Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.15291/csi.5072

The Linguistic Worldview of the Underground World of the Miedzyrzecz Fortified Region: An Analysis of Selected Concepts

Andrzej Narloch orcid.org/0000-0001-5225-289X ; Adam Mickiewicz, Poznań, Poland *

* Corresponding author.

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present and analyse a unique
body of empirical material–wall inscriptions collected in one
of the largest underground complexes in Europe, a system
of fortifications located in western Poland. Abandoned for
decades, this space has become an arena for diverse forms
of human creativity, including written expression. Over the
years, artists, poets, scouts, and casual visitors have left texts
comprising poems, aphorisms, and philosophical reflections
on the walls. Most of these inscriptions date from the 1980s
and the early twenty-first century.
The article characterises the linguistic and semantic features
of the underground texts, which together form a coherent
linguistic worldview reflecting the authors’ perceptions of
reality, value systems, life orientations, and existential con-
cerns. The author seeks to systematise the collected materi-
al, identify semantic dominants within the textual structure,
and describe the fragment of the underground linguistic
worldview represented therein.
Particular attention is devoted to the dependence of the lin-
guistic worldview of the underground space on the speci-
ficity of its physical environment–the labyrinth of corridors
that leaves a tangible imprint on the texts’ compositional and
semantic organisation. The study demonstrates how individ-
uals conceptualise their sympathies, antipathies, doubts, and
life dilemmas, creating an individualised and often philo-
sophically saturated perspective on the world.
The analysed inscriptions constitute an important example
of cultural heritage and a manifestation of Polish national
identity. The findings possess interdisciplinary potential and
may be applied within linguistic, literary, cultural, sociolog-
ical, and historical research, as well as within the broader
framework of linguistic landscape studies.

Keywords

underground world; concept; linguistic landscape; linguistic worldview

Hrčak ID:

349339

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/349339

Publication date:

14.7.2026.

Article data in other languages: russian croatian

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