1. Editorand the Editorial Committee. Owner of the periodical and its publishers

As has already been mentioned, the publication of Poradnik Językowy was resumed after the end of the Second World War, in late 1948, owing to the determination and endeavours of Witold Doroszewski, its latest editor (from 1932). The Editorial Committee (Komitet Redakcyjny, which is the name published on the editorial page of Issue 1/1948) was composed of Prof. Dr. Witold Doroszewski (editor-in-chief), Doc. Dr. Halina Koneczna, Dr. Stanisław Skorupka, Prof. Dr. Stanisław Słoński.

The composition of the Editorial Committee would gradually change. Presumably, changes were introduced also as regards its role (although no information can be found on the actual role fulfilled by the Editorial Committee). While initially all members of the Editorial Committee, who published in the journal, were involved in the editorial work, the introduced changes, particularly the fact that the Committee was joined by individuals other than Witold Doroszewski’s close collaborators, resulted in its role starting to resemble, to an increasingly greater extent, that of the contemporary Advisory Board (Rada Redakcyjna), the function of which is not only to advise but also, at times, to appraise and monitor. This could be clearly seen in 1968, when the position of the deputy editor-in-chief was established.

Changes in the Editorial Committee were necessitated by the objectives assumed by Poradnik Językowy, external factors, including in particular the publishing policy pursued by state-owned publishing houses, as well as biology (deaths of subsequent members of the Committee). Basically, however, those changes involved increasing the number of members of this body. In 1953, the Committee was joined by Prof. Dr. Zdzisław Stieber, Prof. Dr. Witold Taszycki and Dr. Wanda Pomianowska, who was the editorial assistant in the period 1958–1959. In 1959, Prof. Dr. Stanisław Słoński died, and the composition of the Committee was complemented by: Doc. Dr. Halina Kurkowska and Doc. Dr. Andrzej Sieczkowski. The following names were placed in the imprint of the annual bound volume of Poradnik of 1960: Prof. Dr. Witold Doroszewski (editor-in-chief), Prof. Dr. Halina Koneczna, Doc. Dr. Halina Kurkowska, Dr. Wanda Pomianowska, Doc. Dr. Andrzej Sieczkowski, Prof. Dr. Stanisław Skorupka, Prof. Dr. Zdzisław Stieber, Prof. Dr. Witold Taszycki and Mgr Zofia Łossan (editorial assistant).

In 1962, the composition of the Editorial Committee changed again. In 1961, Prof. Dr. Halina Koneczna died. Mgr Zofia Łossan, the editorial assistant, left the editorial board and was replaced by Stefan Rodkiewicz, who performed this function until the end of 1968.

Another important change was introduced in 1968. It regarded mainly – as can be inferred from the information on the editorial page of Poradnik Językowy – the function performed by the Editorial Committee. Prof. Witold Doroszewski – as follows from this information – was from then on “the editor and the chair of the Editorial Committee”, which suggested that the Editorial Committee started to fulfil the role of an advisory body which also appraised the editor’s work. The editorial board in the strict sense was joined by Doc. Dr. Mieczysław Szymczak – the deputy editor, and Stefan Rodkiewicz – first as the acting editorial assistant and then as the editorial assistant; the latter was replaced by Mgr Magdalena Foland in 1969.

The Editorial Committee was joined by the following individuals: Dr. Barbara Falińska (Warsaw), Dr. Hubert Górnowicz (Gdańsk), Doc. Dr. Halina Kurkowska (Warsaw), Dr. Wanda Pomianowska (Warsaw), Doc. Dr. Leszek Moszyński (Toruń), Doc. Dr. Andrzej Sieczkowski (Warsaw), Prof. Dr. Stanisław Skorupka (Warsaw), Prof. Dr. Zdzisław Stieber (Warsaw), Mgr Alicja Szlązakowa (Warsaw), Prof. Dr. Witold Taszycki (Cracow). The Committee was chaired by Prof. Dr. Witold Doroszewski (Warsaw). The inclusion of Mgr Alicja Szlązakowa into the Committee was to ensure regular publication of the “Polish in schools” (“Język polski w szkole”) column.

