Inter-Slavic contact at Polish airports: intercomprehension, L2 learning, and linguae francae

This paper reports on a field investigation of the communicative strategies observed at Polish international airports. The topic is particularly relevant in light of the lexical and grammatical proximity between the most common languages of the area – Polish and East Slavic (Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian) – which in principle allows for partial mutual intelligibility. Data were collected through unobtrusive observation of naturally occurring interactions involving Polish speakers, primarily employees of airport services, and East Slavic speakers (mainly travellers). The analysis reveals a continuum of communicative strategies, ranging from the use of linguae francae, through various forms of L2 use, to prototypical intercomprehension.