Bieda jako polski koncept językowo-kulturowy

Abstract

The author of the monograph makes an attempt at describing the concept BIEDA (poverty), broadly understood as a complex of notions denoting various aspects of material status. The work belongs to cultural linguistics, whose target is the recreation of linguistic image of the world, as understood by the Ethnolinguistic School of Lublin. In order to collect the material, an onomasiological approach was assumed: from the plan of contents, which comprises meanings concerning lack or insufficient means necessary to fulfill basic life needs, to the plan of expression, i.e. corresponding lexical, phrasematic and textual indicators. Analytical parts were preceded by the investigation into theoretical assumptions of the work, terminological matters, and hints on how the units concerning poverty are situated in various thematic classifications. Lexis was described as part of the thematic field which comprises units that refer to a difficult financial situation, as seen from the perspective of an average language user in his daily experience. In the description of the field the author used lexicographic data – notations in general, historical and contemporary dictionaries, semantic definitions, some textual exemplifications, as well as etymological information. In its major part, the thematic field consists of word families, groups of lexems morphologically and semantically connected with nouns denoting lack of material means necessary to fulfill basic life needs: bieda (poverty), nędza (destitution), ubóstwo (abject poverty), golizna (impoverishment), chudoba (penury), mizeria (misery), potrzeba (need), dziadostwo (indigence), niedostatek (material deprivation). The methods of denoting material hardship are related to different perspectives – compulsion causing suffering and evoking mercy or sympathy (bieda, nędza, mizeria), deficiencies, impossibility to fulfill one’s needs (ubóstwo, niedostatek, niezamożność, potrzeba, chudoba, golizna, gołota), low social status (dziadostwo), inability to function in an ordinary way (mortus).