The Editorial Committee continued working in this composition until the death of Prof. Witold Doroszewski, i.e. until 1976.

In the period 1948–1976, Poradnik Językowy was, successively, the body of:

• the Language Commission of the Warsaw Scientific Society (Komisja Językowa Towarzystwa Naukowego Warszawskiego (1948–1952),
• the editorial board of Słownik Języka Polskiego (Dictionary of the Polish Language) (1952–1969),
• the Society for Language Culture (Towarzystwo Kultury Języka) (since 1972)*.

Poradnik Językowy was formally owned by education authorities of the Polish People’s Republic: the Ministry of Education (Ministerstwo Oświaty) (1948–1966), the Ministry of General and Higher Education (Ministerstwo Oświaty i Szkolnictwa Wyższego) (1966–1972), the Ministry of Education and Upbringing (Ministerstwo Oświaty i Wychowania) (from 1972). Throughout this period, each editor was appointed by the Minister competent for education.

Publishers of Poradnik Językowy changed as well. During the period in question, the journal was released, successively, by the following publishing houses:

• Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy (1948–1955),
• Państwowe Wydawnictwo “Wiedza Powszechna” (1956–1962),
• Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe (1963–1991).

2. Contents of the journal

After the resumption of its publication in 1948, Poradnik Językowy was basically – given the composition of the Editorial Committee, authors of texts and information about the address of the editorial office* provided in the imprint – a mainly Warsaw periodical until 1950. Only as a result of the gradual expansion of the composition of the Editorial Committee and the transformation of the journal from a bimonthly into a monthly in 1951 did it become a Polish nationwide publication.

In the period 1948–1950, 6 issues were published per year. Texts were arranged in the following sections*:

• “Papers” (“Artykuły”) (1948: 6;1949: 32; 1950: 30);
• “Explanations of words and expressions” (“Objaśnienia wyrazów i zwrotów”) (1948:1; 1949:6; 1950:6*);
• “From Readers” (“Głosy czytelników”) (1948: 1; 1949: 5; 1950: 1*);
• “What is being written about language?” (“Co piszą o języku?”) (1948: 1; 1949: 5; 1950: 3);
• “Editor’s Note” (“Od redakcji”) (1948: 2; 1949: 3; 1950: 3);
• “Reviews” (“Recenzje”) (1949: 3; 1950: 2).

As shown in the summary presented above, Poradnik Językowy was composed of 6 sections in total in the period 1948–1950. The greatest number of texts were published in the “Papers" section – 68 publications in total. They were written mainly by: Halina Koneczna, Halina Kurkowska, Stanisław Skorupka, Jan Tokarski and – obviously – Witold Doroszewski: Halina Koneczna published i.a. a study entitled “Dialekty a język ogólnopolski” (“Dialects versusstandard Polish”) – a publication of high importance to dialectological research after the Second World War in Poland (1949, Issue 2, pp. 1–5; 1949, Issue 3, pp. 5–10); Halina Kurkowska wrote “O języku Lalki Bolesława Prusa” (“On the language used by Bolesław Prus in his The Doll”) (1948, Issue 1, pp. 2–8) and “O zmianach znaczeń wyrazów” (“On the changing meanings of words”) (1949, Issue 3, pp. 10–15); Stanisław Skorupka launched his series of studies devoted to metaphors in various dialects of the Polish language (cf. “Przenośnie z zakresu pojęć lekarskich” (“Metaphors in medical terms”) (1948, Issue 1, pp. 12–16), “Przenośnie w języku potocznym” (“Metaphors in everyday language”) (1949, Issue 1, pp. 5–14); Jan Tokarski announced the publication of two important studies: “Z zagadnień dzisiejszej dialektologii” (“Selected topics within the contemporary dialectology”) (1949, Issue 1, pp. 18–24) and “O kategorii przysłówka (Refleksje teoretyczno-dydaktyczne)” (“On the adverb category (Theoretical and teaching reflections)”) (1949, Issue 2, pp. 14–20); Witold Doroszewski published i.a. a paper about Jan Baudouin de Courtenay on the 20th anniversary of his death (1949, Issue 1, pp. 1–4), and an important text concerning language culture: “Fizjologiczny mechanizm błędów językowych” (“The physiological mechanism of linguistic errors”) (1950, Issue 4, pp. 1–5; 1950, Issue 5, pp. 1–5).

