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The paper deals with the role of context and its features in the interpretation of ironically used metalinguistic (reflexive) expressions in the Russian, Polish, and English languages. Although contextual cues have always been a major topic of interest to irony scholars, more research seems to be needed on how context interacts with a metalinguistic expression and how it indicates that such an expression is to be interpreted ironically. It is clear that the most natural context in the situation in question is speech (in a broad sense) that is referred to in particular metalinguistic expressions. Therefore, the main goal of the paper is to establish the crucial features of linguistic units that could be named and described by metalinguistic expressions and to specify relations between the former and the latter. The main criteria used to classify the examples that are analyzed in the paper are 1) the type of the linguistic unit in the context, 2) the type of contradiction between the metalinguistic expression and the context, and 3) the limits of the context that is required for ironical interpretation of the metalinguistic expression.

This paper aims to investigate the what-cleft construction with adjectives and establish its structural, semantic, and distributional features by adopting frame semantics and usage-based construction grammar, exploiting the data from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), and applying quantitative corpus-based methodology. To this end, the author extracts the occurrences of the What be ADJ be-construction from a large corpus of naturally-occurring data, determines its structural, semantic, distributional, and discourse-functional properties, and identifies adjectives that are strongly associated with the construction in question. The paper makes a significant contribution to a growing body of literature on the what-cleft construction by conducting a qualitative and quantitative analysis of one of its variants, a grammatical pattern with adjectives that has not been hitherto investigated in much detail.

The paper deals with the specifics of outsiders’ laughter in the book Unknown letters (Неизвестные письма/Unbekannte Briefe, Russian 2014, German 2017) by a Russian-German writer Oleg Yuryev. In particular, it analyzes how Russian cultural and historical traumas of the 20th century were reinterpreted in the book from the perspective of an ironical outsider. In doing so, it focuses on a fictional letter by the writer Leonid Dobychin, which is contextualized with fictional letters of Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz and Ivan Pryzhov, representing previous historical and cultural periods. Yuryev’s ironic reflections on the Russian historical reality and literary scene of the 20th century manifest themselves at different levels, from the positioning of outsiders’ laughter in relation to the official and marginal hierarchies of the literary canon to the postmodernist play with the traditions of literary classics. In addition, the paper addresses the inter- and/or transcultural aspect of outsiders’ laughter in Yuryev’s book.

This paper deals with the word-formation of Mayakovsky’s neologisms, the principles of their composition and also the objects subjected to neologization. Attention is also paid to the Nachleben of these neologisms in contemporary Russian, based on the research into the Russian National Corpus. The paper is a result of the analysis of all Mayakovsky’s neologisms listed in A. Humesky’s book Majakovskij and His Neologisms (1964), except for those originated by the simple connection of two words or word components. The results were compared with the most recent work dealing with Mayakovsky’s neologisms, V. N. Valavin’s dictionary (Word-formation of Mayakovsky. An Attempt at a Dictionary of Occasiоnalisms). It is argued that the main word-formation principle is that of composition (substantives and adjectives) and suffixation (verbs), that even today many neologisms show surprising vitality, and also that not all of the neologisms ascribed to Mayakovsky are indeed his authorial creations.

The present paper is devoted to the problem of study of the language means of realization of rhetorical strategies of business communication in their correlation with zones of influence of a human being. The business strategies – informative, regulative-directive, argumentative-persuasive, manipulative, of positive self-representation – and their correlation with zones of influence of a human being: rational-logical, volitional, psycho-emotional, moral-axiological, and aesthetic-imagery have been researched. The purpose of the paper is to find out correlations of rhetorical strategies and tactics of business communication and zones of influence of a human being. The object of study is rhetorical strategies and tactics of business communication and their correlations with zones of influence of a human being. The subject of the study is language means of realization of rhetorical strategies and tactics of business communication in their correlations with zones of influence of a human being. The methods applied include rhetorical, contextual, and discourse-analysis, methods of classification and systematization. Business communication is organized on the principles of co-operation and politeness. Its intentional nature molds business genre forms and influences the choice of rhetorical strategies and tactics. Rhetorical strategies and tactics, which are realized in certain language means, correlate with rational-volitional-emotional sphere of a human being. The perspectives of the research are to conduct a rhetorical analysis of the academic communication and to approve the results of the research at practical teaching of academic and business talk to Master students.

In this study, the focus is placed on the semantic content of several concepts in the language consciousness of Polish and Russian speakers revealed by means of the free associative test. Particular attention is paid to the real content of the concepts bezpieczeństwo and безопасность. The paper reports on the results of the comparative analysis of data obtained by means of a free non-directional associative experiment. The distribution of cognitive characteristics according to the degree of brightness in the structure of the concepts is presented. Special attention is paid to identifying similarities and differences in the semantic content and the semantic volume of the investigated concepts. The examined data, taken from associative dictionaries, allow for describing the dynamics of the process of conceptualization as well as for presenting the peculiarities of both concepts. The paper further discusses the formats of the conceptualization of bezpieczeństwo and безопасность and the language dynamics of the objectification of these formats.

