Let Language Have a Voice! or Where Poles Got Their Knowledge About Their Language
Where could the downtrodden and broken Polish language voice its complaints? Who stood guard over its correctness and morality? Which of the old language periodicals have survived to this day?
In 1901, the opening article of the first issue of The Linguistic Guide (Poradnik Językowy) started with the words:
Politics has numerous journals, as does literature, especially a great number of weeklies and monthlies; various professions have their professional periodicals, only language – a tool for all, needed by all and yet not appreciated by all, often wronged and maligned, not given a voice – does not have a space of its own in which to complain.
This was not entirely true, because Philological Studies (Prace Filologiczne) had existed for 16 years and was the first linguistics journal published in Poland – apart from the reports of the Language Commission of the Academy of Learning (Komisja Językowa Akademii Umiejętności). Nevertheless, it was the Kraków periodical that, as its name suggests, focused on the practical ability to use our native speech and on paying attention to the correctness and culture of the Polish language. One more title should be added to these two – The Polish Language (Język Polski), which saw the light of day in 1913 – and we will have the great trinity of the oldest linguistics periodicals along the Vistula that are still published today.
‘Philological Studies’, i.e. from a weak vowel to oyster-mushroom wings
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Adam Antoni Kryński, 1932, photo: National Digital Archives NAC
The oldest Polish periodical dealing with the issues of language was born on 13 April 1885 in Warsaw. It came from a poor but respected family. Its founding father, Adam Antoni Kryński, was a philologist (although he started his studies at the Main School in mathematics and physics), a member of the Academy of Learning (Akademia Umiejętności) in Kraków and a teacher of classical languages and French at a Warsaw secondary school. Its godfathers are equally renowned names: Jan Karłowicz supplemented his philological education acquired abroad with music studies in Brussels; Lucjan Malinowski, a mountain lover, specialized in Upper Silesia’s native folklore and dialect; and Jan Baudouin de Courtenay had a royal pedigree and was recognized as one of the most outstanding linguists in history (he even had a chance – at least theoretically – to become the first president of the Republic of Poland). Not to mention the extended family of outstanding Polish and European scholars who have appeared in Philological Studies over the years.
The first sentence appearing in the journal was also the title of the article and read: ‘On words with a weak vowel next to l, r, between consonants’ – apart, of course, from the forward by Kryński, who had already planned a future for the periodical before its birth, including, among others: discourses on general linguistics, research on Slavic languages – Polish in particular – materials on the history of (old) Polish language and writing. As you can see, Philological Studies had a scholarly nature from the very beginning. And this was not changed either by a longer break in its work (1937-63), or by frequent changes of the founding parties (from the Józef Mianowski Fund, through the Gebethner and Wolff Bookstore and the National Scientific Publishing House, to the Faculty of Polish Studies at the University of Warsaw), or even by the 2012 division of the periodical into separate linguistics and literary studies series. Currently, Philological Studies is supervised by Halina Karaś, and in volume 77 of the 2022 issue, you can find, among others, 23 articles devoted to the lexis of food (e.g. ‘Scrambled Tofu and Oyster-Mushroom Wings, or a Few Comments on the Names of Veganized Dishes in Contemporary Polish’ by Małgorzata Witaszek-Samborska and Martyna Skrzypczak).
‘The Linguistic Guide’, or who will protect us from gibberish?
Two men played the most important roles in the more than one hundred and twenty years of its existence.
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Roman Zawiliński, photo: public domain
Roman Zawiliński was tall, with a ginger moustache; he ate ‘peasant style’, studied Slavic languages and highland dialects and knew how to use a phonograph for his research. He had an extraordinary teaching talent (even when covering for a mathematics teacher), wrote textbooks and published works by Szymonowic, Rej and Pol. He had his colleagues teaching in secondary schools in mind when he created The Linguistic Guide. He cared about lively contact with the reader based on a regular exchange of letters and a permanent ‘Questions and Answers’ column, which he considered ‘a most valuable manifestation which can do more good than long discourses and discussions’. The periodical immediately gained popularity and respect; its innovative and practical nature was appreciated. He wanted to share his position with his younger brother, who was responsible for theory, but their conflict (more on this in a moment) led to the creation of two separate linguistics journals. Unfortunately, Zawiliński’s financial and health problems forced him to put The Guide into the hands of trusted people after three decades. This was related to the relocation of the periodical from Kraków to Warsaw.
