This article won 1st place in the 3rd edition of the “Pen of the Logistician” competition.
The subject of this article will be an attempt to look at the language of logistics as a sociolect. Linguistic phenomena related to the way logisticians communicate are relatively fresh, and it is difficult, for the time being, to judge their durability. However, the dynamic development of this field of knowledge, the number of publications and newly created courses or specializations at universities, as well as logistics departments in reputable companies, prompt one to consider how this is reflected in the lexical resources of language users. A sociolect is a variety of language that arises within a human community connected by a certain type of social bond. Some researchers, such as A. Wilkoń, narrow the concept of a sociolect to those varieties that arose in groups other than professional groups. The latter are called professional jargons (profesjolekty), while others simply call them professional dialects. The description of a professional jargon consists primarily of a linguistic characterization of its structure, functions, and the ways of creating and using linguistic means. Along with it, however, a reflection also arises on the nature of the professional group, the type of bond connecting its members, and the so-called hidden content.
The natural material for the professional jargon of logisticians is the scientific and colloquial vocabulary appropriate for the fields that fall within the area of interest of this interdisciplinary branch of knowledge. The vocabulary used in direct contacts, most often oral, during the performance of the profession of a forwarder, warehouseman, or head of a logistics department, bears the hallmarks of colloquialism. It is subordinated to the communicative function, as it facilitates contact thanks to the knowledge of professional realities. It also performs an expressive function, as it reveals an emotional attitude towards the profession performed. The subject of attention in this article will be another layer of the professional jargon of logisticians, namely the layer determined by the institutional, formalized system, realized indirectly through publications of a scientific, popular science, and journalistic nature. It must be noted that in the case of the language of logistics – a social, applied science – the boundary between scientific and technical vocabulary and environmental vocabulary seems fluid. The specific features of the repertoire of linguistic means of this sociolect will be determined on the basis of reading selected publications from the “Logistics Library” publishing series, articles from the “Logistics” magazine, and academic textbooks for the logistics field.
The essence of a sociolect is determined primarily by lexis, i.e., the vocabulary resource. It would be necessary to start by indicating which concepts the adjective logistical is combined with. One can point to the following, still open series of nouns: center, advisor, department, education, company, infrastructure, quality, unit, concept, conference, congress, cost, course, broker, service, operator, entity, subsystem, process, product, point of view, network, specialty, strategy, system, society, service, indicator, support, task, facilities, management. One can encounter two names defining the profession of a person dealing with logistics: the more popular logistyk, and the rarer logista (noted in companies with French capital), formed on the model of: financier, polonist, etc. The Orthographic Dictionary edited by Edward Polański, published by PWN, notes only the form logista. It seems, however, that usage, i.e., linguistic practice, will ultimately win. The frequency criterion clearly points to the form logistyk.