Horizons of the young humanities. Interview with Jan Krzywdziński

Maria Kozan: What is your on-call schedule at the Language Advice Centre?

Jan Krzywdziński: It happens that when people call the clinic and I introduce myself with “Jan Krzywdziński,” the callers no longer catch this surname “Krzywdziński,” they focus on the name “Jan” and think that the next is “Miodek” [professor Jan Miodek – editor’s note], and although they probably do not fit this timbre of voice, they do not discuss. And in fact it is so, that the questioners identify with the Professor all of us working at the clinic. This is a very interesting thing, because, after all, we are a team – dr Marta Śleziak (the most important person in the clinic), dr Karolina Bogacz-Kańka, and me. Everyone always thinks they are calling or writing professor Miodek… and we are just carrying on a great tradition. And we try to do it as well as possible. Sometimes someone will ask us to sign books or organise lectures but of course that is not what the centre does!

MK: Do a lot of people call the centre?

JK: Many people call us. We are on duty three hours a week (the hours are listed on the website of the Institute of Polish Studies), and we receive several to a dozen phone calls during the duty period. However, most of the questions come by email, people write with many problems. And it is not like these are just such gray, everyday problems! Recently I answered questions from a ministry – it was about the linguistic interpretation of certain terms, the intricacy of which slowed down an important and formalised process. Sometimes people who do not know how to conjugate a name also call us. Name variation is an old but ever-present problem, so we try to suggest to callers various digital humanities solutions that allow us to quickly dispel doubts, but interested people prefer to call, make sure, talk. Sometimes it’s a matter of local names, surnames or first names, but there are also questions about the engraving on the tombstone of the abbreviation of the phrase “świętej pamięci” [“the late”] – unfortunately, in cemeteries we encounter many incorrect notations… The correct version is the notation without a dot after the ś, but after the whole śp, unless something will divide the two letters, so there will be, for example, ś and a dot, some cross or palm leaf, and p with a dot. Then a dot will actually appear after the ś! The problems are many, and we approach each question with care. Every time this man really calls with a problem. And while it may seem that, after all, these are just small things… for those asking, it is important, they need answers. And so the humanities find its way into everyday life.

MK: It is interesting that even representatives of ministries call the centre… They call Wrocław all the way from Warsaw, and after all, there are plenty of language counseling centres, councils in Warsaw – they can turn to the Council for the Polish Language (Polish: Rada Języka Polskiego), etc., for example.

JK: But our asset is the person of professor Jan Miodek! And also many years of tradition and experience. Sometimes there are such mistakes that someone wanted to call Gdańsk or Warsaw, and calls Wrocław…

MK: You mentioned that you receive a lot of email inquiries. How do you deal with answering them, do you do it during duty days or out of hours? Do you have fixed rules that you stick to, or are you flexible?

JK: It is impossible to stick to just a rigid time allocation because it is very often the case that an entire hour is spent just talking, and the emails flow. And this is in significant quantities. Therefore, we are gradually trying to respond. By the way, I apologise to all of you because sometimes you have to wait a little longer for an email with advice but I guarantee that we will respond to all messages. At times, there are just so many of them that we do not have enough capacity. Outside the clinic, we have research and teaching responsibilities.

MK: What are Kuluary? What do you do?

JK: Kuluary. Prace o języku i literaturze (Kuluary. Works on Language and Literature) is a publication that premiered in late November. It is worth remembering the name because this is just the beginning of a great venture (free downloadable publication from the Quaestio Publishing House website).

MK: But in a way, a continuation of the past, right?

JK: Yes, this is a continuation of the many projects undertaken by the Student Scientific Association of Linguistics.

MK: Does this team include both students and doctoral students?

JK: The association is student-run but works closely with doctoral students, whose knowledge and experience are important to us. The idea is to cooperate but also to discuss. Also, and most importantly, to create a space where we can give many young researchers a chance to grow and to make a name for themselves.

MK: Do you accept only the researchers of the Faculty of Letters?

JK: But no! We invite anyone who is involved in the humanities in the broadest sense of the term to publish, so it is enough to indicate a connection with language, with literature or with culture. We also invite those representatives of the sciences whose research, work or methods can be applied to contemporary humanities research. We, along with the editorial team and our wheelers, assume that it is impossible to study many phenomena today without a broader perspective. I think it is worth referring here, if only to the concept of discourse, which should be studied holistically – sociologically, psychologically, historically, linguistically and literary. And of course, these are not all disciplines! We need to work together to come to some constructive conclusions. And such are Kuluary? We are keen that on the one hand it is a form that is fairly accessible to everyone, but on the other hand, it is very demanding. As editors, we suggest many corrections… We have a high rejection rate. This is just because someone sends us a text does not mean it will be accepted. Editors thoroughly read each text, then goes through a process of so-called blind review, and then there are further readings – already after author’s corrections – when the article goes to editors and proofreaders again. We are committed to publishing works that meet high methodological requirements, are polished, and are cognitively interesting.

MK: And who can apply to Kuluary? Is it only for students and doctoral students of the University of Wrocław, or for anyone else?

JK: Literally anyone can apply. We are committed to the cooperation of all academic centres both in Poland and abroad. After all, science knows no boundaries. And they do not have to be just students or doctoral students. If there is a person who conducts scientific research or is fascinated by a topic, knows the scientific apparatus, methodology, and prepares a good text, he can submit it to the Kuluary. We are committed to finding a place for everyone to speak out about what they do, what they think about, what they research.

