Event-based time in Polish culture and language

Abstract

This paper deals with a corpus study of event-based time concepts. Here we investigate their use in time reckoning practices in modern Polish culture and language. The results presented here are based on a cognitive-conceptual and linguistic analysis of the Polish National Linguistic Corpus (NKJP). These results suggest that Polish has rich inventories of lexical and phrasal expressions for event-based time intervals based on environmental and celestial indices and social norms that have not previously been described from a cognitive, anthropological, and cultural perspective. Event-based time intervals found in domains of times of day and night, are here presented. We hypothesize that even when the Polish language employs conventional metric (calendar and clock) time units, the hybrid blends of day/night cycle and cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) could reveal an emergent form of time conceptualization. This conceptual and cultural hybridization is still common among the users of the Polish language and is indicative of complexity and dynamism in body-environment interactions. This interaction is schematized in twofold conceptual constructions of event-based and metric time, blending processes that may generate more creative enactions as an alternative to the mechanical 24-hour system.