Poglish
Encyclopedia
Poglish, Polglish or Ponglish (in Polish
, often rendered "Poglisz"), a portmanteau word combining the words "Polish
" and "English
," designates the product of mixing Polish-
and English-language
elements (morpheme
s, word
s, grammatical structure
s, syntactic element
s, idiom
s, etc.) within a single speech production, or the use of "false friends" and of cognate
words in senses that have diverged from those of the common etymological root.
Such combining or confusion of Polish and English elements, when it occurs within a single word
, term
or phrase
(e.g., in a hybrid word
), may, inadvertently or deliberately, produce a neologism.
Poglish is a common (to greater or lesser degree, almost unavoidable) phenomenon among persons bilingual in Polish and English, and its avoidance requires considerable effort and attention. Poglish is a manifestation of a broader phenomenon, that of language interference.
As is the case with the mixing of other language pairs, the results of Poglish speech (oral or written) may sometimes be confusing, amusing or embarrassing.
Variant names for this linguistic melange include "Polglish", "Pinglish" and "Ponglish". A term sometimes used by native Polish-speakers is "Half na pół" ("Half-and-half").
, "metaphrase
" also referred to as "formal equivalence
," "literal translation
," or "word-for-word translation" must be used with great care especially in relation to idiom
s. Madeleine Masson
, in her biography of the Polish
World War II
S.O.E. agent Krystyna Skarbek
, quotes her as speaking of "lying on the sun" and astutely surmises that this is "possibly a direct translation
from the Polish." Indeed, the Polish idiom
"leżeć na słońcu" ("to lie on the sun", that is, sunbathe) is, if anything, only marginally less absurd than its English
equivalent
, "to lie in the sun."
substitutions made by Polonia
members of the Polish
diaspora
living outside Poland are attributable not to mis-metaphrase but to confusion of similar-appearing word
s (false cognate
s and "false friend
s") which otherwise do not share, respectively, a common etymology
or a common meaning. Thus some Poles living in Anglophone
countries, when speaking of "cashing a check," will erroneously say "kasować czek" ("to cancel a check") rather than the correct "realizować czek" ("to cash a check").
s do have precise metaphrastic equivalent
s in English, traceable to the fact that both these Indo-European languages
have been calque
d since the Middle Ages
on the same Latin
roots.
is the Polish term for members of an expatriate
Polish community) speak Poglish on a daily basis, especially those who have lived there a long time. The most common phenomenon is the Polonization
of English words. Instead of saying (in English), "A cop gave me a ticket on the highway," or (in standard Polish), "Policjant dał mi mandat na autostradzie," a Polonian might say (in Poglish), "Kap dał mi tiketa na hajłeju." A Polonian attempting to speak this kind of Polish-English melange in Poland would have difficulty making himself understood.
' novel, A Clockwork Orange
, has been translated in Poland by Robert Stiller
into two versions: one rendered from the book's original English-Russian melange into a Polish-Russian melange as Mechaniczna pomarańcza, wersja R (A Mechanical Orange, version R); the other, into a Polish-English melange as Nakręcana pomarańcza, wersja A ["A" standing for the Polish word for "English"] (A Wind-Up Orange, version A). The latter, Polish-English version makes a fairly convincing Poglish text.
BBC Look North (East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire)
Television produced a report on Poglish in Boston, Lincolnshire
, which has a large Polish population. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7500077.stm
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, often rendered "Poglisz"), a portmanteau word combining the words "Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
" and "English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
," designates the product of mixing Polish-
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
and English-language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
elements (morpheme
Morpheme
In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...
s, word
Word
In language, a word is the smallest free form that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content . This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but will not necessarily stand on its own...
s, grammatical structure
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
s, syntactic element
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
s, idiom
Idiom
Idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made...
s, etc.) within a single speech production, or the use of "false friends" and of cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
words in senses that have diverged from those of the common etymological root.
Such combining or confusion of Polish and English elements, when it occurs within a single word
Word
In language, a word is the smallest free form that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content . This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but will not necessarily stand on its own...
