Semantic change in African American slang

Semantic change is an important part of African American slang and involves two mechanisms: figuration and shifting. Both are enormously productive and account for numerous slang expressions based on standard English. This paper presents these processes in detail. Partially drawing from the author’s earlier publications, the presentation is based on lexical material from a sizable database of citations from contemporary African American sources collected through extensive fieldwork in the United States in recent years

Metaforyzacja w slangu chińskim 汉语俚语中的比喻

Metaphorization in chinese slang This paper constitutes a preliminary study of figuration in Chinese slang. While slang in general is highly metaphorical, figuration in Chinese slang is even more pervasive, tending to favor non-literal language, this fact attributed to both sociocultural (frequent indirect reference) and linguistic (marked morphophonological constraints) factors. In the West, relatively little research exists on this fascinating subject; hence, more academic attention is in order. The lexical material analyzed in this paper comes from my database of Chinese slang, a new sociolinguistic project currently under development in the Sociolinguistics Laboratory (formerly Department of Sociolinguistics and Lexicography) at the University of Gdansk, in cooperation with my Chinese students including Deng Ting, Mou Feng and Li Bo Yi; numerous reference books were also consulted

Przełamując bariery przekładu audiowizualnego: o tłumaczu telewizyjnym jako twórcy i tworzywie

As is commonly known, Polish AVTs are dominated by voice-over – a cultural phenomenon of the post-communist state. Given the translation reality of the contemporary European TV market, whenever voice-over is applied to movie translations, it is perceived as a painful legacy of the Communist era. No matter which translation mode an average fi lm viewer prefers, it is the TV corporation that decides whether to dub, voice-over or subtitle a foreign fi lm, and then broadcast it to the viewers. This paper attempts to unravel the tangle of confl icting claims on voice-over as a fi lm translation mode from an academic viewpoint based on linguistics, translation studies and cultural linguistics. In the authors’ view, there are three main technical barriers for voice-over which a translator needs to take into account at any stage of his work: the translator’s personality, translation conventions commonly accepted by fi lm translators and legal regulations

Origin and production of silver in early medieval Poland

Modern archaeology makes use of analytical methods in order to answer questions about deposit and technological provenience of artefacts. This paper discusses selected and the most interesting, results obtained during the completion of a research project which focuses on silver from the 10th and 11th centuries in Poland. In total, 200 silver artefacts known from Polish hoards (found in Kalisz-Dobrzec, Nowa Obra, Wolsztyn District, Zalesie, Olsztyn District, Słuszków and Jastrzębniki, Kalisz District, Kalisz-Rajsków and Stojkowo, Kołobrzeg District and Naruszewo, Płońsk District) were studied. A micro-invasion LA-ICP-MS (Laser Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry) was used for determinining lead isotope ratios in silver. The data obtained were evaluated using statistical methods which allowed reliable isotopic ratios in inhomogeneous alloy to be obtained. In order to study the provenance of silver, the obtained lead isotope ratios in the artefacts were compared with those of silver deposits. The use of SEM-EDX allowed the tracing of morphological changes and the measurement of quantitative elemental composition of coins, raw silver and jewellery according to technological traits

Coins of the 10th and 11th centuries from old Pomeranian finds in the National Museum in Warsaw

In July 1969 the National Museum in Warsaw (MMW) purchased from a private person 28 complete and 22 fragments of early medieval coins. Four localities mentioned: Londzyn, Kr. Lobau; Abbau Fischershutte, Kr. Karthaus; Hornikau, Kr. Berent and Dombrowo showed that the relics come from the Municipal Museum in Gdansk (Westpreussisches Provinzial-Museum in Danzig), whose numismatic collections was lost at the end of WW II. Their last owner inherited them from his father, who right after the war lived in Kartuzy. This is where the coins by accident found their way to. The hoard found at Dabrowa (Dombrowo) contained at least 4 kg of silver coins, bars and ornaments. The part preserved in the NMW includes four coins, two of them quite interesting. These are half-bracteates resembling denarii of Bernhard II (1011-1059) from Luneburg (Dbg 587-588), as well as cross-denarii of Type 1. The raised edge and relatively small weight point out the mints of eastern Friesland or northern Saxony. Luneburg and Stade and the period of issue might be cautiously referred to the beginning of the 11th century. The hoard of Horniki (Hornikau) was found in 1890; originally it contained more than 3 kg of coins, ornaments and silver bars. All the coins preserved in the NMW (14 pieces) date to the first half of the 11th century, the latest being a Bohemian coin of Bretislav I (1037-1055) - fragment of the Cach 308 Type. The hoard discovered in 1887 at Lazyn (Londzyn) weighed about 2400 g, apart from bars and ornaments it contained 1098 complete coins, 20 halves and more than 620 fragments. Among the 21 coins preserved in the NMW, the most interesting is the complex of 10 sachsenpfennige the occurrence of which helps understand the structure of the entire hoard and confirms the find's dating to the years after 1135. The hoard from Rybaki (Abbau Fischershutte) was discovered in 1896 only to be immediately dispersed. The 11 coins now in the NMW add the mints of Erfurt and Soest to the list of those represented in the hoard, as the coins of those variants were formerly identified as coming from Franconia (Erfurt) and Cologne (Soest). (5 figures

African American Slang

In this pioneering exploration of African American slang - a highly informal vocabulary and a significant aspect of African American English - Maciej Widawski explores patterns of form, meaning, theme and function, showing it to be a rule-governed, innovative and culturally revealing vernacular. Widawski&amp;apos;s comprehensive description is based on a large database of contextual citations from thousands of contemporary sources, including literature and the press, music, film and television. It also includes an alphabetical glossary of 1,500 representative slang expressions, defined and illustrated by 4,500 usage examples. Due to its vast size, the glossary can stand alone as a dictionary providing readers with a reliable reference of terms. Combining scholarship with user-friendliness, this book is an insightful and practical resource for students and researchers in linguistics and general readers interested in exploring lexical variation in contemporary English.</jats:p

Lexical Creation in African American Slang

Lexical creation is an important part of African American slang and involves such mechanisms as coinage, onomatopoeia, reduplication, and phoneticism. They are enormously productive and account for numerous slang expressions. Their productivity testifies to great linguistic creativity of African Americans; moreover, as in the case of phoneticism, it shows that lexical creation can be used consciously for sociocultural reasons stemming from the African American experience. This paper presents these processes in detail. Partially drawing from the book African American: A Linguistic Description (Widawski, forthcoming) and an earlier publication on African American lexicon (Widawski & Kowalczyk 2012), the presentation is based on lexical material from a sizable database of citations from contemporary African American sources collected through extensive fieldwork in the United States in recent years