The Role of English in the Shaping of Polish Marketing Discourse

Abstract

The aim of this article is to show the influence of academic and professional marketing English on Polish marketing discourse. In view of Poland’s transformative role in communist Europe, the paper can be regarded as a pilot study for the discussion of the phenomenon addressed in the context of the experience of other post-socialist nations. The analysis of the adaptation of English borrowings was based on numerous documents, participant observations and interviews. Critical Discourse Analysis with qualitative methods was the main methodological approach. The study shows that Polish marketing discourse is a linguistic-cognitive hybrid of Western and Polish cultures. For this hybrid, English has become both a trigger and a marker, as well as a carrier of the power of Western marketing ideology. Terminological borrowings from English were much needed, but in many situations there were conceptual or linguistic problems with their adaptation.