The paper presents a linguistic landscape analysis with elements of multimodality of 60 advertise... more The paper presents a linguistic landscape analysis with elements of multimodality of 60 advertisements of various cultural events collected in Polish public space, written in both Polish and English. The study aims to establish what elements of the advertisements tend to be expressed in English, how, additionally, multimodal tools foreground or background the use of the two languages, and, consequently, what message such choices convey about the status of English in Poland as reflected through the analysed genre.
Advertising is an area open to various types of innovation and a creative use of language. Advert... more Advertising is an area open to various types of innovation and a creative use of language. Advertisers use a variety of strategies to attract as many customers as possible, employing enticing visuals, clever puns, detailed descriptions, direct appeals, etc. Yet, if the product is to sell, it appears self-evident that the language of the advertisement should not constitute a barrier. Contrary to this assumption, however, there has been an ever growing trend visible in Polish magazines for the last two decades to formulate parts of or even complete advertisements, not infrequently of Polish brands, in English, despite the fact that English remains a foreign language in Poland, although, admittedly, a very popular one. The present study is conducted within the framework of sociolinguistically informed linguistic landscape analysis. It investigates the visibility of English in the advertising landscape of lifestyle magazines published in Poland, represented by a selection of high qualit...
Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis
In the post-war era, Poland has been viewed as a homogeneous country both culturally and linguist... more In the post-war era, Poland has been viewed as a homogeneous country both culturally and linguistically. It has not, however, remained immune to the developments of globalization, which has also been reflected in the linguistic developments of the present century. In recent years, the Polish public space has been inundated with numerous foreign language names, signs, slogans, elements in advertisements and on billboards, with the English language largely in the foreground, and not infrequently competing against Polish in such spheres as services and the advertising even of Polish brands. The present discussion focuses on the results of a survey distributed among Polish respondents which, with the help of indirect and direct methods, asked them to evaluate products/services advertised in visual forms by means of English and other languages, and react to the visibility of these languages both on the Polish street and in the Polish lifestyle magazines. The objective of the study was to...
Advertising is an area open to various types of innovation and a creative use of language. Advert... more Advertising is an area open to various types of innovation and a creative use of language. Advertisers use a variety of strategies to attract as many customers as possible, employing enticing visuals, clever puns, detailed descriptions, direct appeals, etc. Yet, if the product is to sell, it appears self-evident that the language of the advertisement should not constitute a barrier. Contrary to this assumption, however, there has been an ever growing trend visible in Polish magazines for the last two decades to formulate parts of or even complete advertisements, not infrequently of Polish brands, in English, despite the fact that English remains a foreign language in Poland, although, admittedly, a very popular one. The present study is conducted within the framework of sociolinguistically informed linguistic landscape analysis. It investigates the visibility of English in the advertising landscape of lifestyle magazines published in Poland, represented by a selection of high quality and mid-range general interest and specialised women's and men's magazines. Its objective is to identify tendencies in the manifestations of this newly developing multilingualism in respect of the frequency of using English, the category of advertised products which particularly often appear in such multilingual advertisements as well as the type of magazines which admit such advertisements rather readily. Regarding the linguistic strategies used in the analysed texts, attempts are made to establish whether English tends to be used in complete texts and sentences or only parts of those, and if the latter, which elements of the genre of advertising are especially marked by such language choices and why.
Współczesne media elektroniczne stały się celem licznych badań językoznawczych. Niniejsza analiza... more Współczesne media elektroniczne stały się celem licznych badań językoznawczych. Niniejsza analiza dotyczy jednej z najpopularniejszych ich odmian – krótkiej wiadomości tekstowej. 160 prywatnych SMSów, zarówno w języku polskim, jak i angielskim przebadano pod względem ich cech formalnych, skupiając się głównie na aspekcie redukcji tekstu pod względem obecności bądź eliminacji elementów fatycznych, szczególnie zwrotów adresatywnych, powitań, pożegnań oraz emotikonów, a także interpunkcji. Badanie przeprowadzone również w odniesieniu do wcześniejszej analizy wiadomości mailowych wykazało znaczny procent eliminacji elementów konwencjonalnych tekstu w SMSach w porównaniu z mailami, szczególnie zwrotów adresatywnych i powitań, redukcję formalną zwrotów pożegnalnych oraz omijanie znaków przystankowych, pokazując tym samym, jak dużo elementów w komunikacie jest redundantnych. Analiza wykazała również widoczne różnice między SMSami polskimi i angielskimi, zwłaszcza pod względem frekwencji ta...
