The article contains an analysis of the word formation of proper names which are used in the texts of advertisements. The analyzed examples are drawn from the texts of advertisements found on television, radio, press, the Internet etc. which were produced at the end of 20th century and the beginning of 21st century. The article analyses two categories of these proper names: word formations which are used in contemporary Polish language (f.e. Robuś, Marysia, Stefcia, Kasia, Jasio, Krzyś, Rozalka, Basia, Bartuś, Sabinka, Julka, Karinka, Tomek, Adaś, Goździkowa) and neologisms f.e. Zapobiegalska, Zarażalski, Kichalska, Krzywonogi, Przyklapiusz, Musztarderowie, TurboDymoMan, SuperEs, Zozolka, Łazienkowo). The analysis conducted in the article proves that both types of proper names, which are word formation derivatives, appear relatively often in the texts of advertisements. This is the case since they are easy to form (advertisements take the majority of them from usage) and can perform many functions, which advertisements willingly use for their own needs. Proper names that are word formation derivatives and just proper names serve mainly as an assessment as they connote the values appreciated both culturally and socially and the values attributed to proper names are carried on the advertised products. Proper names which are derivatives create a desired picture of advertised products more expressively than other proper names, thanks to their clear word formation structure. Moreover, they expose their commercial assets so they fully use and at the same time cocreate the system of values of consumption culture.

This article dwells upon paraphrase in which proper names function as both the object of nomination and the component in the model of its creation. The device is analysed as it occurs in the language of modern Ukrainian publicist discourse. Firstly, the topicality of the research consists in the fact that mass media encourage the expansion of the lexical stock of a language by establishing new language trends. Secondly, publicist discourse is considered to be particularly exposed to the use of paraphrase, and so it is worth studying the peculiarities of the way paraphrases function in mass media. The given article aims to show how proper names may act in the process of modelling paraphrase, where a proper noun can serve two functions: as an object of paraphrase and as a component of its modelling. The article revisits the materials from M. Stepanenko’s book Politychne s’ogodennja ukrai’ns’koi’ movy: aktual’nyj peryfrastykon: monografija (Current state of Ukrainian political discourse: paraphrase of today). The materials are supplemented with examples collected by the author of the article from recent online publications of Ukrainian press. The use of proper names as objects of paraphrase or elements of its structure testifies to their exceptional ability to model pragmatic meaning. Pragmatic information reflected in paraphrase draws attention to the most essential qualities of a subject, a phenomenon or a person – those most important qualities that help understand a specific situation, phenomenon, behaviour, etc. An effective way of modelling paraphrase is to use a precedent. Derivatives whose bases are precedent units better reflect the peculiarities of a given culture, the way of thinking and every nation’s perception of reality, the system of its worldview and value orientations. The creation of paraphrase with proper names as their constituents encourages the fulfilment of a range of functions, in particular nominative, decorative, euphemist, impressive, compressive, attractional and axiological ones. The analysis of the materials leads to the conclusion that the majority of proper names-driven paraphrase is primarily essential for a given text. However, as some of them may enter everyday vocabulary, the author of the article emphasises the need to constantly trace the paraphrase phenomena and their systematic lexicographic realisation.

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 study aims to contribute to research on the onomastic-stylistic diversity of Polish prose in the late 20th century. In focus are those onomastic properties of literature that reveal connections between names and language in the process of creating non-mimetic, literary-style fiction. These properties also point to the nature of proper names as they function in a literary work of art — that work being a post-modern intellectual-literary game. The names used in the novel (anthroponyms, toponyms, chrematonyms, also zoonyms) mainly derive from the author’s linguistic creativity: they contribute to the world-view projected through the text. That world-view is “purposefully and totally unusual”, different from the real world.

This article addresses the issue of the interpretation of proper names in poetry. The state of research on the functions of proper names in literature is well described, but it is possible to note the lack of a fixed interpretation strategy in poetry which means that, despite little interest in poetry, its researchers often try to propose their own methods of analysis. The authors of the article, who tackle onyms in the poetry of Bruno Jasieński, present their own methodological approach to the matter, based on B. Waldenfels’ concept of the “phenomenology of the alien”.

