus is the German literary text „Ich und Kaminski” by Daniel Kehlmann. As a result of the analysis, it was found that discourse metaphors also manifest below the text surface and are capable of becoming noticeable through a variety of indicators.

The term aggression is very often defined in scientific research. Expression of aggression, both linguistic and extra-linguistic, its evaluation and many others are still controversial. Indirect aggression is most common in everyday communication, but certain behaviors and language resources have aggressive characteristics. Phraseologisms form a special group. The question in the analysis therefore includes the following aspects: What means of expression does the language offer to the speakers? (vulgarisms, idioms) Which aspects can be expressed using these linguistic means? (beatings, threats, restriction of freedom) What differences are there between German and Polish in this respect? And are there any? The analysis focuses on German and Polish idioms that express aggression. During the analysis, I will present their division, and I will focus on the phraseological components that are characteristic of particular types of aggression. The comparative analysis will allow me to make conclusions on the verbalization of aggression in both languages and will provide insight into the linguistic image of the world of both cultures. The results of the analysis point to the asymmetry between the linguistic image of the world in German and Polish in the area of aggression expressed using idioms. One can find semantically matching idioms in both analyzed languages, the components of which are both convergent and different. In addition, emotionally marked examples can be distinguished, which illustrate the aggressive character of the analyzed units.

The board game instruction is a utility text which aims at helping its recipient. Therefore, the instruction should be written in an understandable, accessible and unambiguous way, so that the player can use the new information in practice. Recipients are people who want to buy a particular board game or already want to play it. It is the instruction that allows them to use the board game the right way. For this reason, it is important what the instruction looks like and how it has been written. The objective of the following article is to examine if this kind of text achieves its communicative goals. The text might be considered effective in the communication context if the recipient manages to follow the provided instruction. 24 different kinds of board game instructions were examined with the Jasnopis application, analysing text fogging and checking against the principles of the Wrocław model of plain language. Moreover, the research material has been tested in terms of the graphic design, linguistic correctness, as well as recipient’s perspective. The analysis showed that, even if the form aids communication, the text’s contents make the opposite. Layout and graphics help the recipients understand the rules. However, the sentence structure and used words add to the difficulty of the text.

The article is a review of the monograph entitled Argumentationspraktiken im Vergleich by Abdel-Hafiez Massud. The monograph is devoted to a linguistic comparison between argumentation patterns in German and Arabic. The author describes linguistic and extralinguistic measures used in the process of intercultural communication to convince others of our point of view or to persuade them to take a specific step. The publication consists of three thematic parts: argumentation in the online media, argumentation as an intercultural phenomenon, and teaching argumentation skills. The first part focuses on the issue of argumentation patterns preferred by both internauts and companies in the digital world. Argumentative speech acts, such as protesting or apologizing, are discussed on the basis of various text types, for instance German and Arabic protests on Twitter, answers given by companies to customers’ online complaints, and „About us” sections on German private school websites. The second part, which is based on German and Arabic online complaints, is devoted to intercultural politeness and impoliteness in German and Arabic argumentation. The third part is centered around developing argumentation skills during classes in German as a foreign or second language. The value of the monograph is enhanced by the fact that it contrastively thematizes German and Arabic multimodal argumentation styles, which is a new and little explored research field. It is also important that the impact of modern communication forms in the new media on argumentation patterns and practices in both cultures has been considered. Due to its topicality and the presentation of the themes in an original manner, the publication might be of interest to linguists, particularly those researching argumentation.

The debate about the use of Anglicisms in the German language is not a new topic. For a long time there has been a reflection on what the increasing proportion of English verbs means for German, although this phenomenon polarizes opinions in the public and among linguists. In this context, some fear a decline in the German language. Others see this tendency as a development and enrichment of the German language. This article intends to present the results of the 2020 published by Verlag Dr. Kovač a monograph by Katarína Seresová devoted to this topic. The aim is to reflect on the current state of the discussion regarding the use of Anglicisms in German. In her remarks, the author deals with the following aspects: 1) extra-linguistic factors that underlie the process of borrowing, 2) models and means of word formation, 3) integration of anglicisms, 4) influencing factors of English, 5) advantages and disadvantages of using Anglicisms, 6) Anglicism of the Year initiative, 7) influence of English on the German language. In the article, the results of Seresová’s considerations are presented and commented on against the background of previous research. It is then shown to what extent the monograph enriches the existing literature on the subject of Anglicisms in German and what contribution it makes to research in this area. On the basis of the monograph presented, it can be concluded that the question of Anglicisms in German is still topical, despite a rather extensive scientific description that it has received so far.

The anthology, in which the doctoral students from the universities in Trnava, Ústí nad Labem and Wrocław express themselves scientifically, was created under the project “Internalization and development of doctoral studies“. The aim of this anthology is to publish the texts of postgraduate students from Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic. The diverse topics from the field of linguistics and literature were seized in the anthology. Writers such as Georg Trakl, Jan Faktor, Thomas Mann or Stanislav Struhar are the focus of some of the articles. Such motives as landscape, garden, identity or migration are also discussed. The linguistic texts deal with compound words, lexemes, swear words, cardinal vowels and language varieties. The topics presented provide a good basis for further discussions. A total of 17 articles can be found here. They are proof that young people are interested in science and they research new topics by themselves. The diversity of subjects indicates that linguistics and literature are a repository of knowledge.