The papers concerned topics such as dialectology, language used by writers and belletrists, technical vocabulary, stylistics, semantics, variants of Polish, proper language use, orthography, and punctuation.

Besides the aforementioned authors, text were written also by: Aleksandra Obrębska-Jabłońska (“O żeńskich formach tytułów i nazw zawodów” (“On female forms of professional titles and names of professions”), 1949, Issue 4, pp. 1–4); Ananiasz Zajączkowski (“Staropolski talizman (Z historii zapożyczeń orientalnych) (“The Old Polish talisman (On the history of oriental borrowings)”), 1949, Issue 5, pp. 1–6; “O kilku orientalnych terminach żeglarskich w piśmiennictwie polskim (od XVI w.)” (“On several oriental sailing terms in Polish literature (since the 16th c.)”), 1950, Issue 3, pp. 1–7); Bożena Głowacka (“Wyrażenia łowieckie w mowie potocznej” (“Hunting expressions in everyday language”), 1949, Issue 2, pp. 20–28); Zofia Gosiewska (“Z historii badań nad językiem i stylem autorów” (“On the history of research on language and authors’ styles”), 1949, Issue 4, pp. 16–23); Janina Mally (“O języku listów Chopina” (“On the language of Chopin’s letters”), 1950, Issue 4, pp. 9–15); Wanda Pomianowska (“Uwagi o ‘gadce’ warmińskiej” (“Comments on the Warmia dialect”), 1950, Issue 3, pp. 14–18); Wanda Tazbirówna (“Uwagi o języku miganym wychowanków Instytutu Głuchoniemych i Ociemniałych w Warszawie” (“Comments on the sign language used by students of the Institute for the Deaf and Blind in Warsaw”), 1950, Issue 5, pp. 12–18); Andrzej Sieczkowski (“Praca nad słownikami słowiańskimi w Pradze” (“Work on Slavic dictionaries in Prague”), 1949, Issue 2, pp. 11–14); Stefan Wyrębski (“O potrzebie polszczenia słownictwa technicznego” (“On the need to Polonise technical vocabulary”), 1948, Issue 1, pp. 16–17). The authors were soon joined by Witold Taszycki, whose short texts would usually provoke discussions with Witold Doroszewski (cf. e.g. “‘Należałoby’ or ‘należało by’” (two forms of spelling ‘should’ in Polish), 1949, Issue 2, pp. 29–30; “Na marginesie ostatniego wydania Kazań Świętokrzyskich” (“A side note to the latest edition of The Holy Cross Sermons”), 1950, Issue 2, pp. 1–5; “Staropolskie ‘miłosirdny’” (“The Old Polish word meaning ‘merciful’”) 1950, Issue 5, pp. 18–20*). Stanisław Jodłowski (“Interpunkcja przydawek” (“Punctuation of attributes”), 1950, Issue 5, pp. 21–26).

Other sections, besides the “Papers” one, were also of importance. These were: “Explanations of words and expressions” – edited from the very first issue by Witold Doroszewski, and “What is being written about language?” – run mainly by Andrzej Sieczkowski, but texts published in this section were written also by Stanisław Skorupka and Witold Doroszewski, as well as “From Readers” – a section edited by Witold Doroszewski and Andrzej Sieczkowski.

It should be added that a vast majority of papers did not exceed 5 pages. Texts longer than that were divided into two or even three parts, with an individual numbering of each issue.

