Linguistic Manifestations of Valuation in the Social Media Content of the Siberian Memorial Museum

Abstract

The deportations of the Polish population to Siberia represent some of the most dramatic experiences of the last century. In 2020 and 2021, we commemorated the 80th anniversaries of the largest mass deportations, which affected approximately 1.7 million Poles. For many years, however, Soviet policies towards Poles remained a taboo subject, only being openly discussed starting in the late 1980s. Today, as the last witnesses of these events pass away, their accounts are transitioning from communicative memory to the cultural memory of the nation. Numerous individuals and institutions work to preserve this knowledge for future generations.

In 2021, the Siberian Memorial Museum (MPS) was established, dedicated entirely to the history of Poles in Siberia. The museum organizes various events and publishes materials aimed at presenting Siberian history to a broad audience. In its publications, the MPS employs various linguistic evaluation strategies, evident in lexical choices and evaluative speech acts, such as propositions.

This article aims to conduct a lexical and cultural analysis of Instagram posts and examine how valuation is expressed through language. The research is guided by the methodologies of axiolinguistics and speech act theory.