The folk image of a human preserved in the dialectal plant names. An overview of the issues.

  • Ilona Kulak
Keywords: dialectology, ethnolinguistics, linguistic worldview, image of a human, names of plants, dialect of Podhale region

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present the folk image of a human based on the plant names used by Gorals from the north-west part of the Podhale region. The material was gathered through informal interviews with inhabitants of nine villages conducted between 2016 and 2017. The first part of the text includes a detailed account of the methodological approach employed. Additionally, the research problems arising from the specificity of the collected material are presented. The second part of the article discusses the features of the rural society which are indirectly preserved in the folk names of plants, e.g. anthropocentrism, aristocratism, a binary view of reality, sensory perception of the world, instrumental rationality, attachment to Catholicism, magical beliefs.

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