In this paper, the issue of the correlation between the status of the onymic object, its social range and the general rules used when naming is considered. The author proposes to distinguish two basic levels of where the proper names function: a local one and a global one. Then, two particular patterns of naming are connected with these levels: an innovative pattern and a conservative pattern. The conservative names mostly refer to objects that are of social importance and have a general, wide range of functioning. On the other hand, innovative names generally refer to unstable objects that have a rather low social position, and a restricted, narrow range of functioning. Examples of both levels are analyzed, particularly the anthroponyms, toponyms and chrematonyms. The paper contains the argument, that more known conservative names have provided the characteristics of the prototypical proper name in general, and these characteristics are usually expanded to all proper names in their theoretical approaches.

The article focuses on the translation of non-literary Chinese proper names, a subject which to date has not enjoyed much research interest as a result of the common belief that proper names are untranslatable. The article discusses techniques used in the translation of Chinese anthroponyms, toponyms and brand names into Polish and English. The author refers to the strategies used in the process of transferring names to the target language and presents the consequences of applying given techniques from the cognitive perspective, which entails analysing the names in terms of their structure and meaning. Particular attention is paid to the connotations of the names, the impact they have on the speakers of a given language, as well as the mental images that can be derived from their structure. In the contrastive analysis of the names of tourist locations in Beijing and their Polish and English equivalents, the author applies the cognitive grammar approach as developed by Ronald W. Langacker. The image schemas of the names are used to present the distinct conceptualizations embodied in the names with the same references in diff erent languages. One of the chapters describes how European names are adapted into Chinese. The study also provides an overview of the characteristics of the Chinese onomasticon, a factor which makes translation from Chinese to European languages particularly complicated. The observations made in the course of the analysis permit conclusions to be drawn on the linguistic worldview created by Polish, Chinese and English propria.

The Kelani River is the second largest watershed in Sri Lanka and the main water-supply intake point for the Greater Colombo. The present study focuses to identify the sources of pollutants of the meandering zone of the Kelani River, par-ticularly due to the absence of more recent information. Accordingly, a survey was conducted to obtain information on in-dustrial discharges, anthropological, and social activities within the area of 15 m from left and right banks of the river. The high contaminations (total and faecal coliform – 1100 MPN∙(100 cm3)–1; COD – 10 mg∙dm–3; BOD – 4 mg∙dm–3) of surface and groundwater are corroborated with the results obtained via the demographic and land usage statistics. Industrial pollu-tant sources and harmful anthropological practices were identified as major threats to the river basin. In this survey, agricul-ture and land degradation were identified as issues due to improper land use management. As policy recommendations based on the results of the study, it was identified that the awareness for Kelani River protection should be increased; moni-toring and evaluation of the Kelani River basin under a management plan should be implemented; and stakeholder and pri-vate partnerships contribution to the sustainability of the Kelani River basin should be established.

In the paper I present the famous argument between Peter F. Strawson and Bertrand Russell on definite descriptions. I do not go into details of the two rival solutions to the problem of definite descriptions. Instead I present the controversy against the background of two traditions within analytic philosophy, i.e. the philosophy of natural language (Strawson) and the philosophy of ideal language (Russell). In consequence, the aim of this paper is to sketch the principal features of the two traditions and to indicate their influence on the argument. In the first paragraph I discuss Russell’s theory of descriptions and present it as a result of dramatic changes that he had made in his philosophy before he finally presented them in On Denoting in 1905. The second paragraph deals with the two traditions within analytic philosophy after the linguistic turn and underlines the role of Strawson in the philosophy of natural language. In the third paragraph I analyze in detail Strawson’s arguments against the theory of descriptions and I focus on some details that are usually omitted in standard presentations. The fourth paragraph discusses Russell’s response to Strawson’s objections, i.e. the counter-arguments formulated from the standpoint of philosophy of ideal language. I end with some suggestions about how to reconcile both approaches.