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Witold Doroszewski, photo: Janusz Sobolewski / Forum
Witold Doroszewski was a Doctor of Philosophy, a student of Kryński’s and Baudouin de Courtenay’s, a Polish language teacher in Paris and a lecturer at European and American universities. The Guide came under his supervision in 1932 and remained there until the linguist’s death in 1976 (with a break caused by the editor’s departure to the United States and a longer absence for the duration of the war). The periodical evolved during this time: it worked with scholars from all over the country and abroad, moved away from condemning errors to promoting exemplary speech and transformed from a monthly periodical devoted to linguistic correctness into a forum for the exchange of ideas and the development of norms and knowledge about the Polish language. Doroszewski himself developed a new field called the culture of the Polish language. Subsequent editors of The Guide (Szymczak, Buttlerowa, Satkiewicz, Dubisz, Decyk-Zięba) continued the founder’s thought, expanding the thematic scope and adapting to technological and communication changes. During the periodical’s 100th birthday, Jadwiga Puzynina, comparing its role to the poetry of Czesław Miłosz, argued:
[…] Over many years, through the writings of numerous authors, among whom Roman Zawiliński and Witold Doroszewski stand out, ‘Poradnik Językowy’ defended the Polish language against ‘screeching’, ‘gibbering’ and ‘raving’; talked about the important issue of human linguistic awareness, including the attitude to reality and truth; made its pages available to those who wondered about the meaning of important words; showed the connections between language and the human’s inner self, language and beauty, language and morality.
‘The Polish Language’, or how the older brother gave way to the younger
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Kazimierz Nitsch, photo: public domain
In 1913, Roman Zawiliński’s second child was born, although the paternity dispute will be the subject of public debate. Now The Polish Language was the main Kraków journal, and The Linguistic Guide, which was over a decade older, receded into the background but was present in its younger brother’s pages as one of the newspaper’s sections. This symbiosis lasted about a year and a half, but after the outbreak of the war, something started to go wrong. Zawiliński took care of the publication and editing of the first three years, and in 1918, at the request of Professor Jan Łoś – as he claimed – he gave up the title to the Academy of Learning. According to Kazimierz Nitsch, under whose wing The Polish Language was created, he himself was the creator of the concept of a periodical published monthly in single printer’s signature issues, sometimes as a single volume. He argued: ‘[…] Mr. Zawiliński told various people that we killed him by transforming the journal into the too clever Linguistic Guide’.
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Cover & page from ‘Poradnik Językowy’, no. 1, 1901, photo: Poradnik Językowy, digital archive
Indeed, while The Linguistic Guide was more experienced (due to age) and open to the linguistic problems of ordinary readers, The Polish Language was superior to its brother in terms of specialist knowledge made available to scholars, teachers and lovers of the Polish language. The periodical, published since 1901, wanted to maintain its character of popular science and correctness, so their paths eventually diverged. Since 1921, when the Society of Lovers of the Polish Language (Towarzystwo Miłośników Języka Polskiego) took over the care of the ‘junior’ periodical, we can talk about the opposing agendas between the editorial staffs of the two publications.
The Polish Language had clearly defined views. It believed that names of foreign origin should be written according to Polish spelling (it would call foreign spelling a sign of ‘snobbism’), it opposed unjustified borrowings (especially Germanisms and Russianisms) and knew – although was sometimes wrong – which words would be adopted and which would not. The periodical pursued an interest in lexicology and phraseology and did not forget about the literary language – it eagerly analysed the vocabulary of works by Słowacki, Krasicki, Rej, Herbert and Lem. It was attached to its roots, which is why at the beginning it revolved around the circle of Kraków linguists. Only when it matured did it open up to other research centres, such as Poznań, Gdańsk and Lublin. After the war, it became permanently attached to several women, and it was managed by Krystyna Pisarkowa from 2004 to 2010. From being a monthly, through being an annual, The Polish Language finally became a quarterly.
He who asks doesn’t err
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Fragment of ‘Poradnik Językowy’, photo: Poradnik Językowy, digital archive
‘Is the Polish language beautiful?’ – Wanda Gizbert-Studnicka asked provocatively in The Linguistic Guide. ‘Again, the Academician of Literature writes “zludczeć” [‘to empeople’]. What is that supposed to mean?’ – one of the readers was outraged. For years, the periodical had been ‘fighting windmills’ – as it said – to maintain the purity of the language. It pointed out errors in commercial and official correspondence, for some time it regularly published amusing and sometimes even bizarre excerpts from the Polish press and noted new book titles that were not the subject of literary criticism but of editorial corrections. For The Guide itself, there was a price to be paid for this practice because attentive readers did not fail to point out to the editors that they themselves did not follow linguistic rules, e.g. skipping commas. They, in turn, were able to turn the situation to their advantage by publishing a number of texts on punctuation and spelling.