English in India evokes connotations of worldliness, education, class, and power. Although many l... more English in India evokes connotations of worldliness, education, class, and power. Although many less socially fortunate groups lack in the English language competence, its presence in the Indian street is increasing, and not only in the context of tourism and marketing. The investigation of the linguistic landscapes of a number of localities in northern India will focus on public service advertisements written in English which convey guidelines for the creation of a healthier Indian society. The study, informed by the rhetoric of social intervention approach, investigates the choice and the frequency of the persuasive rhetorical devices used in the texts. It also discusses which of the three modes of persuasion typically underlie the analysed advertisements, thereby highlighting the preferred approach to tackling local issues and, indirectly, contributing to strengthening the role of English through the positive perception of the messages conveyed.
Private communication often departs from the rules set for verbal communica tion in public conte... more Private communication often departs from the rules set for verbal communica tion in public contexts. When interacting with friends or intimates interlocutors often make use of jargon, slang expressions, elliptic phrases, terms of endear ment, and other means of expression which are understood and accepted by those with whom they feel solidarity or share some experience. This plethora of language devices which mark the sense of closeness and familiarity between two or more persons appears to be enlarged by one more aspect regarding com municating between bilingual persons the phenomenon of code-switching. Just like monolingual persons sometimes switch from a neutral code into a pro fessional jargon (register-switching) or from a formal talk into a colloquial chat or even swearing (style-switching), bilingual persons also make use of two different language codes in order to interact with another who happens to know these two language systems as well. The purpose of this paper is t...
CMC and notably social networking sites appear to empower their users to express their views free... more CMC and notably social networking sites appear to empower their users to express their views freely. The paper investigates manifestations of an unorthodox online behaviour, especially that of women. The analysis of YouTube and Facebook (fanpages) English- medium posts demonstrates that in the context of controversial issues women often employ communicative strategies which not only put them on a par with male interlocutors, but also often exceed their use of impolite, vulgar, and abusive language
Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis, 2022
In the postwar era, Poland has been viewed as a homogeneous country both culturally and linguisti... more In the postwar era, Poland has been viewed as a homogeneous country both culturally and linguistically. It has not, however, remained immune to the developments of globalization, which has also been reflected in the linguistic developments of the present century. In recent years, the Polish public space has been inundated with numerous foreign language names, signs, slogans, elements in advertisements and on billboards, with the English language largely in the foreground, and not infrequently competing against Polish in such spheres as services and the advertising even of Polish brands. The present discussion focuses on the results of a survey distributed among Polish respondents which, with the help of indirect and direct methods, asked them to evaluate products/services advertised in visual forms by means of English and other languages, and react to the visibility of these languages both on the Polish street and in the Polish lifestyle magazines. The objective of the study was to identify the attitudes with which English and other languages are viewed by Polish respondents when used in the Polish public space, and to also assess their position in comparison with Polish. The survey results demonstrate that despite a significant number of positive judgements which the respondents offered on the topic, negative views outnumbered the positive to a considerable degree.
Life in the modern age is dominated by social media. What used to be very much a private affair, ... more Life in the modern age is dominated by social media. What used to be very much a private affair, like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, etc., is now celebrated in front of oftentimes the whole world, and not infrequently, through the medium of the language that is not our own. The object of investigation in the present paper is the speech act of birthday wish sent to someone via Facebook. The analysis demonstrates that although the speech act has a universal aim – to show interest in another person and make them feel good, and although in many cases the language of conveying wishes, beside the native tongues, is the same, this notably being English, the lingua franca of contemporary world, the way the wish is expressed may differ markedly from culture to culture, thereby showing the underlying cultural values and norms of the users and of their native language use. The socio-pragmatic analysis presented here focuses on posts collected from personal profiles of British, Polish, Ind...
The English language has featured markedly as a popular language of computer-mediated communicati... more The English language has featured markedly as a popular language of computer-mediated communication, and notably of Facebook posts, written not only by native or second language speakers, but also users of English as a foreign language. The aim of this paper is to investigate the frequency, form and function of English language Facebook profile updates of 110 (55 women and 55 men) users of English representing 41 European, Asian, African and Latin American countries belonging to the Expanding Circle. Approached from the point of view of the code choice as well as the users’ gender, and supported by an online survey data, the study analyses in detail the form of the updates in connection with gender preferences and identifies language contexts and functions users choose to express themselves in English as opposed to their native tongue, thereby demonstrating the role of English as a we-code in a social networking service.
The paper presents a linguistic landscape analysis with elements of multimodality of 60 advertise... more The paper presents a linguistic landscape analysis with elements of multimodality of 60 advertisements of various cultural events collected in Polish public space, written in both Polish and English. The study aims to establish what elements of the advertisements tend to be expressed in English, how, additionally, multimodal tools foreground or background the use of the two languages, and, consequently, what message such choices convey about the status of English in Poland as reflected through the analysed genre.
