Home  /  Acta Baltico-Slavica  /  Núm: Vol46 Par: 0 (2022)  /  Article
ARTICLE
TITLE

Jezyk polski w krajobrazie jezykowym Wilna

SUMMARY

The Polish Language in the Linguistic Landscape of VilniusThe aim of this article is to analyse the use of Polish-language signs in public space in Vilnius and to identify the reasons for the presence or, conversely, absence of Polish in the linguistic landscape of Vilnius in 2022. The subject of the study is inscriptions in Polish found in public space in the Old Town in Vilnius. As a result of the exploration carried out from December 2021 to May 2022, 52 photos of inscriptions in Polish were taken. The signs were analysed using the method adopted in the study of the linguistic landscape. They were classified according to their linguistic specificity into (1) monolingual, (2) polyphonic and (3) mixed signs. Apart from this, they were also classified into public and private ones. The specificity of the functioning of the Polish language in Vilnius is that it functions in speech rather than writing. Poles from Vilnius are multilingual and use several languages alternately. The willingness to remain anonymous by assigning oneself to the majority of society speaking a more prestigious language means that informal inscriptions (e.g. graffiti) are not created in Polish. Information signs in languages other than Lithuanian are not seen by the respondents as necessary, and their installation is effectively hampered by the system of administrative penalties.Jezyk polski w krajobrazie jezykowym WilnaCelem artykulu jest analiza uzycia polskich znaków jezykowych w przestrzeni publicznej w Wilnie i znalezienie odpowiedzi na pytanie, jakie sa przyczyny obecnosci lub nieobecnosci jezyka polskiego w krajobrazie jezykowym Wilna w roku 2022. Przedmiotem badan sa napisy w jezyku polskim znalezione w przestrzeni publicznej na Starówce wilenskiej. W wyniku eksploracji prowadzonej od grudnia 2021 do maja 2022 roku zgromadzono 52 zdjecia napisów, na których wystepuje jezyk polski. Znaki zostaly zanalizowane metoda przyjeta w badaniach krajobrazu jezykowego, podzielono je wedlug specyfiki jezykowej na znaki: (1) jednojezyczne, (2) polifoniczne oraz (3) mieszane. Ponadto podzielono znaki na publiczne i prywatne. Specyfika funkcjonowania jezyka polskiego w Wilnie jest jego forma mówiona, mieszkanców cechuje wielojezycznosc oraz naprzemienne uzycie kilku jezyków. Chec pozostania anonimowym, przypisania siebie do wiekszosci spoleczenstwa mówiacej bardziej prestizowym jezykiem wplywa na to, ze nie powstaja napisy nieformalne (np. graffiti) w jezyku polskim. Tablice informacyjne w innych jezykach niz litewski nie sa postrzegane przez respondentów jako konieczne, w dodatku ich instalowanie skutecznie jest hamowane przez system kar administracyjnych.

 Articles related

Irena Prawdzic    

Polish-German Bilingualism in the Pila, Czarnków-Trzcianka and Zlotów Districts: A Study of Language Management in Three Generations Based on Representative Language BiographiesAs part of the project entitled “Language across generations: Contact induced... see more


Maciej Rak    

Loanword Dictionaries as Evidence of the Power of Languages (on the Example of Slownik polonizmów w jezyku litewskim [Dictionary of Polish Loanwords in Lithuanian] by Rolandas Kregždys)Two publications by Rolandas Kregždys – Lietuviu kalbos polonizmu žod... see more


Justyna B. Walkowiak,Jowita Niewulis-Grablunas    

Unofficial surnames used by the Lithuanian minority in Poland: The linguistic and cultural heritage of the Polish-Lithuanian borderlandUnofficial surnames are rare because surnames today are generally official in character. However, in the case of Polish... see more


Zofia Sawaniewska-Mochowa,Vilija Sakalauskiene    

The Lithuanian and Polish linguistic legacy of Antanas Juška from a twenty-first-century perspectiveThis article presents the assumptions of new research on the legacy of Antanas Juška, recorded in Lithuanian and Polish. We assume that the forgotten work... see more


Vaida Kamuntaviciene    

The language question in St Catherine’s Convent in Krakes in the first half of the twentieth centuryAfter 1918, the two Catholic convents on the territory of the Republic of Lithuania faced the issue of Lithuanisation, which was solved in different ways.... see more