Discourse studies in contemporary Polish linguistics
The author of the article presents the current state of discourse studies conducted by Polish language scholars. The starting point is an assumption whereby the conceptualisation of the discourse category and the nature of its analyses have been influenced mainly by two research traditions: text linguistics and functional stylistics as well as concepts of text and style developed by them. The pragmatic definition of a unit of text and the anthropological-cultural definition of style, both deeply rooted in Polish linguistics, have determined a specific — at least in some respects — approach to the category of discourse. The author notices this specificity in the conceptualisation of discourse considering this category to be a unit from the idealisation plan, modelling specific interactions, in the research tradition rooting discourse studies in the structuralist paradigm of functional stylistics, in the strong link to the methodology of contemporary, communication-oriented stylistics, the close association with the Polish concept of ethnocognitive linguistics, references to the conclusions of Polish linguistic genre studies, relations with sociolinguistics and, more broadly, public communication studies, finally — in references to contemporary schools and branches of international discourse studies. These links make it possible to carry out a multi-aspect review of discourse and include the perspective of Polish language studies in research in other disciplines of the humanities.