Dialogue in and between Different Cultures - International ...

92 Anna Szczepaniak-Kozak
readers can have doubts about the correctness of the decision which a given text
carries but because they must obey the rules originating from the chain of
command, they cannot disobey their commanders’ orders.
At the topicalization level of analysis the similarities between the examined
samples outnumber differences. What the contrasted texts share is the characteristically
high frequency of cases of enumeration. This is obviously the effect of
their normative character. Regulations most often define procedural stages,
organizational cells, or responsibilities, hence the most practical and clear method
of presentation is simply to itemize them. What distinguishes the schools of
writing is the use of visual aids. The investigated NATO documents in English
show a clear tendency to present the maximum of information in some kind of a
graphic representation. In contrast, Polish texts concerning logistics feature very
few visual aids. For that reason, they seem mundane to read or difficult to follow
in some respects.
5. Concept-elaboration stage
As far as the concept-elaboration stage is concerned, it should be stated that both
the NATO texts and their Polish conceptual counterparts feature numerous
instances of exemplification. At the same time, Polish logistic documents gain a
more explanatory character because they use the analogy technique. Unfortunately,
cases of analogy also point to the distorted ideology of the military organizations
in the Warsaw Pact. For example, assumptions about the daily human and
material loss rate in Sample 3 are based on statistics from the National Liberation
War of the USSR from the beginning of the last century.
6. Lexicalizing
Even if the contemporary NATO documents make a greater use of abbreviations,
Polish logistics writing of late seems similar in profile because it features clear
lexical fields of professional vocabulary which can be categorized according to
the service involved. The examined Sample 3 on medical support uses distinctive
vocabulary just like its English counterpart. Similarly, the sets of lexemes which
can be differentiated in Polish Sample 1 converge with English movement and
transportation vocabulary. Obviously, the language of the Polish samples has
some lexical items of high frequency, e.g. przedsięwzięcie (“undertaking”),
wytyczne (“guidelines”) or rubież (“line”). It is also noteworthy that the Polish
samples show some cases of grammatical metaphors, a linguistic feature not observed
in NATO samples, e.g. gniazda rannych (“nests of the injured”), ogniska
strat (“hubs of loss”). Finally, we cannot omit discussing the famous topic of
lexical mistakes in Polish military documents, which used to be a constant target
of mockery among Poles. During Poland’s membership of the Warsaw Pact, these