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1.CulturalinfluenceontheusageofdiminutivesbytheEnglishandthePoles
Translationofdiminutivesisconsideredbymanylinguistsasproblematic
andquestionable.Nevertheless,eventhoughdiminutiveformsmaybeperceived
asuntranslatablelinguisticmeans,itispossibletorenderatleastapartoftheir
meaninginthetargetlanguage(seeChapter6.5).
1.4TeEnglishandthePoles—Twodilerentcultures,
twodilerentapproachestotheuseofdiminutives
BothEnglishandPolishculturesarecurrentlyundertheinfluenceofglobali-
sation,Americanisationandmarketisation(Diniejko2008:70;Bogdanowska-
Jakubowska2010:179-181).Nevertheless,someaspectsoftheseculturesremain
unchanged.PoleslivinginanEnglish-speakingcountryveryofencomplain
aboutEnglishinsincerityorinsincerefriendliness,whiletheythemselvesare
consideredover-politeandservile(Jakubowska1999:55).Normsofpoliteness
diferfromoneculturetoanother,aseveryculturehasitsownpatternsof
behaviour.Asalreadymentioned,everycultureinfluencesthelanguageofits
members.Terefore,itcouldbestatedthatbothEnglishandPolishcultures
influencetheuseofdiminutivesbytheirmembers.
1.4.1TeindividualisticcultureofEnglishmenanditsinfuence
onthepresenceofdiminutivesintheirlanguage
TerehasalwaysbeenadistinctionbetweenEnglishnessandBritishness.Ac-
cordingtoDiniejko(2008:60-61),Englishnesshasalwayshadtocompetewith
Britishness.HewritesthatuintheVictoriantimesaseriousthreattothenotion
ofEnglishnesswastheemergingBritishidentity.TenotionofBritishnesswas
associatedwiththeimperialidea.SincethattimethenotionofEnglishnesshas
undergoneaseriesofcrises”.
EnglishculturecanbetracedbacktoAnglo-Saxonorigin(Diniejko2008:
58)andisperceivedasverticalindividualisticone(kulturaindywidualizująca),
inwhichpeopletendtostandoutfromothersandvaluefreedom(Wierzbicka
1985:150;Linde-Usiekniewicz2007:29;Biel2007:514;Bogdanowska-Jakubow-
ska2010:155;seealsoLubecka2000andPaxman2007).AccordingtoHofstede
etal.(2010:92),individualismreferstousocietiesinwhichthetiesbetweenin-
dividualsareloose:everyoneisexpectedtolookaferhimselforherselfandhis