Following G. Bellmann, the article divides the German loanwords in Czech and Slovak roughly into two groups, namely those lexical units that represent a basic code extension (= type A) and those that are used immediately after adoption as (approximately) synonymous lexical duplicates of already existing designations (= type B). While type A words have the best chances of lasting integration, type B words elicit a competitive situation between old and new designations, which can result in substitution, negative integration or semantic diversification. Furthermore, the paper deals with idiosyncrasies of German loanword integration such as the expressiveness of German loanwords in Czech and Slovak and the emotional attitude towards German loanwords in those languages. The article also discusses the causality of displacement and substitution of German loanwords, subsequently elaborates on the loss of terms and realities, the change in domain-specific language use, the role of language awareness and language culture, the loss of immediate contact areas as well as the question of prestige, and concludes with an outlook on future developments.

The aim of this paper is to analyse various animal-specifi c complex lexical units together with patterns that can be held responsible for their underlying conceptual structure. Many examples of the data investigated in the paper seem to represent compounds as they are traditionally understood in the literature of the subject (see, among others, Bauer 2003; Katamba and Stonham 2006; Lieber and Štekauer 2009; Fàbregas and Scalise 2012; Bauer et al. 2013); however, others do not meet the basic criteria for compoundhood as postulated by, for example, Altakhaineh (2016). In my research I use the term animal-specifi c complex lexical units with reference to all animal-related composite expressions being the result of the working of metaphor-metonymy interaction.

The author states that there are in our vocabulary three, and only three, classes of semantic units: a) predicates, i.e. generic concepts – the result of our conceptualization of the world; they represent more than 90% of the vocabulary; b) operators of reference – a small, almost closed set bounding predicates to their concrete denotates; c) proper names, which are by defi nition referentially bound and are object of research of a specialized linguistic discipline. Thus, the main tasks of our grammar are (1) to defi ne and to describe the scope of the grammaticalization in the language in question and (2) to present the semantic classification of predicates, the description of their – bound and/or free – functioning in the text included.

The aim of the article is an attempt to trace the fate of several appellatives grouped in the lexical field around the hyperonym świnia ʽpig, swine’ (wieprz ʽhog’, knur/kiernoz ʽboar’ and prosię ʽpiglet’) as the motivation of many names in Polish onymy, mainly in anthroponymy and toponymy. My research has been conducted along the lines of historical anthropology. Proper names in this approach play an important role in the reconstruction of the past. The field of interest of this article includes mainly names belonging to the old onymic layer. Proper names arise from the lexicon of a given language, which is why my analysis is based on lexical and semantic methodology. My point of departure is the meaning (often reconstructed) of appellative lexical units, including their semantic modifications in the proprial layer. I interpret proper names on the basis of findings regarding their origin and motivation. The first names motivated by the lexeme świnia were associated with the economic organization of the Piast state. In the article I present the history of their creation. I go on to discuss the other lexemes which became the basis of many names belonging to different naming categories. The presence of etymons of interest to us in so many proper names during the Middle Ages allows us to draw the conclusion that pigs played an extremely important role in the lives of our ancestors.

The text is an overview of the first volume of the lexical atlas of the Russian folk dialects. It presents modern cartographic methods used in the volume and types of maps contained therein. In order to better present the volume, one exemplary map is analysed, indicating its advantages and drawbacks. In conclusion the richness of the Russian dialectal lexical material, which was precisely geographically located, is stressed. This is the biggest merit of the atlas.

The article shows that during the forming of grammatical category of gender in Indo-European languages, names of non-living objects and names of those animals whose sex is unimportant for humans were receiving grammatical meanings of gender on the basis of similarity or dissimilarity of designated objects with males or females. Such grammatical metaphors were based on the ideas of different peoples about some minor characteristics of persons of different sex, such as the difference between men and women with higher activity, greater size, strength and independence. By now, the metaphorical motivation of category of gender in the Russian language has survived only in certain nouns. These nouns are interrogative pronouns кто (masc.) ʻwhoʼ and что (neut.) ʻwhatʼ, paired nouns-synonyms, e. g. конь (masc.) ʻstrong horseʼ – лошадь (fem.) ʻordinary horseʼ, generic versions of nouns, e. g. ворон (masc.) ʻravenʼ – ворона (fem.) ʻcrowʼ, and nouns-occasionalisms used in speech oriented to expressiveness and creativity.

According to the psycho-lexical approach in the taxonomy of individual differences, those interpersonal differences, which are the most important for social functioning of individual, have been encoded into natural languages. Therefore by analyzing the lexicons of interpersonal differences, it is possible to identify structures of their descriptions. Application of the psycho-lexical approach in the field of psychology of individual differences lead to obtaining the relatively high consistency regarding scientific taxonomy of personality traits. Also models developed on this basis meet the most important criteria of goodness of the psychological structural models. As a result, the accumulation of knowledge about person’s psychological functioning have been intensified. The aim of the article is to present the specificity of lexical studies and their taxonomical potential for social sciences, as well as key threats and limitations, based on experience of previous psycho-lexical research.

The discussed and reviewed book may be considered not merely a collection of word studies, but also a monograph dealing with lexical language contacts in the Polish-Eastern Slavic linguistic borderland. The authors examine more than 30 dialect words against the background of imposing Polish and East Slavic linguistic material, utilise the extensive subject literature, and apply modern dialectological research and language contact theory methods. Their main academic achievements include a precise delineation of the extent of East Slavic lexical borrowings in Polish dialect and a convincing verification of the criteria used to determine them. These efforts also allowed them to discover relict Polish-East Slavic references, previously considered borrowings from Ruthenian languages, in the examined lexical material. The publication, due to its advantages in material, theory and methodology, should serve as a model of research on dialectal linguistic borderlands for Slavic language studies. I believe that the book of Dorota Krystyna Rembiszewska and Janusz Siatkowski should deserves to be rated highly.

The article is devoted to personal nouns with suffi x -ant in Polish and Belarusian. The lexical and semantic analysis of the studied group of words showed that in both languages they belong to the literary variety of language, however, numerous nouns represent rare vocabulary, sometimes characterized stylistically. The overwhelming majority of names defi nes the names of active contractors of activities, less often – passive contractors, and least frequently – names of owners. In addition, the nomina masculina with suffi x -ant belong to the attributive names, defi ning people on the basis of their character traits, tendencies, and often vices. The s tudied lexis include archaic or colloquial derivatives. Among the specialist words, there were examples representing such fi elds as law and judiciary, economics and trade, religion and art, education and science.

The Electronic System «Archival Card Index» (АСI) represents the digital format of lexical and illustrative materials of the Commission of the Dictionary Living Ukrainian language (All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences), which created the «Russian-Ukrainian Dictionary» by ed. A. Krymsky and S. Yefremov, today recognized as the superlative of Ukrainian lexicography of the 20-30’s of the 20th century, and which is becoming even more relevant today. The value of the АСI consists in the fact that it contains materials IV volume of the «Russian-Ukrainian Dictionary» destroyed in 1933. For the first time since the 1930’s ACI became the object of scientific attention precisely as materials of the repressed Commission, for more than half a century they were considered lost. ACI digital format is needed in order to prevent its physical decay, to return to the linguistic-cultural process, to optimize research work. After all, ACI contains professionally processed linguistic sources of general dictionaries first half XXth century, which are of great value for the restoration of the authenticity of Ukrainian language thinking, to eliminate the prolonged russification of Ukrainian vocabulary and the creation of dictionaries of the Ukrainian language of the 21th century.