Advertising is an area open to various types of innovation and a creative use of language. Advert... more Advertising is an area open to various types of innovation and a creative use of language. Advertisers use a variety of strategies to attract as many customers as possible, employing enticing visuals, clever puns, detailed descriptions, direct appeals, etc. Yet, if the product is to sell, it appears self-evident that the language of the advertisement should not constitute a barrier. Contrary to this assumption, however, there has been an ever growing trend visible in Polish magazines for the last two decades to formulate parts of or even complete advertisements, not infrequently of Polish brands, in English, despite the fact that English remains a foreign language in Poland, although, admittedly, a very popular one. The present study is conducted within the framework of sociolinguistically informed linguistic landscape analysis. It investigates the visibility of English in the advertising landscape of lifestyle magazines published in Poland, represented by a selection of high qualit...
Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis
In the post-war era, Poland has been viewed as a homogeneous country both culturally and linguist... more In the post-war era, Poland has been viewed as a homogeneous country both culturally and linguistically. It has not, however, remained immune to the developments of globalization, which has also been reflected in the linguistic developments of the present century. In recent years, the Polish public space has been inundated with numerous foreign language names, signs, slogans, elements in advertisements and on billboards, with the English language largely in the foreground, and not infrequently competing against Polish in such spheres as services and the advertising even of Polish brands. The present discussion focuses on the results of a survey distributed among Polish respondents which, with the help of indirect and direct methods, asked them to evaluate products/services advertised in visual forms by means of English and other languages, and react to the visibility of these languages both on the Polish street and in the Polish lifestyle magazines. The objective of the study was to...
Advertising is an area open to various types of innovation and a creative use of language. Advert... more Advertising is an area open to various types of innovation and a creative use of language. Advertisers use a variety of strategies to attract as many customers as possible, employing enticing visuals, clever puns, detailed descriptions, direct appeals, etc. Yet, if the product is to sell, it appears self-evident that the language of the advertisement should not constitute a barrier. Contrary to this assumption, however, there has been an ever growing trend visible in Polish magazines for the last two decades to formulate parts of or even complete advertisements, not infrequently of Polish brands, in English, despite the fact that English remains a foreign language in Poland, although, admittedly, a very popular one. The present study is conducted within the framework of sociolinguistically informed linguistic landscape analysis. It investigates the visibility of English in the advertising landscape of lifestyle magazines published in Poland, represented by a selection of high quality and mid-range general interest and specialised women's and men's magazines. Its objective is to identify tendencies in the manifestations of this newly developing multilingualism in respect of the frequency of using English, the category of advertised products which particularly often appear in such multilingual advertisements as well as the type of magazines which admit such advertisements rather readily. Regarding the linguistic strategies used in the analysed texts, attempts are made to establish whether English tends to be used in complete texts and sentences or only parts of those, and if the latter, which elements of the genre of advertising are especially marked by such language choices and why.
Współczesne media elektroniczne stały się celem licznych badań językoznawczych. Niniejsza analiza... more Współczesne media elektroniczne stały się celem licznych badań językoznawczych. Niniejsza analiza dotyczy jednej z najpopularniejszych ich odmian – krótkiej wiadomości tekstowej. 160 prywatnych SMSów, zarówno w języku polskim, jak i angielskim przebadano pod względem ich cech formalnych, skupiając się głównie na aspekcie redukcji tekstu pod względem obecności bądź eliminacji elementów fatycznych, szczególnie zwrotów adresatywnych, powitań, pożegnań oraz emotikonów, a także interpunkcji. Badanie przeprowadzone również w odniesieniu do wcześniejszej analizy wiadomości mailowych wykazało znaczny procent eliminacji elementów konwencjonalnych tekstu w SMSach w porównaniu z mailami, szczególnie zwrotów adresatywnych i powitań, redukcję formalną zwrotów pożegnalnych oraz omijanie znaków przystankowych, pokazując tym samym, jak dużo elementów w komunikacie jest redundantnych. Analiza wykazała również widoczne różnice między SMSami polskimi i angielskimi, zwłaszcza pod względem frekwencji ta...
English in India evokes connotations of worldliness, education, class, and power. Although many l... more English in India evokes connotations of worldliness, education, class, and power. Although many less socially fortunate groups lack in the English language competence, its presence in the Indian street is increasing, and not only in the context of tourism and marketing. The investigation of the linguistic landscapes of a number of localities in northern India will focus on public service advertisements written in English which convey guidelines for the creation of a healthier Indian society. The study, informed by the rhetoric of social intervention approach, investigates the choice and the frequency of the persuasive rhetorical devices used in the texts. It also discusses which of the three modes of persuasion typically underlie the analysed advertisements, thereby highlighting the preferred approach to tackling local issues and, indirectly, contributing to strengthening the role of English through the positive perception of the messages conveyed.
