| dc.description.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). | en |