The paper is devoted to a holistic analysis of the scientific-organisational and scientific-didactic activity of the Head of the Institute of Russian and Ukrainian philology, Professor Andrzej Sitarski (2008–2019). In the paper, the author presents her reflections on the status of ego-texts along with their categories. The authorʹs attention is primarily focused on the evaluation of Professor Sitarski’s role in the upbringing of talented linguists, as well as on his personal contribution to the development of Poznań Ukrainian studies. The in-depth analysis is conducted on the basis of the category of memory that is depicted in ego-text genres, including the genre of memoirs-dedications. Professor Sitarski has an outstanding linguistic personality of a bilingual that boils down to particular verbal and nonverbal properties represented through his psychotype – his abilities of the elite linguistic character of a scientist and lecturer of Russian language are distinctive for him.

“I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me […]. The Lord is on my side” (Ps 118[117]:5–6). On the Lexical Variation of Church Slavonic Psalter Redactions: The Case of Translations of the Greek ὁ ἀντιλή(μ)πτωρ, ἡ ἀντίλη(μ)ψις, ἡ βοήθεια, ὁ βοηθός, ἡ λύτρωσις, ὁ λυτρωτής, ῥυόμενος, ὁ ῥυστής, ὁ ὑπερασπισμóς and ὁ ὑπερασπιστής. A Quantitative Approach This article is another one in a series of studies dealing with the lexical variation of Church Slavonic Psalter redactions. The paper focuses on the vocabulary used by man to address God as his protector, helper, saviour etc., and analyses the (Old) Church Slavonic equivalents of such Greek lexemes as ἀντιλή(μ)πτωρ, ἀντίλη(μ)ψις, βοήθεια, βοηθός, λύτρωσις, λυτρωτής, ῥυόμενος, ῥυστής, ὑπερασπισμóς and ὑπερασπιστής. It also points out the Hebrew equivalents of the investigated Greek and (O)CS words. The study concentrates on the quantitative aspect of the use of the vocabulary under discussion, with qualitative issues (semantics / contextual conditions) remaining in the background. „W udręce wołałem do Pana, a On mnie wysłuchał […]. Pan moim wspomożycielem” (Ps 118[117]:5–6). O leksykalnej wariantywności psałterzowych redakcji cerkiewnosłowiańskich. Na przykładzie tłumaczeń gr. ὁ ἀντιλή(μ)πτωρ, ἡ ἀντίλη(μ)ψις, ἡ βοήθεια, ὁ βοηθός, ἡ λύτρωσις, ὁ λυτρωτής, ῥυόμενος, ὁ ῥυστής, ὁ ὑπερασπισμóς i ὁ ὑπερασπιστής. Ujęcie ilościowe To kolejny artykuł w cyklu opracowań traktujących o leksykalnej wariantywności psałterzowych redakcji cs. Tym razem uwagę skupia się na grupie słownictwa, którym człowiek zwraca się do Boga jako swego protektora, pomocnika, wybawiciela etc. Analizie poddaje się użycia (s)cs. ekwiwalentów takich gr. leksemów, jak: ἀντιλή(μ)πτωρ, ἀντίλη(μ)ψις, βοήθεια, βοηθός, λύτρωσις, λυτρωτής, ῥυόμενος, ῥυστής, ὑπερασπισμóς i ὑπερασπιστής. Dodatkowo wskazuje się na odpowiedniki hebrajskie badanych słów greckich i (s)cs. W rozważaniach nacisk kładzie się na aspekt ilościowy użyć badanego słownictwa, kwestie jakościowe (semantykę / uwarunkowania kontekstu) przesuwając na plan dalszy.

The object of description in the following paper is the lexeme język. Linguistic analysis has been broadened by medical context, in which the author presents the content regarding the tongue as the first part of the digestive system, as a sense of taste, and finally, as vocal apparatus. For this purpose, the most important issues connected with the structure, physiology and pathology of the tongue have been presented. The second part of the discussion has been dedicated to the place of the noun język, along with its synonyms and derived forms in old and contemporary general Polish language, as well as dialects. The final part contains remarks on the functioning of the word język in Polish phraseology. This lexeme, as a polysemantic unit, happens to be the component of numerous petrified word combinations, whose meaning reflects the variety of references and contexts preserved in old and contemporary Polish culture.