By browsing through older issues of language journals, you can trace how the Polish language has developed and what changes it has undergone in terms of vocabulary, grammar and fashion. The Linguistic Guide recalled the competition for the name of correspondence cards [postcards] that was announced at the end of the 19th century. Among the submitted proposals, you can find such gems as: ‘bezkopertka’, ‘donoska’, ‘jawnomyślnik’, ‘kartkówka’, ‘kurjerka’, ‘połanka’, ‘pozdrówka’ and even ‘Oblęgórka’ or ‘Sienkiewiczówka’ [all inventive, but never adopted, neologisms; the competition was won by ‘pocztówka’, currently in use and invented by none other than Henryk Sienkiewicz, trans.]. Until World War II, the periodical consistently published a ‘Questions and Answers’ section, which most vividly showed what tormented Poles in the past. The questions concerned practically everything – from the conjugation of numerals, through the origin of words, to their correct use – and the editors answered all doubts patiently, substantively and sometimes with humour. For example, in a comment to a reader’s letter asking for the correct phrase: ‘chodzi tu o…’ or ‘idzie tu o…’ [both equivalent to the English ‘it’s about…’, trans.], the editors recalled the Polish proverb: ‘Czy idzie, czy chodzi, na jedno wychodzi’ [whose sense here could be loosely translated as ‘Whether it’s on or it’s about, it makes no difference without a doubt’, trans.].
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Eska (read from photo author’s handwritten name), editorial office of ‘Kurier Polski’, 1969, photo: archive of Grażyna Rutowska / NAC National Digital Archive
The issue of the feminine suffix was raised very often – and here the advice that was given varied. When someone was looking for a name for a woman practicing the profession of a pedagogue [pedagog], the editorial office gave an evasive answer:
A puzzle worthy of an award: Since ‘goddess’ [bogini] comes from the noun ‘god’ [bóg], ‘prophetess’ [prorokini] from ‘prophet’ [prorok], so by analogy ‘pedagoguess’ [pedagogini] would come from ‘pedagogue’ [pedagog]. However, we advise everyone who thinks and speaks Polish to use the familiar word ‘teacher’ [wychowawczyni].
However, linguists quite quickly noticed the need to create new words to describe new occupations and professions, so in subsequent issues from 1901 on they advised creating the term ‘doktorka’ for a woman with the academic degree of doctor, ‘even if the interested parties do not like it’ because ‘we will not retreat from what the difference in sex requires of linguistic logic’.
The need for a periodical dealing with issues of correctness is demonstrated by Lucjan Rydel’s letter, in which the poet thanks the editors: ‘I found multiple errors pointed out in The Guide which I myself have made in speech and writing […]’.
Translated from Polish by Michał Pelczar
[{"nid":"5688","uuid":"6aa9e079-0240-4dcb-9929-0d1cf55e03a5","type":"article","langcode":"en","field_event_date":"","title":"Challenges for Polish Prose in the Nineties","field_introduction":"Content: Depict the world, oneself and the form | The Mimetic Challenge: seeking the truth, destroying and creating myths | Seeking the Truth about the World | Destruction of the Heroic Emigrant Myth | Destruction of the Polish Patriot Myth | Destruction of the Flawless Democracy Myth | Creation of Myths | Biographical challenge | Challenges of genre | Summary\r\n","field_summary":"Content: Depict the world, oneself and the form | The Mimetic Challenge: seeking the truth, destroying and creating myths | Seeking the Truth about the World | Destruction of the Heroic Emigrant Myth | Destruction of the Polish Patriot Myth | Destruction of the Flawless Democracy Myth | Creation of Myths | Biographical challenge | Challenges of genre | Summary","topics_data":"a:2:{i:0;a:3:{s:3:\u0022tid\u0022;s:5:\u002259609\u0022;s:4:\u0022name\u0022;s:26:\u0022#language \u0026amp; literature\u0022;s:4:\u0022path\u0022;a:2:{s:5:\u0022alias\u0022;s:27:\u0022\/topics\/language-literature\u0022;s:8:\u0022langcode\u0022;s:2:\u0022en\u0022;}}i:1;a:3:{s:3:\u0022tid\u0022;s:5:\u002259644\u0022;s:4:\u0022name\u0022;s:8:\u0022#culture\u0022;s:4:\u0022path\u0022;a:2:{s:5:\u0022alias\u0022;s:14:\u0022\/topic\/culture\u0022;s:8:\u0022langcode\u0022;s:2:\u0022en\u0022;}}}","field_cover_display":"default","image_title":"","image_alt":"","image_360_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/360_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=ZsoNNVXJ","image_260_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/260_auto_cover\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=pLlgriOu","image_560_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/560_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=0n3ZgoL3","image_860_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/860_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=ELffe8-z","image_1160_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1160_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=XazO3DM5","field_video_media":"","field_media_video_file":"","field_media_video_embed":"","field_gallery_pictures":"","field_duration":"","cover_height":"991","cover_width":"1000","cover_ratio_percent":"99.1","path":"en\/node\/5688","path_node":"\/en\/node\/5688"}]