Język jako narzędzie interpretacji rzeczywistości – językowy obraz świata

Abstract

Language is an endless source of information about humans and their world. The language of a language community preserves, in its structures, the experience of countless former generations, along with their behavioural models and their unique way of looking at the world. The way in which a language community interprets the world around them is gradually incorporated into their language over the centuries, and today, is reflected in their linguistic system. Consequently, as L. Wittgenstein once said, the limits of our language are the limits of our world (Anusiewicz, 1999). A linguistic system is not only a vital tool for communication, it is also the only tool we have to interpret the world in which we live. By using language "we organise and order the chaos that surrounds us" (Maćkiewicz, 1999). Every language community has its own special way of interpreting the world and its own linguistic view of the world [sprachliches Weltbild], which is reflected in its language. This linguistic view of the world has, over recent decades, become a key area of research for certain philosophers, linguists and ethnolinguists, although the concept itself dates back much further in time. The aim of this paper is to present a series of ideas regarding the relationship and mutual dependency of humans and their language, along with the concept of a linguistic view of the world.