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1.CulturalinfluenceontheusageofdiminutivesbytheEnglishandthePoles
anEnglishmandoesnotliketocommithimselfbybeingtooenthusiasticor
toodistressed,andhislanguageaccordinglygrowssober,toosoberperhaps,
andevenbarrenwhentheobjectistoexpressemotions.Tereisinthistrait
acuriousmixtureofsomethingpraiseworthy,thedesiretobestrictlytrue
withoutexaggeratinganythingorpromisingmorethanyoucanperform,and
ontheotherhandofsomethingblameworthy,theideathatitisafected,or
childishandefeminate,togiveventtoone’sfeelings,andthefearofappearing
ridiculousbyshowingstrongemotions.
Possiblythisisthereasonforusingfewdiminutivesineverydayconversations,
eveniftheyrefertosmallchildren.AsFox(2005:361)observesutheEnglishas
aruledonotgoinfortoomuchexcitedgoo-ingandcoo-ingoverinfants”.She
addsthatuasaculturewedonotseemtovaluechildrenashighlyasothercultures
do”1(Fox2005:361).
1.4.2TecollectivisticcultureofPolesasadeterminant
ofrichdiminutivederivationintheirlanguage
Polishculture,ontheotherhand,isperceivedascollectivisticone(kultura
wspólnotowa),inwhichpeopleareintegratedintotheirin-groupswhichpro-
tecttheminreturnforloyalty(Lewicka2005:21;Linde-Usiekniewicz2007:29;
Bogdanowska-Jakubowska2010:154,178-179;seealsoLubecka2000).According
toHofstedeetal.(2010:92),collectivismreferstousocietiesinwhichpeoplefrom
birthonwardareintegratedintostrong,cohesivein-groups,whichthroughout
people’slifetimecontinuetoprotecttheminexchangeforunquestioningloy-
alty”.Nevertheless,thecharacterofPolishsocietynowadaysishardtodefine,as
Polandisundergoingsignificantsocial,economic,andculturaltransformations
(Biel2007:514;Bogdanowska-Jakubowska2010:179-181).InglehartandWelzel
(2000:22)writethatutherewasagradualintergenerationalshiftowardgrow-
ingemphasisonautonomyandself-expressionamongthepublicsofPoland[ł]
duringthedecadesbefore1989”2.
AsMarcjanik(2001:79)notices,however,socio-politicaltransformationsaf-
ter1989didnotinfluencePolishverbaletiquetteinasignificantway,since,irre-
spectiveofthesechanges,Polesstillseemtoexternalisetheirfeelings.According
toWierzbicka(1999:258),uPolishcultureencouragesuninhibitedexpressionof
1CulturessuchasPolish(Wierzbicka1990:77;Lipniacka2011:27).
2Duetothesechanges,nowadaysPolishculturebecomesmoreindividualisticthancollec-
tivistic,as,accordingtoHofstede,HofstedeandMinkov(2010:95-96),individualismindexfor
Polandin2010was60(whereasforGreatBritainitwas89).