Artykuły naukowe (WA)
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Item The role of informativity and frequency in shaping word durations in English and in Polish(2025) Kaźmierski, KamilOverall lexical frequency has long been known to play a role in sound change. Specifically, lexical frequency is negatively correlated with phonetic duration, and as such can be seen as a driver of diachronic reduction processes. However, recent findings suggest that it is the frequency of occurrence in a phonetic environment that favors a particular type of sound change, rather than overall lexical frequency, that shapes phonetic forms. For temporal reduction, Seyfarth (2014) shows that words that have a high frequency of occurrence in predictable contexts (low informativity words) are more temporally reduced than words that have a lower frequency of occurrence in predictable contexts (high informativity words). In this paper, I replicate Seyfarth’s (2014) finding using another corpus of unscripted English — the Nationwide Speech Project corpus (Clopper and Pisoni, 2006), as well as using a corpus of another language, Polish — the Greater Poland Spoken Corpus (Ka´zmierski et al., 2019; Kul et al., 2019). In both cases, informativity is included as a predictor of theoretical interest in mixed-effects linear regression models of word durations. Informativity, i. e. the frequency of occurrence in low-predictability contexts is shown to have a statistically significant effect on word durations in both English and Polish. Extending the analysis beyond a replication of Seyfarth (2014), a comparison of the effect of informativity and overall lexical frequency shows that the effect of informativity is somewhat weaker in Polish than in English, lending some support to the notion that morphologically rich languages are less sensitive to contextual predictability.Item Literatur als Kulturpolitisches Medium: Länderschwerpunkte der Frankfurter Buchmesse und das Auswärtige Amt(2024) Zajas, PawełThe article focuses on the Federal Foreign Office’s participation in the conceptual preparation and implementation of the foci of interest of the Frankfurt Inter- national Book Fair. The argument proceeds in three steps. First, it is claimed that the very first focus of interest on Latin American literature (1976) goes back to the 1960s when in originated in long-term goals of German development policy. Secondly, the article documents the conflicts between the Foreign Office and the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (IfA) during the preparation of the Latin America Colloquium (1976). Thirdly, the connection between the federal government’s development policy and the focal topic ‘Africa asserts its identity’ is put under scrutiny.Item Ost-West-Forum des Buchhandels. Die Internationale Warschauer Buchmesse 1958-1989(Winter Verlag, 2025) Zajas, PawełThis article presents the history of the Warsaw International Warsaw Fair from its inception to 1989. The analysis focuses on the institutional infrastructure of the fair and the dynamics of its development. Data from German archives enables a description of the literary environment and the economic and political-cultural expectations that the exhibitors from both German states had to meet. Based on Polish archival documents, the censorship mechanisms applicable at the fair and the function of the fair in the transfer of Polish literature abroad have been partially reconstructed. The final section proposes theoretical and methodological reflections on the role of book fairs in the circulation of literature during the cultural Cold War.Item Sozialistische Großfamilie(De Gruyter, 2024-11-09) Zajas, PawełThe article offers an analysis of transnational contacts as they developed in the GDR through cultural exchange within the Eastern Bloc and the international cultural policies of the socialist states. First, the archives of the German Writers Union are used to show how, paradoxically, the processes of transnational coopera- tion that began after 1956 led to a policy of isolation of the GDR. Secondly, it is de- monstrated that the cultural exchange between the GDR and the socialist partners began to recover relatively quickly from the “Kahlschlag Plenum”, which took place in the late 1960 s, and that the rapidly developing interdependencies also resulted in certain innovations in the GDR’s literary scene. Finally, it is shown how the publi- shing cooperation between socialist publishers, which has intensified since the mid- 1970s (through joint multilateral edition projects, transfer of translated literature) may be interpreted as a direct consequence of the Helsinki Final Act (1975).Item Salience of Greater Poland Polish Phonetic Variables(2024) Kaźmierski, Kamil; Baranowska, KarolinaThis paper investigates the salience of five phonological variables: pre-sonorant voicing, nasal stopping, nasal assimilation, the czy-trzy merger, and denasalization in Greater Poland Polish. We elicited both production (audio recordings) and perception (psycholinguistic study) data from 65 participants. On this basis, we categorize the five variables with regard to the stereotype - marker - indicator scale suggested by Labov (1972). Nasal stopping and the czy-trzy merger