Since 1951 – as has already been mentioned – Poradnik Językowy has been published as a monthly – 10 issues are published per year (the journal does not come out in the summer months). It is divided into the following sections (the number of publications in individual annual bound volumes is provided in brackets):

• “Papers”(1951: 48; 1952: 55; 1953: 43; 1954: 42; 1955: 41; 1956: 48; 1957: 42; 1958: 45; 1959*: 46; 1960: 32; 1961: 47; 1962*: 46; 1963: 30*; 1964: 29; 1965: 28*; 1966: 27; 1967: 33; 1968: 38; 1969: 54*; 1970: 53; 1971: 46; 1972: 54; 1973: 52; 1974: 33; 1975: 50; 1976: 47);
• “Speeches delivered at the funeral of Prof. Witold Doroszewski” (“Przemówienia wygłoszone na pogrzebie prof. Witolda Doroszewskiego”) (1976, Issue 3: 6);
• “Polish in schools”* (1956: 8; 1957: 7; 1958: 12; 1959: 1; 1962: 1; 1968: 6; 1970: 1; 1971: 6; 1972: 8; 1973: 2; 1974: 4; 1975: 5; 1976: 3);
• “Polish abroad” (“Język polski za granicą”)* (1971: 7; 1972: 8; 1973: 2; 1974: 6; 1975: 2; 1976: 2);
• “Reviews” (1951: 10; 1952: 6; 1953: 7; 1954: 11; 1955: 10; 1956: 9; 1957: 8*; 1958: 10; 1959: 14; 1960: 16; 1961: 10; 1962: 6; 1963: 7; 1964: 5; 1965: 12; 1966: 8; 1967: 14; 1968: 20; 1969: 19; 1970: 27; 1971: 23; 1972: 22; 1973: 22; 1974: 21; 1975: 20; 1976: 14);
• “What is being written about language?” (1951: 1; 1953: 2; 1954: 11; 1955: 5; 1956: 4; 1957: 1; 1958: 7; 1959: 10; 1960: 3; 1961: 1*; 1967: 10; 1968: 10; 1969: 10; 1970: 9; 1971: 8; 1972: 8; 1973: 9; 1974: 9; 1975: 8; 1976: 2);
• “On the Warmia and Masuria dialects” (“Z gwary warmińskiej i mazurskiej”) (1951: 18; 1952: 17; 1953: 6; 1954: 3; 1955: 2);
• “On the Sandomierz region dialect” (“Z gwary sandomierskiej”) (1953: 1);
• “On the Kurpie dialect” (“Z gwary kurpiowskiej”) (1951: 1);
• “On the Augustów region dialect” (“Z gwary augustowskiej”) (1954: 1; 1955: 1);
• “On the Suwałki region dialect” (“Z gwary suwalskiej”) (1955: 4);
• “On the Świętokrzyskie region dialect” (“Z gwary świętokrzyskiej”) (1955: 3);
• “On the Kashubian dialect” (“Z gwary kaszubskiej”) (1955: 2);
• “Dialectal texts” (“Teksty gwarowe”)* (1956: 16; 1957: 9; 1958: 1; 1959: 6; 1961: 2; 1963: 1; 1969: 3; 1970: 4; 1972: 1; 1974: 1; 1975: 4);
• “On the Polish and Czech language border” (“Z polsko–czeskiego pogranicza językowego”) (1953: 1; 1958: 1);
• “Additions – comments – observations” (“Uzupełnienia – uwagi – spostrzeżenia”)* (1972: 3; 1973: 6; 1974: 10; 1975: 5; 1976: 4);
• “Explanations of words and expressions” (1951: 10; 1952: 10; 1953: 10; 1954: 10; 1955: 10; 1956: 10; 1957: 10; 1958: 10; 1959: 7; 1960: 10; 1961: 10; 1962: 7; 1963: 9; 1964: 10; 1965: 10; 1966: 10; 1967: 10; 1968: 10; 1969: 10; 1970: 9; 1971: 10; 1972: 10; 1973: 9; 1974: 10; 1975: 10; 1976: 9);
• “From Readers” (1951: 5; 1952: 2; 1953: 5; 1954: 2; 1955: 1; 1956: 3; 1957: 2; 1958: 1; 1959: 2; 1960: 3; 1961: 3);
• “Hunting linguistic gems” (“Połów perełek”)* (1951: 1; 1957: 2; 1958: 1; 1961: 1; 1966: 1; 1970: 7; 1971: 8; 1972: 6; 1973: 7; 1974: 7; 1975: 4; 1976: 1);
• “Editor’s Note”* (1954: 1; 1956: 1; 1957: 1; 1958: 1; 1971: 1; 1976: 3);
• “Letter to the editorial board” (“List do redakcji”) (1956: 1; 1960: 1; 1961: 1; 1962: 1; 1971: 1);
• “Discussions” (“Dyskusje”) (1956: 1);
• “Reports” (“Sprawozdania”)* (1957: 1; 1959: 2; 1965: 2; 1966: 3; 1967: 5; 1968: 6; 1969: 4; 1970: 5; 1971: 9; 1972: 7; 1973: 9; 1974: 6; 1975: 5; 1976: 14);
• “Bibliography” (“Bibliografia”)* (1960: 1*; 1961: 4*; 1962: 1; 1963: 2; 1964: 1; 1965: 1; 1966: 1; 1967: 1; 1968: 1; 1969: 1; 1970: 1; 1971: 1; 1972: 1; 1973: 1; 1974: 1; 1976: 1);
• “Chronicle” (“Kronika”) (1960: 1*; 1961: 4; 1964: 3; 1965: 3; 1966: 1);
• “Obituaries” (“Nekrologi”)* (1963: 1; 1964: 1);
• “Notes on word formation” (“Notatki słowotwórcze”) (1964: 1).

