Bilingwizm polsko-włoski i tożsamość kulturowa emigracji okołosolidarnościowej we Włoszech

The subject of this book titled "Polish-Italian Bilingualism and the Cultural Identity of Polish Emigrants in Italy before and during the Solidarność period" is a description of Polish-Italian bilingualism as well as an analysis of the process of shaping cultural identity of Polish emigrants moved to Italy between 1956 and 1999. The research carried out is of an interdisciplinary sort and employs advances in linguistics, ethnography of speaking, linguistic anthropology, psychology and sociology. Narrative and qualitative approaches have been used as well as the method of case studies. The perception of the phenomenon of bilingualism presented in the thesis is close to those perceptions expressed in the definitions enunciated by U. Weinreich, E. Haugen and R. Titone. The linguistic behavior of the respondents has been examined by means of formal and functional analysis. The author shows that one of the criteria of choosing a particular language is related to the emotional expressive power which is distinctive of each of the two languages and which ought to be examined in a proper communicative context. When analyzing the formation process of the bilingual respondents’ cultural identity, the author refers to these respodents’ own statements and to the theories of A. Kłoskowska, E. Erikson, A. Maslow, J.C.Turner and H. Tajfel. Applying the affective criterion, the author has distinguished 6 types of identity attitudes, the most important of which is the over-particularist cultural and national identity, an attitude which is not oriented around a specific language or culture, but is related to a particular emotional state or a psychological need which is predominant in a certain period of the respondent’s life.