are the most salient and the most negatively judged, suggesting they are stereotypes; pre-sonorant voicing and nasal assimilation attract little attention, suggesting they are indicators; denasalization is associated with little agreement among the participants as to its acceptability and is avoided in formal speech, suggesting it is a marker, with the caveat that denasalization is not restricted to Greater Poland Polish.Item Das sozialistische Buch. Multinationale Editionsreihen im europäischen Ostblock(Harrassowitz-Verlag, 2023) Zajas, PawełThe paper analyses the cultural-political conditions of multinational edition series that appeared or were planned in countries of the European Eastern Bloc from the mid-1970s. Attention is drawn to (i) the cultural-political context of the Helsinki Final Act, which gave a decisive impetus to the increased transfer of literature within the Eastern Bloc, (ii) the “Library of Victory” realized in the years 1975–1981, and (iii) the “Library of European Poetry of the Twentieth Century” initiated in 1976. All three aspects are developed using selected text constellations and unpublished archival material and related to general methodological-theoretical problems.Item Board games for teaching English prosody to advanced EFL learners(Oxford University Press, 2019-02-28) Kacper Łodzikowski; Mateusz JekielThis exploratory study fills the gap in research on using print board games to teach English prosody to advanced EFL learners at university level. We developed three in-class print-and-play board games that accompanied three prosody-related topics in a course in English phonetics and phonology at a Polish university. For those topics, compared to topics without any board games, learners reported higher in-class engagement and obtained higher post-class quiz scores. At the end of the course, learners rated board games as equally or more useful than some of the other teaching aids. While traditional printed worksheets were still rated as the most useful teaching aid, learners expressed their preference for using extra classroom time for playing board games instead of completing extra worksheet exercises. We hope these promising results encourage teachers to experiment with implementing these and other board games in their advanced curricula.Item L2 rhythm production and musical rhythm perception in advanced learners of English(De Gruyter Mouton, 2022-06-17) Jekiel, MateuszThe aim of this research is to investigate the relation between musical aptitude and the acquisition of L2 rhythm by Polish advanced learners of English. A longitudinal study was conducted among 50 Polish students of English reading the “Please Call Stella” passage before and after an intensive two-semester accent training course supplemented by an extensive practical course in English phonetics and phonology. Participants also completed two musical hearing tests (Mandell 2009) and a survey on musical experience. Automated alignment was performed in DARLA (Reddy and Stanford 2015) and reviewed in Praat (Boersma and Weenink 2019). We compared the rhythm metrics calculated in Correlatore (Mairano and Romano 2010) before and after training and juxtaposed them against the pronunciation teachers’ results. We reported a significant difference between the scores for vocalic intervals across all rhythm metrics, indicating that participants’ produced higher vocalic variation after training, more similar to their teachers. However, we observed no significant relationship between the participants’ rhythm metric scores and their musical hearing test scores or musical experience, suggesting that musical aptitude might not play a crucial role in the L2 rhythm production in a formal academic learning environment.Item Literatur im Ministerium des Innern. Die Villa Massimo in den Debatten der bundesrepublikanischen Kulturpolitik (1957–1974)(De Gruyter, 2023-06) Zajas, PawełThe Rome Prize of the German Academy Villa Massimo is by far the most important award for German artists. It is awarded to renowned artists from the fields of fine arts, composition, literature, and architecture. Despite the award’s sig- nificant status, its position in the German literary and cultural-political system and the selection policy on which it is based remains largely under-researched. This article examines institutional and personal networks of the Rome Prize, the objecti- ves of the respective actors and the mechanisms of selection. The major aim of the study is to analyse archival material on writers who have received grants. The pe- riod of investigation begins in 1957 and ends in 1974 with the institutional reorgani- zation of the Villa Massimo.Item "Helsinki sind wir". Sozialistische Transnationalität im Literaturbetrieb der DDR(Taylor & Francis Group, 2023-06) Zajas, PawełThe forced integration of European socialist states following WWII is usually viewed as a history of political misunderstandings and genuine social failures. From the early modernism and avant-garde periods onwards, socialism was also a common experience for the whole of East and Central Europe. Since the late 1950s, the densifying network of relations among culture departments of socialist parties, culture ministries of individual countries, writer