Scientists describe the way young people (school children and university students) think today, as a fundamentally superficial, fragmentary, illogical mosaic. This mode of thinking significantly differs from the conceptual thinking specific to previous generations. Easy access to Internet content and electronic technologies induces students to plagiarize and to resign from independent action. The paper presents fragments of essays and exam tests bearing traces of Internet content manipulation. This practice is not considered as unethical by a number of students. However difficult it may seem to efficiently counteract the habit of copying and pasting material available online, it can be channeled into appropriate approaches and methods. To accommodate these recent changes in cognitive mechanisms, the educational material, and the theoretical elements which are offered to the modern pupils and students, one should intensively focus on contextualizing fragmentary information, providing records in the modernized forms such as modules, flowcharts, algorithms, and mind maps. This approach may help students overcome the inconsistency in the reception and reproduction of the information and avoid serious mistakes in their comprehension of the presented facts. The adaptation of the teaching techniques can form in students the skills of extracting the most important facts, following cause and effect relationships, and structuring the data accordingly.

The paper presents the poems by Nikolay Karamzin (1766–1826), which refer to hope. They include the following groups of texts: 1) reflection poems: To myself (1795), The song (1795), The hope (1796), To an unfaithful (1796), Sorrow and joy (1797), The coast (1802); 2) occasional poems: about the Tsar Pavel I (1796), about G. Khovanski (1796) and about P. Pelski (1803); 3) poems touching upon the life of a poet and poetry: To a poor poet (1796) and The talents (1796). Some poems are autobiographical (The coast was written after the death of Karamzin’s first wife). The hope, which is based on a comparison of a human’s life to a journey, is considered the most meaningful of his texts. According to Karamzin, life is filled with joy and sorrow, expectation and disappointment, but hope makes the plans easier to achieve, and brings a man closer to the goal. The meaning of his poems is optimistic after all. Karamzin’s letters to Ivan Dmitriev, a poet and a friend, serve as an interpretive background in the article.

The aim of this paper is to present the literary theme of hope in the works of the Soviet Russian rock poet Igor Talkov (1956–1991). The poet’s poems as well as fragments of texts from the author’s prose serve as examples. In the course of analyzing the literary legacy of the composer, the author of the article distinguishes the following images of hope: the theme of hope conditioned by striving to fulfil his role in a dignified way in the arena of life; the theme of hope for the immortality of the poet’s fame and poetry; an inverted image of hope, interpreted as a loss of delusions; the theme of hope leading to victory in the unequal struggle of two ambivalent forces: Good and Evil; the theme of hope which is faith in a better life. Moreover, the conducted research shows that the poet, recalling the literary image of hope in his work, repeatedly referred to biblical texts and the works of the authors of the Golden Age, which, as works by Igor Talkov, allows to distinguish another characteristic feature of the presented speech master.

The aim of this paper is to analyze an increasingly dangerous phenomenon in modern times – the Internet addiction – in the context of contemporary Russian literature. It seems that in this light, the work of Viktor Pelevin can serve as a perfect example of a literary voice in the discussion about the condition of the modern world. The present paper uses the findings of modern technology experts (e.g. Clifford Stoll), philosophers, and sociologists (e.g. Jean Baudrillard, Kazimierz Krzysztofek). In Viktor Pelevin’s novel entitled Love for Three Zuckerbrins (Любовь к трeм цукербринам, 2014) the author continues his analysis of the problem, already marked in The Helmet of Horror (Шлем ужаса: Креатифф о Тесее и Минотавре, 2005), centered on the impact of the development of the latest technologies on human beings. While in the author’s earlier works this issue remained in the sphere of predictions and guesses, here it is unequivocally resolved to the detriment of the human individual. By touching upon the question of popular games for people, Pelevin shows their real role – playing with people. In this context the abovementioned attraction to simple entertainment has irreversible effects – a win in an Internet game means a failure in real life. While advocating unequivocally on the side of the opponents of the adulation for cyberspace, Pelevin points out that a complete unification with it will lead to the end of humanity.

The paper is dedicated to some selected units of biblical origin in the Polish language, namely fixed word combinations (idiomatic expressions). The author is trying to answer the question whether the collection of such units has the qualities of a closed set, or demonstrates a contemporary tendency to multiply its resources. What is essential for this description is the division into primary and secondary units of biblical origin. Apart from historical data and conditions, which are linked with this issue of Polish phraseology, the paper also contains several examples of the processes, as a result of which the language acquired new phrases of biblical origin.

The material basis of the paper are the names of Polish female associations from the 30s of the 20th century. The analysis involves components used to expose feminine qualities – general names (kobieta, pani, niewiasta – ‘woman, lady’), as well as detailed ones, which were categorised according to the information they contain. These are the elements of the world, which in addition to gender, constitute a basis for communality of the members: social and professional status, educational background, participation in military activities, social activity sphere, or common interests. The material presented in the paper shows that in the Second Polish Republic the need for exposing femininity and emphasising communality was very strong in the names of associations.

