Polish colloquial speech according to Bulgarian

Abstract

This article revolves around some peculiarities of Polish colloquial speech from the perspective of a speaker of Bulgarian. Its aim is to reveal the most peculiar features of Polish colloquial language as seen by a foreign observer. These features are depicted through a comparison between the norms of colloquialisms in Polish and Bulgarian. To a Bulgarian, Polish colloquial verbal communication can be a source of surprise as the use of language in Polish and Bulgarian tends to differ significantly. These differences refer to various aspects of the Polish language and linguistic behaviour as displayed by Poles. In general, to a Bulgarian Polish language is a distinct representation of an archaic stage of Slavic languages, more polite, with full and predictable dialogues and maintain a distance between the interlocutors in expressing social relations. The language spoken by Poles tends to socialize the object of speech. A Bulgarian native speaker is often astonished by the principle of “the living past” in Polish (referring to somebody with an obsolete title) as well as the principle of “raising the professional status” (referring to or speaking about people in a way raising their position above the actual professional hierarchy). A speaker of Bulgarian spots significant differences in the realm of the linguistic worldview, e.g. Polish-Bulgarian asymmetries in the process of metaphorisation.