MK: Do you accept texts devoted exclusively to the Polish language?

JK: No! We have already received texts relating to English, Finnish, Czech, French, Hebrew, ancient Greek… so you can say The sky is the limit! For now, the language of publication is Polish. What will it be like in the future? I do not know. All I can say is that I am anxious for them to Kuluary develop in many aspects. Of course, everything depends on our capabilities, but also on the people who texts to Kuluary will send.

MK: You have recently published the first notebook Kuluary with six thematically very different, but at the same time extremely interesting texts. Your text on the origins of the epidemic in newspaper headlines also appears there, with a focus on lexis, poetics and affectation. You also write about the etymology of the word “pestilence,” how it has been defined and used over the centuries. Why did you take up this particular topic?

JK: Yes, that is right, I paid attention to both the pestilence and the headlines. This happened primarily because I was involved in headline research for several years. I began my work under the supervision of professor Irena Kamińska-Szmaj. I am interested in the headlines because, as professor Bożena Ostromęcka-Frączak said, they resemble a display window. They often show us the sender’s emotions, his value system, and are supposed to illuminate to the audience what is hidden in the text. The headline provides a lot of information, but it also has to be appealing, interesting. In a pandemic situation, the press had to report on a very difficult reality that affected us all – all of this was reflected in the style of the headlines. Now we also have a difficult war situation. We have headlines, however, that are not so harsh… perhaps because the war is near but beyond our border.

MK: Although I think this changed a bit when the rockets fell on the Polish side.

JK: Yes, it is true. Language expresses our emotions, so while it may appear to be an ossified entity, at times it will be very flexible and, despite everything, where there is actually a need, it will change. The same is true of the characterisation of press texts. And in fact, that is how it worked during the pandemic: breakthroughs came quickly. In the beginning, COVID was a downplayed topic – after all, the virus was somewhere far away, but later it appeared in our country. The rhetoric and narrative have completely changed. Later, it was necessary to report on death, problems, disaster, and just such difficult catastrophic sentiments appeared in the headlines… Except that it lasted a few months, because later, unfortunately, the situation returned to normal. I say “unfortunately” because the level of Polish discourse and press and political discourse ranks low, leaving much to be desired. The material I was able to gather from four periodicals will indeed allow at least some reconstruction of the public mood and thoughts accompanying the participants in the discourse, in this case many citizens. Looking at this material allows us to describe the events that happened to us, and also allows us to reconstruct social trends. Headlines are therefore a very interesting research topic, providing us with knowledge about the world.

MK: There is no denying that the topic of pandemics has indeed gone by the wayside. On what basis do you collect data?

JK: The topic has gone away, but sometimes it comes back depending on the place and time. I rather not adapt the material to the topic. The way I operate is that I collect headlines from different places, consistently. I am expanding the collection of these headlines at my disposal. Later, I process and process the material using Korpusomat – one of the valuable tools of digital humanities, which significantly facilitates the undertaking of quantitative analysis, but allows to draw conclusions helpful for qualitative analysis. So I operate on the principle that I collect material. The covid situation was unprecedented and unusual, such was the reality. And when I read those headlines after a while, I thought the topic was interesting and worth taking up, worth noting.

MK: And what are you doing now? Do you continue to research headlines?

JK: Now I am engaged in the study of euphemisms. I am going to reach a little further back than the last few years, as I will be covering the People’s Republic of Poland – and it will not just be headlines anymore, but press texts in general. I would like to see how some areas of life were euphemised. Euphemisation is the replacement of certain taboo expressions or topics with softer expressions, a game between the sender and the receiver. Both sides know about this convention, know the communication code, and adopt euphemism strategies. All this, I believe, allows science to provide information on how certain trends and social phenomena are shaped, which is important, if only for sociological or legal research.

MK: Is this research related to your dissertation?

JK: By complete coincidence, yes. It so happened that the research areas overlap in this case.

MK: Returning to Kuluary. As you mentioned, this is one of the initiatives of the Student Linguistics Student Scientific Association. What else do you do as part of your business and, by the way, how long have you been in existence?

JK: Just to add that recruitment for Kuluary is conducted year-round, applications can be sent to the email address sknj@uwr.edu.pl. If anyone has doubts, we will provide all the information. It is also worth mentioning that Kuluary is the result of the hard work of many people. I thank them all very sincerely for this. The resumption of the publication of student notebooks is a return to times gone by. The association reaches back to important traditions, but also old ones! It will celebrate its 65th anniversary next year. In addition to the publication, the association takes many initiatives and cooperates with various academic centers – Toruń, Poznań, Szczecin, and Lublin. Every year we organise two scientific conferences – the Wrocławskie Kolokwium Polonistyczne and Problemy i zadania współczesnego językoznawstwa. The latter is held at the Ecological Station “Storczyk” in Karpacz, and next year will fall on the last weekend before Easter. In addition, we conduct scientific work. This year we researched materials in the archives of the Pontificium Institutum Studiorum Ecclesiasticorum in Rome [Pontifical Institute of Ecclesiastical Studies – editor’s note]. Among other things, we dealt with documents left over from the Second Republic Embassy to the Holy See. It turned out to be extremely valuable research material. All of this – and work with archives, and work in various places in Poland and abroad – is supposed to show the richness of the scientific world, broaden horizons, and give the opportunity for development. I believe that – no matter where, whether in Wroclaw or Rome – that simply actually works out for us.

MK: Thank you for the interview.