The paper is concerned with the aspects of communication during the acts of worship by Russian Catholics. The liturgy and rites are performed in contemporary Russian language. The material was excerpted from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The paper provides a description of the liturgical model of interpersonal communication during services and the linguistic indicators of its components. The units were grouped according to the criterion of participation in the communication situation involving the sender, the receiver and the communication channel, i.e. liturgy.

The paper refers to one of the types of diagrammatic iconicity singled out on the basis of the similarity of the form of the sign in a sequential order to the content. The text discusses coordinate and subordinate phrases which embody the principle. The paper emphasizes the differences existing between them in terms of the freedom of order of structural components. Further, it compares the source text and the target text applying the sequential order principle as tertium comparationis.

On the equivalents of the Greek ὁ ναόϛ, ἡ ἐκκλησία, τό ἁγίασμα, τό ἁγιαστήριον and ἡ ἁγιωσύνη in CS Psalter redactions The paper refers to the lexical variety of translations reflected in CS redactions of the Book of Psalms. It is focused on semantic and quantitative analysis of the use of Slavonic equivalents of the Greek ὁ ναόϛ, ἡ ἐκκλησία, τό ἁγίασμα, τό ἁγιαστήριον and ἡ ἁγιωσύνη (i.e., of vocabulary with the denotations: ‘sanctuary, temple, place of living/habitation of God’ and also ‘community of the faithful with the Lord, Church’) in selected representative CS redactions of the Book of Psalms: archaic, mixed (archaic and Russian), Russian (or East-Bulgarian), Norov, Athonite and Cyprian. The paper shows resemblances as well as differences among the confronted Psalters in the choice of the words considered and gives explanation of the uses observed. O odpowiednikach gr. ὁ ναόϛ, ἡ ἐκκλησία, τό ἁγίασμα, τό ἁγιαστήριον, ἡ ἁγιωσύνη w psałterzowych redakcjach cerkiewnosłowiańskich Artykuł dotyczy leksykalnej wariantywności przekładów zawartych w cs. redakcjach Księgi Psalmów. Koncentruje się na semantycznej i ilościowej analizie użyć słowiańskich odpowiedników gr. ὁ ναόϛ, ἡ ἐκκλησία, τό ἁγίασμα, τό ἁγιαστήριον, ἡ ἁγιωσύνη (tj. słownictwa z zakresu oznaczeń ‘świętego przybytku, budynku świątynnego, miejsca zamieszkania/przebywania Boga’, a także ‘zgromadzenia wiernych z Panem, Kościoła’) w wybranych reprezentantach cs. redakcji psałterzowych: archaicznej, mieszanej (archaiczno-ruskiej), ruskiej (albo wschodniobułgarskiej), norowskiej, atońskiej i cyprianowskiej. Eksponuje zarówno podobieństwa, jak i różnice w doborze rozpatrywanych leksemów w porównywanych psałterzach oraz podaje interpretację zaobserwowanych użyć.

The paper addresses B. Norman's humorous etymological Russian dictionary. By reanalyzing the morphological structure of Russian words, Norman provides them with knowingly false, amusing interpretations. The paper proposes to investigate the word-formation aspects of Norman’s re-analyzed lexis. It mostly represents an attempt to “build” the false etymological entities into the system of all existing word-formation techniques of the Russian language. Specific features of amusing para-etymology are also identified.

The object of the paper is a comparison of two concepts of Russian common consciousness: “Germans” and “Poles”. To this effect the combinative power of Russian words German and Pole according to electronic Russian National Corpus (http://www. ruscorpora.ru/) was analyzed. The use of these words in such constructions as “As + qualitative adjective + as a German / Pole” (as careful as a German; as courteous as a Pole, etc.); “German / Pole + adjectival noun” (a German pedantry; a Polish sweetness, etc.); “Qualitative adjective + Germans / Poles” (punctual Germans; coquettish Polish women, etc.) demonstrates ethno cultural stereotypes, typical for Russian ordinary consciousness. These stereotypes should be taken into account in the process of intercultural communication.This paper deals with the slang derivations of the modern Russian language, related to the notions of “иностранец”, “инородец”, “провинциал”, “провинция”. Key aspects of the analysis of these language units are the aspects of word formation and the Russian language, due to the permanent extralinguistic factors, there is a large number of expressive ethnonyms.The area of their distribution is the sphere of the various social dialects, hence they get into general use (for example, in colloquial language). Our task is to identify how the derivational features of these formations determine their emotional and expressive color.