associations, publishers or literary journals has resulted in thus far unknown transnational literature circula- tion. This article analyzes the transnational links between the GDR literary system and the literatures and literary institutions of the European Eastern Bloc. The paper aims to discuss two specific research questions. First, the international literature published in the GDR is examined statistically and regarding the prevail- ing concepts and practices of transnationality. Second, the transnationally net- worked places of socialist literature planning are presented. Documents preserved in East German archives form the basis for the research.Item Musical hearing and the acquisition of foreign-language intonation(Department of English Studies, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz, Poland, 2023-03-31) Jekiel, Mateusz; Malarski, KamilThe present study seeks to determine whether superior musical hearing is correlated with successful production of second language (L2) intonation patterns. Fifty Polish speakers of English at the university level were recorded before and after an extensive two-semester accent training course in English. Participants were asked to read aloud a series of short dialogues containing different intonation patterns, complete two musical hearing tests measuring tone deafness and melody discrimination, and a survey regarding musical experience. We visually analyzed and assessed participants’ intonation by comparing their F0 contours with the model provided by their accent training teachers following ToBI (Tones and Break Indices) guidelines and compared the results with the musical hearing test scores and the survey responses. The results suggest that more accurate pitch perception can be related to more correct production of L2 intonation patterns as participants with superior musical ear produced more native-like speech contours after training, similar to those of their teachers. After dividing participants into four categories based on their musical hearing test scores and musical experience, we also observed that some students with better musical hearing test scores were able to produce more correct L2 intonation patterns. However, students with poor musical hearing test scores and no musical background also improved, suggesting that the acquisition of L2 intonation in a formal classroom setting can be successful regardless of one’s musical hearing skills.Item Musical Hearing and Musical Experience in Second Language English Vowel Acquisition(American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2021-05-11) Jekiel, Mateusz; Malarski, KamilPurpose: Former studies suggested that music perception can help produce certain accentual features in the first and second language (L2), such as intonational contours. What was missing in many of these studies was the identification of the exact relationship between specific music perception skills and the production of different accentual features in a foreign language. Our aim was to verify whether empirically tested musical hearing skills can be related to the acquisition of English vowels by learners of English as an L2 before and after a formal accent training course. Method: Fifty adult Polish speakers of L2 English were tested before and after a two-semester accent training in order to observe the effect of musical hearing on the acquisition of English vowels. Their L2 English vowel formant contours produced in consonant–vowel–consonant context were compared with the target General British vowels produced by their pronunciation teachers. We juxtaposed these results with their musical hearing test scores and self-reported musical experience to observe a possible relationship between successful L2 vowel acquisition and musical aptitude. Results: Preexisting rhythmic memory was reported as a significant predictor before training, while musical experience was reported as a significant factor in the production of more native-like L2 vowels after training. We also observed that not all vowels were equally acquired or affected by musical hearing or musical experience. The strongest estimate we observed was the closeness to model before training, suggesting that learners who already managed to acquire some features of a native-like accent were also more successful after training. Conclusions: Our results are revealing in two aspects. First, the learners' former proficiency in L2 pronunciation is the most robust predictor in acquiring a native-like accent. Second, there is a potential relationship between rhythmic memory and L2 vowel acquisition before training, as well as years of musical experience after training, suggesting that specific musical skills and music practice can be an asset in learning a foreign language accent.Item Hans Joachim Schädlich und die niederländische Lyrik Übersetzungen im verlegerischen Feld der DDR(De Gruyter, 2021) Zajas, PawełAbstract: The paper reveals the backstage of a modern Dutch poetry anthology Gedichte aus Belgien und den Niederlanden (1977), published by an East-German publisher Volk & Welt. An analysis of the surviving correspondence, publishing reviews, and peritexts (afterwords) has shown the mechanisms of transfer in lite- rary translation