Characteristic of the lexis of Polish diaspora in Brazil on the basis of selected examples

Abstract

The largest centre of the Polish diaspora in Brazil is located in Curitiba in the state of Paraná. The descendants of Poles who arrived there at the end of the 19th century still use the Polish language in 5th and 6th generation of immigrants, which is an extremely interesting phenomenon because research shows that the language of immigrants dies out in 2nd or 3rd generation. The paper is intended to present a brief description of the vocabulary of the Polish diaspora in Brazil based on the material collected during a month-long stay in Curitiba. Selected examples of borrowings, dialectisms, neologisms and Polish-Portuguese hybrids will be discussed and analysed.