Contronyms and the Polish Case. The Categories of “the Other” and “one’s Own” in Wojciech Chlebda’s Ethnolinguistic Research

The article presents Wojciech Chlebda’s model of contronyms, developed through his analyses of the cultural concepts of Polska (Poland) and Europa (Europe) in Polish discourse, with a special attention to the identity-building function of the opposition “us/them” (“one’s own/the Other”). The three parts of the article are devoted to: the opposition “us/them” (“one’s own/the Other”) in ethnolinguistic research and discourse analysis, the contronymic division of the cultural concepts Polska and Europa, and the borderland as a space where the “us/them” opposition can be rendered void

Linguistics · Central European Literary Studies · European Cultural and National Identity · History · Language and Culture · Philosophy · Psychology