to the GDR. This historical-literary case study illustrates the ways in which the political and cultural function of anthologies enabled the introducti- on of formal/content innovations into the East German literary system.Item Politisches mit Moralischem untrennbar verknuepft. Zur Polenpolitik des Merkur (1947-1978)(Harrassowitz, 2021) Zajas, PawełThe paper analyses literary transfer of Polish literature to the journal Merkur: Deutsche Zeitschrift für europäisches Denken. The editorial archives of Merkur for the years 1947–1978 are stored in Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach. This primary source enables an exploration of connections between the selection of literary translations and West German debates on the relationships be- tween politics and literature. The analysis of the archival material pertaining to Polish literature is placed in a comparative context. The article proposes a detailed matrix of questions allowing a systematic description of journal poetics based on editorial archives. These include, among others, the selection and composition of individual texts, relationships between the texts proper and paratexts, as well as connections between the general programme of the journal and the structure of individual issues.Item Thematic Roles in Image Schemas: A Missing Link Between Mind and Language(2022) Szwedek, AleksanderAs early as 1968, Fillmore suggested that deep cases could be sets “of universal, presumably innate, concepts” human beings form to describe reality. Langacker’s (1991) role archetypes highlight the “primal status and nonlinguistic origin” of Thematic roles. I argue that Thematic roles have their “nonlinguistic” origin in image schemas and link the image schemas with language structures. The thesis is based on my description of the object schema (Szwedek, 2018), the definition of the image schema (Szwedek, 2019), and major works on Thematic roles. The object schema is fundamental in that all physical objects are experienceable by the senses (Szwedek, 2011, 2018). In contrast to relational schemas, it is also conceptually independent, while “[r]elations are conceptually dependent, i.e. one cannot conceptualize interconnections without conceptualizing the entities they interconnect” (Langacker, 1987). I posit that Thematic roles are a link between image schemas (mind) and language, constituting a stable scaffolding for various syntactic structures.Item Polish deadjectival nouns as nominalized adverbs(2021) Wiland, BartoszThe traditional description of Polish abstract nouns such as lekkość ‘lightness’ or jasność ‘brightness’ holds that they are formed with an adjectival root and the nominalizing suffix -ość. The paper considers an alternative analysis where -o-ść is a complex marker and such nominals go through an adverbial stage in their formation, rendering them [[[ A ] Adv ] N ] structures, a possibility suggested by the fact that the -o itself is an ad- verbial marker.Item Świnka Peppa w przedszkolu. Użycie serialu dla dzieci w nauczaniu języka angielskiego.(2021) Scheffler, Paweł; Domińska, AnnaDużym wyzwaniem w nauczaniu języka obcego w przedszkolu jest zapewnienie dzieciom szerokiego kontaktu z naturalnym językiem, stymulującego je do spontanicznego używania tego języka. W artykule pokazujemy, że może się do tego przyczynić wykorzystanie na zajęciach popularnego, brytyjskiego serialu animowanego Świnka Peppa.Item Word-final / ɔ̃/ in Greater Poland Polish: A Cumulative Context Effect?(2020-12-01) Kaźmierski, Kamil; Szlandrowicz, MartaAn empirical corpus-based study of the likelihood of realizing the Polish nasal vowel /ɔ̃/ word-finally as [ɔm] (i.e. of 'nasal stopping') is presented. The goal was to verify whether the phenomenon exhibits a cumulative context effect, with words typically occurring in an environment favoring a particular phonetic variant showing higher rates of that variant regardless of environment. The results show that nasal stopping is more likely before stop-initial words than before words beginning in other sounds, if there is no intervening pause. Results with regard to the hypothesis that words typically followed by stops will show higher likelihood of nasal stopping, however, remain inconclusive.Item Word-final / ɔ̃/ in Greater Poland Polish: A Cumulative Context Effect?(2020) Kaźmierski, Kamil; Szlandrowicz, MartaAn empirical corpus-based study of the likelihood of realizing the Polish nasal vowel /ɔ̃/ word-finally as [ɔm] (i.e. of 'nasal stopping') is presented. The goal was to verify whether the phenomenon exhibits a cumulative context effect, with words typically occurring in an environment favoring a particular phonetic variant showing higher rates of that variant regardless of environment. The results show that nasal stopping is more likely before stop-initial words than before words beginning in other sounds, if there is no intervening pause. Results with regard to the hypothesis that words typically followed by stops will show higher likelihood of nasal stopping, however, remain inconclusive.Item On the role of perception in the acquisition of the peach - pitch contrast by Polish learners of English(Department of English and American Studies (University of Vienna), 2009) Kaźmierski, Kamil