Internationalisation processes in modern Polish: word-formation phenomena

Abstract

In this paper I present the results of the DiaGest Research Group studies on multimodal interpersonal communication (interpersonal verbal and nonverbal communication behaviours). For the purpose of this paper I have analysed word-formation structures which occur in the DiaGest Research Group database (this database collects spoken Polish utterances), in search for derivatives with foreign, non-Polish components (e.g. formative stems or suffixes). However, I found only a few derivatives with the foreign component: scarcely 4,5% of whole word-formation collection in the DiaGest’s database. This result suggests that the internationalisation processes in modern Polish (in spoken Polish), particularly in the word-formation system, described by Waszakowa (2005), and also to some extent Jadacka (2001), are not as advanced as might appear from these two studies.

These facts point to the need of a fresh reconsideration of the theoretic model of modern Polish word-formation system, a model which would include spoken Polish.