Sztuka konwersacji w tekstach z XVII i XVIII wieku

Abstract

The research material used by the author of this article comprises Middle Polish textbooks and phrase books for foreigners as well as Polish grammar books for foreigners, which included not only grammatical rules but also some simple dialogues concerning everyday situations. These texts proved to be particularly valuable not only because of their importance as a source of information on middle-class and plebeian customs of the 17th and 18th centuries, but also because of their contribution to the reconstruction of the linguistic manners of that time. The author emphasizes the significant role performed by the category of politeness. which not only influences profoundly the elaborate formulas of addressing the interlocutor in keeping with the rules of etiquette, but also dominates the subsequent stages of the dialogue, together with the particular phrases that are obligatory constituents of replies. The author’s research allows her to conclude that in the Middle Polish period (i.e. in the 17lh and 18th centuries) both informal conversations, and formal, and other genres of official communication, were very conventionalised and strongly influenced by the rhetorical patterns and literary trends of the time.