Niniejsza publikacja stanowi rzetelne opracowanie językoznawcze z zakresu leksykografii dotyczące klasyfikacji tematycznej polskiego słownictwa współczesnego na tle innych polskich i europejskich hierarchizacji. Barbara Batko-Tokarz jest twórcą najnowszej tematycznej klasyfikacji współczesnego słownictwa zastosowanej w elektronicznym Wielkim słowniku języka polskiego PAN. Przedmiotem niniejszej książki są teoretyczne i praktyczne problemy podziału tematycznego słownictwa współczesnej polszczyzny wykorzystanego w tym ważnym opracowaniu leksykograficznym.

Monografię otwiera obszerny wstęp, w którym opisano perspektywę badawczą przyjętą w pracy, a także scharakteryzowano polskie słowniki tematyczne na tle słowiańskiej i zachodnioeuropejskiej leksykografii tematycznej oraz zaprezentowano terminologię stosowaną w europejskich oraz polskich słownikach o strukturze hierarchicznej. Stanowi on bardzo dobre wprowadzenie do zagadnień leksykograficznych przedstawionych w kolejnych partiach rozprawy. Pierwsza część książki to rzetelna, całościowa charakterystyka różnorodnych klasyfikacji tematycznych słownictwa występujących w polskich i europejskich słownikach i innych pracach powstających od starożytności do początku XXI wieku. Druga, zasadnicza część pokazuje autorski schemat klasyfikacyjny. Barbara Batko-Tokarz dokonała krytycznego przeglądu systemów klasyfikacyjnych mogących posłużyć teoretycznie do realizacji tego zadania i na tym tle przedstawiła podstawowe decyzje dotyczące charakteru i kształtu opracowanego przez nią systemu klasyfikacyjnego. Następnie zaprezentowała zawartość poszczególnych 7 sfer tematycznych, a w ich obrębie 45 pól tematycznych i 205 podpól.

W zakończeniu autorka podsumowała swoje analizy, zwracając uwagę na to, że podziały tematyczne słownictwa są funkcjonalne z perspektywy glottodydaktycznej, a także wartościowe dla rodzimego użytkownika języka, który chciałby poszerzyć lub odświeżyć swój zasób leksykalny. Jestem przekonana, że wydana drukiem propozycja klasyfikacji tematycznej słownictwa współczesnego języka polskiego z pewnością te funkcje spełni w sposób znaczący.
Z recenzji dr hab. Bożeny Sieradzkiej-Baziur

The subject of this dissertation is the description of theoretical and practical problems with the thematic division of vocabulary in the modern Polish language. The main inspiration for taking an interest in such subject was working on the Polish Academy of Sciences Great Dictionary of Polish - the first primarily electronic lexicon of the modern Polish language. From the beginning of its creation, the makers of the lexicon have been using in practice the concept of the thematic classification of vocabulary, which was developed by the author and described in this book from the theoretical point of view. However, the author takes the concept as the starting point for a more universal thought on the thematic division of vocabulary in modern Polish. That is why, the author presented a broad research background related to the issues described in this dissertation. The thematic order has been present in lexicography from the very beginning, and since the middle of the 20th century it has been getting more and more popular. However, in the theoretical description it has not been given proper attention. According to the author’s idea, both the introduction and the first part of the dissertation attempt to fill in that gap. In the introductory part, the general status of the Polish and European thematic lexicography was described, as well as varied terminology applied with reference to such lexicons. The first part of the dissertation includes a detailed description of using the method of thematic classification throughout the ages of the Polish lexicography against the background of the European thematic lexicography and other linguistic studies based on that method. The first chapter of this part is dedicated to such lexicons described in a chronological order, from the beginning of lexicography to the end of the 1st part of the 20th century. In the second chapter one may find the description of works, especially lexicographic ones, which apply the chronological order from the middle of the 20th century. They were presented in a typological order, from territorial variants of the Polish language or various linguistic variants, through phraseological and pedagogical lexicons, modern lexicons based on historical materials, to the most modern electronic lexicographic projects. It made it possible for the author to indicate the most important trends in the Polish thematic lexicography of the 20th and 21st century. The third chapter of this part was dedicated to the theoretical issues related to the studies that had been presented before. The author described the most important sources of inspiration of the Polish thematic lexicography, their various types and ways of construction resulting from various objectives of those lexicons, as well as advantages of such way of presenting the vocabulary, its disadvantages and the ways of eliminating them. However, the main subject of this dissertation includes the presentation of the author’s concept of thematic classification of the modern Polish vocabulary for the needs of lexicography. It is because the author had to create detailed principles of carrying out such classification. It was necessary to make several important decisions which were presented against the broader background of the works described in the first part. In the first chapter, the basic assumptions for the principles of carrying out such thematic classification were presented. They refer to which units it should include, what is associated with the polysemy of the classified lexemes, what is the basic problem related to this method, and which lexical groups should be treated as thematic ones, i.e. those which are subject to such division. Another fundamental issue was the thematic network making it possible to carry out such classification. The author, after a critical review of various Polish and European schemes, decided that none of them is able to process the numerous and varied words included in the lexicon of the modern Polish language. Therefore, it was necessary to built, independently and from scratch, a scheme that would fulfil such task. It was to be a theoretical construction to which developing lexicon entries were to be classified. The author decided that it would be best if it was a three-level pyramidal construction showing anthropocentric and reasonable way of perceiving the reality. It consist of 7 spheres which include 45 fields that were built from 205 sub-fields being the basic place of classifying the linguistic material. In the second chapter, the author presented the detailed description of the planned thematic scope of particular spheres, fields and sub-fields that are to reflect the universe of the modern Polish language, however, with references to classification schemes already mentioned in the first part, as spheres or fields with similar names may have completely different thematic scopes, e.g. the sphere related to social life. The author paid more attention to thematic categories which are rarely separated in other classification schemes, justifying why she highlighted them, and showing related advantages (e.g. the sphere that describes everyday human life or thematic fields that are to gather more and more frequent Polish words specifying modern technologies, business issues, professional relations, ecology, etc.). In the third chapter of the part, the author presented different ways of completing thematic fields, and then - her own method of thematic classification of lexicon entries. She also found it important to discuss the problems related to overlapping of particular fields and related difficulties. The author hopes that the above presented concept of thematic classification of the modern Polish vocabulary may be useful not only in the perspective of a specific lexicographic work, but also in the context of other - present or future - studies applying the thematic layout. It is good to pay attention to such issues as thematic divisions of vocabulary are very useful, both for the native and non-native language user, and the theoretical reflection on them is still unsatisfactory.