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Paweł P ł a n c t a: TEXTUAL IMAGE OF THE REALITY IN POLISH YOUTH MAGAZI-NES

In this articlc the reader can find the most interesting results of the research on the textual image of the reality presented in Polish youth magazines. This survey was carried out by Content Analysis Section of The Press Research Centre. Tcxt corpuses are based on the materials excerpted from 6 youth magazines published in 1999 (Machina — 55 000 words, Droga — 57 000, Jestem — 50 000, Dziewczyna — 61 000, Popcorn — 55 000 and Bravo — 51 000) constitutcd the empirical data for this survey. The analysis of the word frequency lists, collocations and concordances helped to rcconstruct the image of the world presented in the youth press and the image of main agents acting in this world. It was also possible to rcconstruct the portrait of the countries and nations in analysed magazines.

The monthly Machina invites its readers to participate in global mass culture. The reality of Machina can be described as expansive, its agents seem to be interesting for evcry inhabitant of McLuhan’s ‘global village’. Machina has high-quality of editorial level and its editors strive to achieve ‘freedom of speech’. Joumalists frcely use fanzin-oriented style of writing, modern and fashionable language, musicians’ and counter-culture jargon. That is why this monthly can be attractive to its readers.

The publishers of Cracovian weekly Droga feel responsible for accomplishing the mission: „people need the signposts guiding the way to Truth, these signs help to differentiate between good and evil, love and hatred”. A young and religious man is the centre of the world constructed in the language of Droga. This perspective is associated with the dissemination of universal values. Therefore, we can obscrve broader interests in other countries and nations of the Catholic weekly. At the same time, Droga is a very Polish, traditional and patriotic magazinc.

Health, beauty and love are typical subjects of the magazines addressed to girls (Dziewczyna). Young women are also interested in success and proffessional carecr, so these topics morę often appear in Jestem.

Readers of Popcorn, and especially Bravo, are still kids. Their live is fuli of serious problems, so they try to find authorities. Unfortunately, they cannot find anything valuable in magazines addressed to them. Instead, teens read gossips about ‘megastars’ lives. Bravo and Popcorn create banality, tastless patterns and do not teach any sensibility to the real world. (Author's summary)

Jan G r z e n i a: ON THE SPELLING OF FORE1GN GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES IN POLISH PUBLICATIONS

In this article the author has presented observations on the topie of the linguistic convcntion of certain Polish publishers in the spelling of foreign geographical names.

Three large geographical atlases by three different publishers were analysed.

The observations carried out on the basis of the language materiał of these atlases were compared by the author with the spelling of proper nouns used in the six vo!ume Nowa encyklopedia powszechna (PWN) as well as in the electronic encyclopaedia by the publishing house Fogra which enjoys sizeable popularity.

Thus the gathered materia! allowed for:

—    a characterisation of convention in relation to the spelling of foreign geographical names,

—    an attempt at a description of spelling tendencies in names of this type,

—    an eva!uation of the chance of standardisation, or at least a regulation of this spelling,

—    the postulation for the regulation (standardisation) in the spelling of foreign geographical names.

The authoris obscrvations have led to the conclusion that the standardisation of proper nouns has become, unexpcctedly, morę difficult today than was the casc a decade ago. One should await the initiative for decisions on matters of language to come from those institutions and individuals called forth to care for the language. (Editorial summary)