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1.CulturalinfluenceontheusageofdiminutivesbytheEnglishandthePoles
1.2Teinterrelationshipbetweencultureandlanguage
Languageisacreationofcultureand,atthesametime,oneofculture’s
mostimportantelements,asitcontainsthemostessentialfeaturesofculture.
Languageisarecordofmethodsofconceptualising,categorising,andevaluat-
ingreality,establishedinagivenculture(Anusiewicz1994:12).Sapir(1978:62)
believesthatlanguageisareflectionofagivenculture.Wierzbicka(2007:23)
addsthatlanguagenotonlyreflectsculture,butalsoshapesit,as,accordingto
theSapir-Whorfhypothesis(alsocalledthetheoryoflinguisticrelativity),the
structureofagivenlanguageinfluencesthewayonethinksandbehaves.Nev-
ertheless,asKramsch(2000:14)notices,weareunotprisonersofthecultural
meaningsoferedtousbyourlanguage,butcanenrichtheminourpragmatic
interactionswithotherlanguageusers”.Healsoaddsthatlanguageexpresses,
embodiesandsymbolisesculturalreality,asituisasystemofsignsthatisseen
ashavingitselfaculturalvalue.Speakersidentifythemselvesandothersthrough
theiruseoflanguage;theyviewtheirlanguageasasymboloftheirsocialiden-
tity”(Kramsch2000:3).
Anusiewicz(1994:18)believesthatlanguageisoneofthemostessential
manifestationsofagivenculture.FollowingKrąpiec(1991:20-22),heclaims
thatlanguageexplainsculture(Anusiewicz1994:14).Heisalsooftheopinion
thatlanguageisafundamentalsourceofknowledgeonthecultureofagiven
community(Anusiewicz1994:8).
Takingintoaccounttheabove-mentionedassumptions,itcouldbestated
thatlanguageisculturally-determined.AccordingtoWierzbicka(2007:21)and
Anusiewicz(1994:14)thisisclearlyreflectedinthesemanticsofaparticular
language.Terefore,theuseofdiminutivesisculturally-determinedaswell.
1.3Translatinglanguages—Translatingcultures
Specificallyconcernedwithlanguageandtranslation,Newmarkdefinescul-
tureasuthewayoflifeanditsmanifestationsthatarepeculiartoacommunity
thatusesaparticularlanguageasitsmeansofexpression”(Newmark1988:94).
Tus,heacknowledgesthateachlanguagegrouphasitsownculturallyspecific
features.Lateron,heclearlystatesthathedoesnoturegardlanguageasacom-
ponentorfeatureofculture”(Newmark1988:95),whichisindirectopposition
toVermeer’sview,whoclaimsthatulanguageisapartofculture”(Vermeer
1989:222).LotmanandUspensky(1978:212)shareVermeer’sopinionandclaim