In 1948–1976, a total of 1,365 texts and 736 reviews were published*. “Explanations of words and expressions” appeared in 254 issues. Prof. Doroszewski edited this column in a special way – each issue contained usually about 5, often very complex, analyses of the discussed words and expressions from the viewpoint of historical linguistics (the number indicates how many times the column appeared).

In the period in question, much attention was paid to the “On the .... dialect” section (“On the Warmia and Masuria dialects”; “On the Sandomierz region dialect”; “On the Kurpie dialect”; “On the Augustów region dialect”; “On the Suwałki region dialect”; “On the Świętokrzyski region dialect”; “On the Kashubian dialect”), renamed as “Dialectal texts” in 1956, as it in fact presented texts found in various regions of Poland. The “Dialectal texts” section continued to be published until 1975, i.e. Prof. Doroszewski’s death.

New sections were introduced: “Polish in schools” (1956) and “Polish abroad” (1971) – isolated from the “Papers” section, while the “Reports” and “Bibliography” sections started to be published on a regular basis (in 1957 and 1960, respectively). The “Chronicle” section was published for a short time (1960–1966). In 1972, the “Additions – comments – observations” section was introduced to replace the “From Readers”, “Letters to the Editorial Board” and “Chronicle” sections. There was, however, a certain inconsistency in organising texts. This applies particularly to the “Polish in schools” and “Polish abroad” sections, but also to the “Reviews” one, as texts falling into – either in terms of their contents or form – these sections can be often found in the “Papers” section (this was rarely the case the other way round).

In the period 1951–1976, the number of authors whose texts were published in Poradnik Językowy increased, so did the range of the issues discussed. The authors mentioned above, namely: Halina Koneczna, Halina Kurkowska, Janina Mally, Wanda Pomianowska, Stanisław Skorupka, Jan Tokarski, Andrzej Sieczkowski, Witold Taszycki, and Ananiasz Zajączkowski, were still very active. They were gradually joined by new authors, i.a. Barbara Bartnicka, Tadeusz Brajerski, Zygmunt Brocki, Danuta Buttler, Jadwiga Chludzińska, Maria Chmura, Witold Cienkowski, Jiři Damborsky, Krystyna Długosz, Władysław Kupiszewski, Jadwiga Puzynina, Tadeusz Milewski, Barbara Mocarska, Halina Satkiewicz, Janusz Siatkowski and Mieczysław Szymczak.

