Geszeft i landara: o przyczynach pejoratywizacji zapożyczeń

Abstract

In evolution of a language, words, occasionally, are affected by a more pejorative or ameliorated effect on their meaning, i.e. deterioration or improvement of their content. The mechanism of these phenomena is not completely clear, and their causes have not been explained in sufficient detail. This article focuses on several words whose meaning has become significantly more pejorative under the influence of factors which were both external or internal with respect to the language. Among the latter ones attention was predominantly paid to the effect of words of similar structure carrying negative features.