, term
Terminology
Terminology is the study of terms and their use. Terms are words and compound words that in specific contexts are given specific meanings, meanings that may deviate from the meaning the same words have in other contexts and in everyday language. The discipline Terminology studies among other...
or phrase
Phrase
In everyday speech, a phrase may refer to any group of words. In linguistics, a phrase is a group of words which form a constituent and so function as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. A phrase is lower on the grammatical hierarchy than a clause....
(e.g., in a hybrid word
Hybrid word
A hybrid word is a word which etymologically has one part derived from one language and another part derived from a different language.-Common hybrids:The most common form of hybrid word in English is one which combines etymologically Latin and Greek parts...
), may, inadvertently or deliberately, produce a neologism.
Poglish is a common (to greater or lesser degree, almost unavoidable) phenomenon among persons bilingual in Polish and English, and its avoidance requires considerable effort and attention. Poglish is a manifestation of a broader phenomenon, that of language interference.
As is the case with the mixing of other language pairs, the results of Poglish speech (oral or written) may sometimes be confusing, amusing or embarrassing.
Variant names for this linguistic melange include "Polglish", "Pinglish" and "Ponglish". A term sometimes used by native Polish-speakers is "Half na pół" ("Half-and-half").
Mis-metaphrase
One of the two chief approaches to translationTranslation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
, "metaphrase
Metaphrase
Metaphrase is a translation term referring to literal translation, i.e., "word by word and line by line" translation. In everyday usage, metaphrase means literalism; however, metaphrase is also the translation of poetry into prose...
" also referred to as "formal equivalence
Dynamic and formal equivalence
In Bible translation dynamic equivalence and formal equivalence are two approaches to translation. The terms are not found in general linguistics or translation theory but were coined by Eugene Nida...
," "literal translation
Literal translation
Literal translation, or direct translation, is the rendering of text from one language to another "word-for-word" rather than conveying the sense of the original...
," or "word-for-word translation" must be used with great care especially in relation to idiom
Idiom
Idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made...
s. Madeleine Masson
Madeleine Masson
Madeleine Masson was a South African-born English-language author of plays, film scripts, novels, memoirs and biographies.-Life:...
, in her biography of the Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
S.O.E. agent Krystyna Skarbek
Krystyna Skarbek
Krystyna Skarbek, GM, OBE, Croix de guerre was a Polish Special Operations Executive agent. She became celebrated especially for her daring exploits in intelligence and irregular-warfare missions in Nazi-occupied Poland and France....
, quotes her as speaking of "lying on the sun" and astutely surmises that this is "possibly a direct translation
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
from the Polish." Indeed, the Polish idiom
Idiom
Idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made...
"leżeć na słońcu" ("to lie on the sun", that is, sunbathe) is, if anything, only marginally less absurd than its English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
equivalent
Dynamic and formal equivalence
In Bible translation dynamic equivalence and formal equivalence are two approaches to translation. The terms are not found in general linguistics or translation theory but were coined by Eugene Nida...
, "to lie in the sun."
"False friends"
Some erroneous lexemicLexeme
A lexeme is an abstract unit of morphological analysis in linguistics, that roughly corresponds to a set of forms taken by a single word. For example, in the English language, run, runs, ran and running are forms of the same lexeme, conventionally written as RUN...
substitutions made by Polonia
Polonia
The Polish diaspora refers to people of Polish origin who live outside Poland. The Polish diaspora is also known in modern Polish language as Polonia, which is the name for Poland in Latin and in many other Romance languages....
members of the Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
diaspora
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
living outside Poland are attributable not to mis-metaphrase but to confusion of similar-appearing word
Word
In language, a word is the smallest free form that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content . This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but will not necessarily stand on its own...
s (false cognate
False cognate
False cognates are pairs of words in the same or different languages that are similar in form and meaning but have different roots. That is, they appear to be, or are sometimes considered, cognates, when in fact they are not....
s and "false friend
False friend
False friends are pairs of words or phrases in two languages or dialects that look or sound similar, but differ in meaning....
s") which otherwise do not share, respectively, a common etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
or a common meaning. Thus some Poles living in Anglophone
English-speaking world
The English-speaking world consists of those countries or regions that use the English language to one degree or another. For more information, please see:Lists:* List of countries by English-speaking population...
countries, when speaking of "cashing a check," will erroneously say "kasować czek" ("to cancel a check") rather than the correct "realizować czek" ("to cash a check").
