Publications

Publication details [#10385]

Schultze, Brigitte and Elzbieta Tabakowska. 1992. The Polish discourse marker "to" in Gombrowicz's Slub (The Marriage) and in its English, German, French and Czech translations: cognitive linguistics and poetics of the theatre text. Mainz: Liber. 66 pp.
Publication type
Monograph
Publication language
English
Source language
Target language
Person as a subject
Title as subject
Main ISBN
3-88308-059-4

Abstract

The Polish optional discourse marker "to" has always been regarded as resisting semantization. In this study, based on more than one hundred occurences of "to" in Witold Gombrowicz's three-act play Slub (The Marriage), the authors propose for the first time a systematic description of the semanto-functional variants and dimensions of this elusive item. In their approach, the authors combine description based on the presuppositions and methods of cognitive linguistics with historical analysis and descriptive analysis of literary and theatrical translation. The discourse marker, which is considered to form a set of "extensions" of the central deictic "to" (that, this), is presented as a number of main categories and subcategories. It is also discussed within the context of Gombrowicz's literary work: in connection with the author's philosophy of language, his personal philosophy, anthropology, and his theatre. The study shows a way of handling those optional particles which stand for a whole set of semanto-functional variants. It reveals Gombrowicz as an author who thinks in terms of processes rather than in terms of result and achievement.
Source : Publisher information