Salty, enormous, cerulean – the image of water in Polish shanties

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present some profiles of the concept of water at the backdrop of the linguistic image of the world methodology. The analyses have proved that water in the sailors’ songs has the color, taste (usually salty) and the temperature (most often it is cold). It is able to produce sounds, among which some are typically human ones like the laugh, cry or singing. Water is translucent and horizontally expansive. It has its depth and it might be regarded as one of the borderlines that mark the area of the sailor’s universe. In the texts of Polish shanties not only the typical linguistic contexts are being livened but also the original ones that are based on the unique experience of sailing.