Słowa roku w czeskim dyskursie publicznym

Abstract

The aim of the article is to analyse the so-called words of the year used in the Czech public discourse in the years of 2006–2014. In the Czech Republic this event takes the form of a plebiscite conducted among readers of “Lidové noviny” newpaper. The words selected in the Czech contest Words of the Year have a different character than their Polish counterparts. It seems that they were chosen mainly to the attractive context in which they were used, which is related to the profile of people voting for them. An average reader of “Lidové nowiny” newspaper is more often driven by attractiveness of the meaning of the lexeme, context, in which it is used, less often its form, unless it evokes specific associations. A great number of these words are quotes from politicians, relating to internal affairs. From the lexicological point of view, lexical neologisms prevail among the Czech set of words of the year. Among them one can distinguish word formation neologisms (rychlostudent), semantic neologisms (šibal, odklonit, viróza) and borrowings (blob, pussy, fotovoltaika). Other words are native or foreign words used in texts adapted to the Czech language (metanol, poplatky) a long time ago.