"Historia języka polskiego" Zenona Klemensiewicza a potrzeba nowej syntezy

Zenon Klemensiewicz’s "Historia języka polskiego" (‘History of the Polish Language’), and the Need of a New Synthesis Prof. Zenon Klemensiewicz authored handbooks of contemporary Polish grammar, historical Polish grammar, syntax, and history of the Polish language. The latter constitutes his crowning achievement, and remains to this day the most important synthesis of Polish linguistic history. Half a century has passed since its publication. In this time, many monographies have been published which present the evolution of the language in various epochs; moreover, multiple monographies have been devoted to vocabulary and word-formation. These works justify the need to prepare a new synthesis. Such a synthesis is also needed for another reason: it must make use of new methodological concepts. For example, the description needs to pay attention to the communicative aspect. A new, multi-volume synthesis ought to be a collective work, developed by a team of the most distinguished historians of the Polish language.