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19

Marcin Łączek

exams, of course, marked by independent exam boards) and are automatically pro-moted to the next year. Underachievers or those showing inappropriate instances of conduct are penalised by sitting a detention, being placed on report, seclusion or permanent excłusion - in contrast to many Polish schools, the latter does not re-main in the field of theory only. But now to the main question.

The coexistence of diverse languages within BSA

The concept of language

For one thing, language, a dynamie process used to present either semantic or pragmatic meanings (in linguistics we can also talk about meaning that derives from syntax), is perceived as a collection of vańeties^{1 2 3} and for another thing as a system of arbi-trary symbols usedfor human Communications. Construed to be extemal expression of our intemal thoughts, this truły structured social, cognithe, and hnguistic enterpńse^A'n used whenever a need to realize discourse meaning occurs in the continuous and chang-ing contexts of our daily life, the most important of which is the communication of information.

Sometimes though it might happen that language used has no information con-tent at all but is merely used to keep channels of communication open; such phe-nomenon has been termed phatic communionand Brown and Yule give the follow-ing example: [w]hen two strangers are standing shiieńng at a bus-stop in an icy wind and one tums to the other and says ‘My goodness, it’s cold’, it is difficult to suppose that the pńmay inten-tion of the speaker is to convey information. It seems much morę reasonable to suggest that the speaker is inchcating a readiness to be fńendly and to talk^{4 5}. Indeed, the value of the use of language embedded in our cultural mythology has enabled the human race to develcp direrse cultures, each mth its distinettie social customs, religous obsenmees, lam, orał traditions, pattems of trading and so on^b. At times, though, its interpretation can diverge from what their producer has intended; the major reason being different repertoires. In

1

   Blommaert 2007,13.

2

   Hatch 2001: 1.

3

   Ibidem, 292.

4

   Brown - Yule 2007, 3.

5

   Ibidem, 2.