Typologies of Media Genres — An Overview of Opinions

The text constitutes an overview and arranges various models of classification of media genres. The author depicts understanding of the notion of media genre and systematizes knowledge on various typologies (division into informative and journalistic genres, border genres, popular genres or division of genres based on the medium). She also presents the distinction of the genre and the media format. At the same time, the author describes two views on the genres in intra-genre and inter-genre plane, based on the two methodologies of Maria Wojtak and Bożena Witosz. The linguistic genology provides an overview of genre classification with multidimensional, open and blurred patterns of their assignment. The author is convinced that in order to analyse media texts, one should have historical knowledge on clear divisions of the genres and a methodological perspective which would allow comprehension of the complex genological specifics.

Key words: genre, media genre, genre typologies, linguistic genology

About the Captions under Visual Materials from a Media Linguistic Perspective – An Attempt of a Typology Based on Polish and German Daily Newspapers

The captions under visual materials located in the press fit into a category, which, against the background of numerous works devoted to the variant of language used by the press, seems to be almost completely unnoticed by researchers of the language used in media. One can ask oneself at this point the question of whether this constitutes a wilful lack of attention by media linguists convinced of the sterility of captions as a potential area of study or is actually a result of a peculiar oversight. Based on the assumption that captions posted by media broadcasters under the photographs can comprise an interesting field of scientific exploration, an attempt will be made of their systematization. The captions coming from a total of six Polish-German newspapers will serve as the basis for the research material.

Key words: captions, paratext, press, typology

Redundancy as Camouflage (Based on Media Interviews with Politicians)

Media interviews with politicians are messages which shape the views of the audience regarding the phenomena in the world and affect the hierarchy of importance in broadcasts. An analysis of interviews with politicians reveals that the communication purposes of the participants are often divergent and the interlocutors themselves consider on another to be opponents. The rejection of the very idea of conversation as a setting for an agreement sets a new goal: victory, an interlocutor’s particular benefit. These communication conditions provide a setting where redundancy works perfectly as camouflage. The broadcaster in the media, who cares about achieving the implicit purpose of communication, may treat redundancy as a mask – consciously hiding behind multiplicity makes the recipient bear the burden of responsibility for misunderstanding the message or treat what is obtained explicitly from the broadcaster as an indicator to look for meanings. In the paper, two main ranges were distinguished: party messages and universal phrases, indirectly defining the basic tasks of redundancy. The former suggest ways politicians reply to the journalists’ questions; the latter serve to provide statements oscillating around the issue – their generality, predictability and non‑controversiality makes them fit in almost any topic and political option.

Key words: redundancy, repetition, excursiveness, political interview, media

Communicating Emotions in Radio Night Time Talk Shows in the Paradigm of Conversational Analysis

Grażyna Stachyra raises the question of night-time radio talk shows, where partners in conversation express their emotions. This results in complex prosody pattern with pauses, dynamic intonation and accentuated certain parts of conversation both by the radio presenter and the listener. To explain these interactions the author employs theoretical concept of ‘vocal gesture’ by G.H. Mead. To indicate the prosody system which shapes the conversation the Conversation Analysis method was applied. The method emphasizes the social dimension of talk as an interaction, but instead of semantics it underlines the sequence order of speech and gestures. Systematic record of talk shows allowed to describe the conversation ‘picture’ and reveal para-lingual dimensions of social communication in the radio.

Key words: Conversation Analysis, radio talk, elements of speech prosody, vocal gesture, emotions’ expression

Advertising vs. Corporate Identity – The Role of Advertising in the Corporate Identity Process

In this article I present the idea of corporate identity in reference to the environment of organization. The focal point of this article is about the relation between advertising and corporate image. The corporate image is being understand as a result of general communication practice inside and outside of organization. It is not the aim of corporate communication, but it is a side effect of corporate communication.

Key words: corporate identity, identity, corporate image, advertising, communication design

Which Model of Grammar is Psychologically Real? Selected Models of Linguistic on the Background of Experimental Results

The article is reconnaissance. The author seeks to answer the question: which model of grammar is psychologically real? The content of the paper focuses on issues relating to the hypothesis of grammar: phrase structures grammar and dependency grammar. In close relationship with the analyzed problem author make some experiments. On this basis, the author draws own conclusions.

Key words: hypothesis linguistic, psychological reality, epistemological control, laboratory experiment

Analysis of Semantic Changes on the Example of the Word kwiat [‘flower’]

The article is mainly concerned with issues related to semantic changes in the Polish language. The lexeme kwiat (eng. flower) have been described based on material from historical and modern Polish dictionaries. The word kwiat has been in the Polish language since the 15th century, initially meaning ‘colored stain’. The first definition transformed into a botanical meaning (kwiat as a plant or part of a plant). The pre-Slavic botanical meaning of the word *cvětъ gave rise to the next definitions, which have formed over the years. Kwiat means among others: ‘best thing’, ‘best part of something’, ‘youth’, ‘purity, innocence’, ‘menstruation’, ‘pustules’. However, not all of these meanings have endured to the present time. Nowadays, the potted plant is called kwiat.

Key words: semantics, semantics transformations, historical dictionaries, the history of Polish language

Tłumaczenie artykułu Metatekst – w opisie teoriotekstowym, stylistycznym i pragmalingwistycznym, który ukazał się w: Witosz B., red.: Stylistyka a pragmatyka. Katowice 2001, s. 72–81.