The topics raised in the papers published in Poradnik Językowy at that time were extremely diverse, yet their choice was rarely influenced by trends or trendy directions of linguistic research. The journal was quite conservative in this respect. The questions discussed in Poradnik resulted from educational* and social needs, in accordance with the journal’s mission defined by its founder, which was later confirmed in the statement of 1948, quoted above.

For example, in the initial phase of conceptual works on Słownik języka polskiego (Dictionary of the Polish Language), studies which were significant with this respect were published. These were i.a.: “O pracy nad nowym słownikiem języka polskiego” (“On the work on a new dictionary of the Polish language”) by Witold Doroszewski (1952, Issue 1, pp. 1–4); “Organizacja i technika prac słownikowych” (“Organisation and technique of lexicographical work”) by Stanisław Skorupka (1952, Issue 2, pp. 1–10); “Podstawy naukowe nowego słownika języka polskiego” (“Scientific foundations of a new dictionary of the Polish language”) by Jan Tokarski (1952, Issue 4, pp. 1–11); “Hasła specjalne w słowniku współczesnego języka polskiego” (“Special entries in a dictionary of the contemporary Polish language”) by Zofia Łempicka (1952, Issue 7, pp. 25–31); “Stan i zadania leksykografii polskiej” (“The condition and objectives of Polish lexicography”) by Stanisław Skorupka (1952, Issue 9, pp. 1–6); “O pracy nad układem haseł w słowniku” (“On the arrangement of entries in a dictionary”) by Witold Doroszewski (1952, Issue 10, pp. 1–5).

In connection with the dialectological research conducted on a large scale at that time, texts concerning ways of collecting, organising and archiving the gathered material as well as analysis methods were published. This can be evidenced i.a. by the following papers: J. Działówna, H. Korzeniówna, E. Ziegler, “Mapowanie faktów fonetycznych” (“Mapping phonetic facts”) (1952, Issue 9, pp. 14–23); Witold Cienkowski, “Kwestionariusz do badań słownictwa gwarowego” (“A questionnaire to be used in dialect vocabulary surveys”) (1952, Issue 9, pp. 30–35); Witold Doroszewski, “Przedmiot i metody dialektologii” (“The object and methods of dialectological research”) (1953, Issue 1, pp. 1–8, Issue. 2, pp. 1–7, Issue 3, pp. 2–10; Issue 4, pp. 4–12).