Latin calques
In fact, a remarkably high proportion of Polish termTerminology
Terminology is the study of terms and their use. Terms are words and compound words that in specific contexts are given specific meanings, meanings that may deviate from the meaning the same words have in other contexts and in everyday language. The discipline Terminology studies among other...
s do have precise metaphrastic equivalent
Dynamic and formal equivalence
In Bible translation dynamic equivalence and formal equivalence are two approaches to translation. The terms are not found in general linguistics or translation theory but were coined by Eugene Nida...
s in English, traceable to the fact that both these Indo-European languages
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
have been calque
Calque
In linguistics, a calque or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word or root-for-root translation.-Calque:...
d since the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
on the same Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
roots.
"Chicago Polish"
Some Chicago Polonia (PoloniaPolonia
The Polish diaspora refers to people of Polish origin who live outside Poland. The Polish diaspora is also known in modern Polish language as Polonia, which is the name for Poland in Latin and in many other Romance languages....
is the Polish term for members of an expatriate
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
Polish community) speak Poglish on a daily basis, especially those who have lived there a long time. The most common phenomenon is the Polonization
Polonization
Polonization was the acquisition or imposition of elements of Polish culture, in particular, Polish language, as experienced in some historic periods by non-Polish populations of territories controlled or substantially influenced by Poland...
of English words. Instead of saying (in English), "A cop gave me a ticket on the highway," or (in standard Polish), "Policjant dał mi mandat na autostradzie," a Polonian might say (in Poglish), "Kap dał mi tiketa na hajłeju." A Polonian attempting to speak this kind of Polish-English melange in Poland would have difficulty making himself understood.
In popular culture
Anthony BurgessAnthony Burgess
John Burgess Wilson – who published under the pen name Anthony Burgess – was an English author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic. The dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange is Burgess's most famous novel, though he dismissed it as one of his lesser works...
' novel, A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange is a 1962 dystopian novella by Anthony Burgess. The novel contains an experiment in language: the characters often use an argot called "Nadsat", derived from Russian....
, has been translated in Poland by Robert Stiller
Robert Stiller
Robert Reuven Stiller is a Polish polyglot, writer, poet, translator and editor.-Life :Stiller was born in Warsaw, Poland, to Polish parents and spent his early childhood in what is now Belarus...
into two versions: one rendered from the book's original English-Russian melange into a Polish-Russian melange as Mechaniczna pomarańcza, wersja R (A Mechanical Orange, version R); the other, into a Polish-English melange as Nakręcana pomarańcza, wersja A ["A" standing for the Polish word for "English"] (A Wind-Up Orange, version A). The latter, Polish-English version makes a fairly convincing Poglish text.
BBC Look North (East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire)
BBC Look North (East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire)
BBC Look North is the BBC's regional TV news service for East Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, north Norfolk and northeast Cambridgeshire produced by BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire...
Television produced a report on Poglish in Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...
, which has a large Polish population. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7500077.stm
See also
- Bilingualism
- Code-switchingCode-switchingIn linguistics, code-switching is the concurrent use of more than one language, or language variety, in conversation. Multilinguals—people who speak more than one language—sometimes use elements of multiple languages in conversing with each other...
- False friends
- Hybrid wordHybrid wordA hybrid word is a word which etymologically has one part derived from one language and another part derived from a different language.-Common hybrids:The most common form of hybrid word in English is one which combines etymologically Latin and Greek parts...
- Language contactLanguage contactLanguage contact occurs when two or more languages or varieties interact. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics.Multilingualism has likely been common throughout much of human history, and today most people in the world are multilingual...
- Language interferenceLanguage interferenceLanguage transfer refers to speakers or writers applying knowledge from their native language to a second language...
- Mixed languageMixed languageA mixed language is a language that arises through the fusion of two source languages, normally in situations of thorough bilingualism, so that it is not possible to classify the resulting language as belonging to either of the language families that were its source...
- Language transfer