Codification of military language – selected linguistic postulates published in the monthly ,,Bellona”

Abstract

The aim of the article is to provide an insight into the codification of Polish military language, which occurred during interwar period. In order to describe how this process was being completed, ,,Bellona”, the army-related monthly publishing articles on normativization of military jargon, was analyzed. Special focus was given to commentaries on the abovementioned process, which were expressed by officers and linguists as well as by laymen, who were interested in this topic but did not serve in the army. These articles are an incredibly valuable source of information on how the codification of Polish military language was performed. Moreover, they reflect deep understanding of how this professional variety of Polish was perceived by individuals representing various social groups. The article provides an overview the most frequent linguistic postulates related to the codification of Polish military language, including the attitude towards loan-words and native lexemes, normativization, use of archaic and obsolete words in the military jargon as well as linguistic patterns, clarity and accuracy of lexemes, consistent use of established words and economy of military language. All of the abovementioned postulates are compared with the linguistic tendencies of interwar period to depict similarities and discrepancies between the military jargon and professional varieties of Polish.