Apart from papers of importance to the conducted research, theoretical problems in the area of general linguistics were also discussed. These were e.g. discussions on the contemporary linguistics (cf. e.g. Witold Doroszewski, “Horyzonty współczesnego językoznawstwa” (“Horizons of the contemporary linguistics”), 1952, Issue 7, pp. 1–9; Jan Tokarski, “Dynamizm procesów językowych i metody jego badania” (“Dynamics and research methods of linguistic processes”), 1952, Issue 8, pp. 1–16; Wanda Pomianowska, “Ewolucja języka w świetle faktów gwarowych” (“Language evolution in light of dialectal facts”), 1952, Issue 9, pp. 6–14); the origin of the Polish language of literature (cf. Mikołaj Rudnicki, “W sprawie pochodzenia polskiego języka literackiego (Pokłosie dyskusji)” (“On the origin of the Polish language of literature (Gleanings from the discussion)”), 1952, Issue 5, pp. 1–12; Tadeusz Milewski, “Kilka uwag o powstaniu polskiego języka literackiego” (“A few comments on the origin of the Polish language of literature”), 1952, Issue 7, pp. 17–25); methods of describing linguistic units (cf. Andrzej Bogusławski, “W sprawie synchronii i diachronii w analizie morfologicznej” (“On the synchrony and diachrony in morphological analysis”), 1960, Issue 7, pp. 321–328; Jadwiga Puzynina, “Rzeczowniki zbiorowe jako podstawa formacji jednostkowych” (“Collective nouns as a basis for unit formations”), 1952, Issue 4, pp. 11–17; Stanisław Skorupka, “Frazeologia a semantyka” (“Phraseology versus semantics”), 1952, Issue 7, pp. 9–16, and “Typy połączeń frazeologicznych” (“Types of phraseological combinations”), 1952, Issue 5, pp. 12–20); research on Poles’ pronunciation (e.g. Bożena Wierzchowska, “Różnice w mowie pokoleń” (“Differences in pronunciation among generations”), 1952, Issue 10, pp. 13–24); varieties of the contemporary Polish language (cf. Zygmunt Brocki, “Fachowy język potoczny a fachowy język ‘oficjalny’” (“Colloquial versus ‘official’ jargon”), 1952, Issue 4, pp. 17–26, Issue 5, pp. 30–36); word formation (cf. Renata Grzegorczykowa, Jadwiga Puzynina, “Z zagadnień słowotwórstwa” (“On word formation issues”), 1959, Issue 6/7, pp. 241–253; Renata Grzegorczykowa, Jadwiga Puzynina, “Zagadnienia słowotwórstwa rzeczowników w atlasie ogólnosłowiańskim” (“Noun formation in the general Slavic language atlas”), 1961, Issue 1, pp. 10–24); Polish proper names (cf. Stanisław Rospond, “Ze studiów nad polskim nazewnictwem osobowym” (“On studies of Polish proper names”), 1969, Issues 5, 6; 1971, Issue 7; 1972, Issue 5; 1975, Issues 2, 8; 1978, Issue 2), etc. The above examples do not exhaust the list of achievements of Poradnik Językowy as regards the taken up issues. It can be said without exaggeration that in spite of distancing itself from numerous theoretical “novelties”, which was a reflection of the positivist, as it can be defined, research approach pursued by Witold Doroszewski, Poradnik not only closely followed the transformations occurring in linguistics, but also participated in them, and even initiated some of them. This can be illustrated with papers written by two scholars who are particularly close to the author of this paper, namely Danuta Buttler and Jan Tokarski. The series of their papers published in Poradnik Językowy are an important part of the achievements in the area of Polish linguistics of the 20th c. Among numerous significant papers by Prof. Jan Tokarski published in Poradnik Językowy (about 60 publications), particular attention should be paid to the series entitled “Fleksja polska, jej opis w świetle możliwości mechanizacji w urządzeniu przekładowym” (“Polish inflection, its description in light of machine translation potential”) (1961, Issues 3, 8; 1962, Issue 4; 1963, Issues 1, 2, 3/4, 5/6, 9; 1964, Issues 4, 5, 6). This method of morphological analysis of language units – much ahead of its times and pioneering computer-aided linguistics – is a great example of Poradnik Językowy’s contribution to the development of the contemporary research on the Polish language.

Among Prof. Danuta Buttler’s publications presented in Poradnik Językowy (circa 60 papers), particular attention should be paid to the following three series: “Semantyka a składnia w związkach wyrazowych” (“Semantics and syntax in idiomatic expressions”) (6 papers: 1966, Issues 6, 7, 9, 10 and 1967, Issues 1, 2); “Typy błędów leksykalnych” (“Types of lexical errors”) (3 papers: 1970, Issues 2, 3, 4); “Odmiany polskiej homonimii” (“Variants of Polish homonymy”) (1971, Issues 1, 2), and two studies related – in terms of their substance – to “Odmiany...”: “Zmiany ilościowe w zasobie homonimów” (“Quantitative changes in the resource of homonyms”) (1971, Issue 3) and “Formalne sposoby eliminowania homonimiczności wyrazów” (“Formal methods of eliminating homonymy in words”) (1971, Issue 4). The series mentioned above launched a very important trend in the research on Polish lexis and semantics. What attests to the importance of these studies is the fact that although almost half a century has passed since their publication, they have still been invoked as the basis of any research on the Polish language in the 20th century, and the proposed method of analysing lexical and semantic units has been a model for contemporary researchers to this day.

The examples presented above fully confirm the conviction of the author of this paper about the role of Poradnik Językowy and its editor – Prof. Dr. Witold Doroszewski – in developing the knowledge of language in the mid-20th century.