German studies as a university subject has been represented in Hungary since the 18th century (!). In 1784 Josef II ordered the establishment of the Department for German language and literature at the university of the Hungarian capital Pest. This department is considered to be the second oldest in the world (after the one founded two decades earlier in Vienna). German studies in Hungary can therefore look back on very long traditions. It may also have something to do with the fact that it is represented by Hungarian researchers who have made a name for themselves in European German studies. The goal of the following article is to review and discuss the celebratory publication dedicated to the recognized Hungarian Germanist, scientist and university professor Erzsébet Drahota-Szabó Kulcs a világhoz: Drahota-Szabó Erzsébet köszöntésére. Key to the world: Festschrift for Erzsébet Drahota-Szabó. The title of the publication shows the intertextual reference to Wilhelm Humboldt’s famous thesis that language is a key to the world. The volume sees itself as a key with which access to certain areas of knowledge, as elements of the world, is made possible.The volume contains in total twenty contributions, written in German and Hungarian, that are thematically linked to the research and teaching of the jubilarian. The knowledge elements contained in them relate to comprehensive scientific or research areas, such as German as a foreign language, (foreign language) teacher training, as well as multilingualism and translation. The authors of the contributions focus on different perspectives from which the listed topics and areas are dealt with (e.g. contrastive, didactic, literary and historical perspectives) and relate their investigations to different languages (in addition to German to Hungarian, Slovak and Romanian). This creates complex, diverse networks between the contributions, which are to be uncovered in the following review article. The readers of the review article not only gain an insight into important research areas of German studies, including those represented by the jubilee, but they should also be encouraged to take the Festschrift into their own hands and to interact with the authors of the articles and with the jubilarian herself scientifically “to exchange” ideas and thoughts.

Phraseodidactics as such seems to be getting more and more into the interest of foreign language learners and teachers. Solutions for the practical implementation of the theory are sought. These are also the expectations of German learners in Poland. The textbook “Phraseologie des Deutschen im Abriss für polnische Deutschlernende” by Elżbieta Dziurewicz and Joanna Woźniak, in which the phraseological concept for Poles learning German is developed, meets these expectations. It is a clever combination of theory and practice, which is intended for German learners at level B2. The aim is to critically evaluate the concept proposed by the authors in relation to the expectations and needs of the learners. The basis for comparison is provided by phraseological didactic textbooks that were developed for German learners in other languages. On the one hand, the analysis points to the deficiencies in the area of German-Polish phraseological didactics and, on the other hand, it focuses on the advantages that the work offers, which makes it a stimulus for both phraseological didactics and German learners. The rich offer of various exercises and forms of work as well as the complex presentation of the theory are the advantages of the publication that will attract a wide readership. The results of the analysis make a valuable contribution to the design of GFL lessons in Poland.

Humour is an indispensable part of human life. It supports us in good and bad times because it has visible medical and psychological effects as well as influences our interactions with others. Jokes, which come in many forms, are its most representative and simplest types. For these reasons, among others, the aim of the article is to show and discuss the nature and kinds of language jokes and, above all, to describe various joke techniques which are the source of comical ambiguity and tension. The techniques presented, thoroughly examined and illustrated with numerous examples, are the most important or frequently used mechanisms for generating humour. The analysis identifies a wide range of possibilities for their construction. They also illustrate the humor indicators inherent in jokes such as ambiguity, deliberate or accidental misunderstandings, word mixes, verbalization of metaphors, incorrect word formation, accent changes, incorrect separation, multiple naming, representation by the opposite (antiphrase) as well as numerous modifications and decompositions.

The 13th volume of the Aussiger Beiträge magazine entitled “German as a foreign language - educational and linguistic perspectives” is devoted to the current problems of language teaching from a linguistic and practical perspective. It contains 12 articles, 7 reviews and 5 reports. The articles cover a wide range of language teaching problems at school and university: objectives of language teaching, methodological and content-related innovations, application of new media, current teaching plans and materials, grammatical competence and others. The volume discusses various questions: What potential is there in texts from children’s and youth magazines? What should be taken into account when selecting texts that are geared towards the target group? Are there linguistic learning objectives to which too little attention has been paid so far? How could the connection between language and culture be accentuated more clearly? How can foreign language didactics benefit from the new media possibilities? What consequences result from the ‘multimedia’ factor for the design of learning materials? To what extent do framework plans, curricula and other documents at European and national level play an important role in setting new accents in foreign language teaching? The volume addresses diverse approaches to the teaching and practice of German as a foreign language and addresses both established trends in foreign language didactics as well as innovations and changes. A critical view of selected documents and teaching materials as well as developments and trends in foreign language didactics provides suggestions for a scientifically sound and at the same time practice-oriented discussion about the teaching of German. The articles are recommended for all teachers of German as a foreign language who are concerned with the optimization of foreign language teaching. The review briefly summarises the aims and content of each article.