International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, IEAS

Academician

Jerzy Bartminski

Profile:

Elected an Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences (IEAS) in 1994, Professor Jerzy Bartmiński (1939–2022) was a leading Polish ethnolinguist and the founder of the Lublin School of Ethnolinguistics, one of the most influential traditions in contemporary Slavic and European linguistic scholarship. Born on 19 September 1939 in Przemyśl, he studied Polish philology at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS) in Lublin, graduating in 1961 and remaining at the university throughout his academic career. He received his doctoral degree in 1971 for research on the language of folklore and subsequently attained a professorship. Elected a Member of the Polish Academy of Learning (Polska Akademia Umiejętności) in 1994, he later served as Professor Emeritus at UMCS and as a researcher at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. His wider academic leadership included founding and serving as Editor-in-Chief of the international annual Etnolingwistyka (1988–2018), chairing the Ethnolinguistic Commission of the International Committee of Slavists, and driving the development of the pan-European EUROJOS research network, which brought together scholars from fourteen countries to investigate language, culture, and shared European values.

Back to list page →

With more than 520 publications, twelve monographs, and approximately 4,600 citations, Professor Bartmiński’s scholarship profoundly influenced the study of language as a cultural phenomenon. His theory of the linguistic worldview (językowy obraz świata) and the method of cognitive definition demonstrated how language encodes collective memory, ethical values, and cultural identity. Initiated in 1996, his major lexicographic work, the Dictionary of Folk Stereotypes and Symbols (Słownik stereotypów i symboli ludowych), represents a landmark contribution to Slavic ethnography and cultural linguistics. His representative works—including Jazykovoj obraz mira (2005), Językowe podstawy obrazu świata (2006), Stereotypy mieszkają w języku (2007), Aspects of Cognitive Ethnolinguistics (2009), and the co-authored Tekstologia (2009)—reflect a sustained intellectual endeavour to explain how language shapes, preserves, and transmits collective understandings of culture, identity, and values across generations and linguistic communities.