Private communication often departs from the rules set for verbal communica tion in public conte... more Private communication often departs from the rules set for verbal communica tion in public contexts. When interacting with friends or intimates interlocutors often make use of jargon, slang expressions, elliptic phrases, terms of endear ment, and other means of expression which are understood and accepted by those with whom they feel solidarity or share some experience. This plethora of language devices which mark the sense of closeness and familiarity between two or more persons appears to be enlarged by one more aspect regarding com municating between bilingual persons the phenomenon of code-switching. Just like monolingual persons sometimes switch from a neutral code into a pro fessional jargon (register-switching) or from a formal talk into a colloquial chat or even swearing (style-switching), bilingual persons also make use of two different language codes in order to interact with another who happens to know these two language systems as well. The purpose of this paper is t...
CMC and notably social networking sites appear to empower their users to express their views free... more CMC and notably social networking sites appear to empower their users to express their views freely. The paper investigates manifestations of an unorthodox online behaviour, especially that of women. The analysis of YouTube and Facebook (fanpages) English- medium posts demonstrates that in the context of controversial issues women often employ communicative strategies which not only put them on a par with male interlocutors, but also often exceed their use of impolite, vulgar, and abusive language
Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis, 2022
In the postwar era, Poland has been viewed as a homogeneous country both culturally and linguisti... more In the postwar era, Poland has been viewed as a homogeneous country both culturally and linguistically. It has not, however, remained immune to the developments of globalization, which has also been reflected in the linguistic developments of the present century. In recent years, the Polish public space has been inundated with numerous foreign language names, signs, slogans, elements in advertisements and on billboards, with the English language largely in the foreground, and not infrequently competing against Polish in such spheres as services and the advertising even of Polish brands. The present discussion focuses on the results of a survey distributed among Polish respondents which, with the help of indirect and direct methods, asked them to evaluate products/services advertised in visual forms by means of English and other languages, and react to the visibility of these languages both on the Polish street and in the Polish lifestyle magazines. The objective of the study was to identify the attitudes with which English and other languages are viewed by Polish respondents when used in the Polish public space, and to also assess their position in comparison with Polish. The survey results demonstrate that despite a significant number of positive judgements which the respondents offered on the topic, negative views outnumbered the positive to a considerable degree.
Life in the modern age is dominated by social media. What used to be very much a private affair, ... more Life in the modern age is dominated by social media. What used to be very much a private affair, like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, etc., is now celebrated in front of oftentimes the whole world, and not infrequently, through the medium of the language that is not our own. The object of investigation in the present paper is the speech act of birthday wish sent to someone via Facebook. The analysis demonstrates that although the speech act has a universal aim – to show interest in another person and make them feel good, and although in many cases the language of conveying wishes, beside the native tongues, is the same, this notably being English, the lingua franca of contemporary world, the way the wish is expressed may differ markedly from culture to culture, thereby showing the underlying cultural values and norms of the users and of their native language use. The socio-pragmatic analysis presented here focuses on posts collected from personal profiles of British, Polish, Ind...
The English language has featured markedly as a popular language of computer-mediated communicati... more The English language has featured markedly as a popular language of computer-mediated communication, and notably of Facebook posts, written not only by native or second language speakers, but also users of English as a foreign language. The aim of this paper is to investigate the frequency, form and function of English language Facebook profile updates of 110 (55 women and 55 men) users of English representing 41 European, Asian, African and Latin American countries belonging to the Expanding Circle. Approached from the point of view of the code choice as well as the users’ gender, and supported by an online survey data, the study analyses in detail the form of the updates in connection with gender preferences and identifies language contexts and functions users choose to express themselves in English as opposed to their native tongue, thereby demonstrating the role of English as a we-code in a social networking service.
The modern age has further expanded on the multifaceted character of English, which is used not o... more The modern age has further expanded on the multifaceted character of English, which is used not only in many places in the world, but also by a variety of users in numerous contexts. Technical innovations have led to the rise of new registers and offered scholars new tools to study language variation. Set in the context of the electronic medium of social networking, and additionally enriched with findings from the field of language attitude studies, this study explores features of English used in the Inner, Outer, and Expanding Circles, here represented by the UK, India, and Poland. The analysis of the English used by Facebook members demonstrates cultural differences as well as gender and age similarities in the area of e.g. politeness, emotionality, informality or code-switching
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