Until 31st December, one can vote for a word or expression which, in their opinion, has great resonance for the year 2019. Słowo Roku 2019 (Word of the Year 2019) will be announced at the beginning of January by the UW linguists who organise the event.

What Polish word has attracted a great deal of interest over the last 12 months? Everyone is invited to either choose a word or expression from the list posted on the website http://sloworoku.uw.edu.pl/ or submit own proposals.

The candidates for the Word of the Year might be nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc. However, organisers will not accept surnames, proper names of people, places and institutions.

The poll is organised for the 9th time. The winner of the last edition is “konstytucja” (constitution).

This year proposals include, e.g. “klimat” (climate), “nauczyciel” (teacher), and “strajk” (strike), “wybory” (elections), “nienawiść (hatered), “hulajnoga” (scooter), and “równość” (equality).

Other countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the Czech Republic also choose their word of the year. Recently, the editors of “Oxford English Dictionary” have named “climate emergency” as its 2019 Word of the Year. Collins Dictionary, for example, picked “climate strike” as its word.

UW linguists are among a panel of experts who choose the word. The panel includes: Prof. Jerzy Bartmiński (Maria Curie Sklodowska University in Lublin), Prof. Jerzy Bralczyk (the University of Warsaw), Prof. Katarzyna Kłosińska (the University of Warsaw), Prof. Ewa Kołodziejek (the University of Szczecin), Prof. Marek Łaziński (the University of Warsaw), Prof. Andrzej Markowski (the University of Warsaw), Prof. Jan Miodek (the University of Wrocław), Prof. Renata Przybylska (the Jagiellonian University, Cracow) and Prof. Halina Zgółkowa (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań).

Year 2025/2026

May 27: “We Shall Meet at the Crossroads, Where Nothing and Everything Grows: Imaginations of Nature and Culture in the Hungarian New Weird.”

May 22, 2026

Hear, hear! Weird Fictions Research Group is teaming up with Speculative Texts and Media Research Group for the final meeting in the “Weird Vegetation” series.

American Studies Colloquium Series

May 28: “Extroverted Financialization: Banking on USD Debt”

May 21, 2026

We are pleased to invite you to the last lecture of the American Studies Colloquium Series in the 2025/2026 Spring semester! This time we are pleased to host Mareike Beck with a lecture “Extroverted Financialization: Banking on USD Debt”.

Year 2025/2026

May 25: “Standing Woman – Fear Takes Root: Exploring Eco-Horror and dystopia through short film practice”.

May 20, 2026

Weird Fictions Research Group is pleased to invite you to an online film screening and conversation with Max Gee (University of Salford), the writer behind the short film Standing Woman. Join us on Zoom to watch the film together and learn more about arts-based research practices and eco-horror.

Year 2025/2026

May 20: “In the Orbit of Empire: Space, Race, and Inequality in Brazil and the United States”

May 18, 2026

Join us for the next lecture in the ‘Western Hemisphere Lecture Series’! This time we are pleased to host Sean T. Mitchell from Rutgers University, Newark with a lecture titled “In the Orbit of Empire: Space, Race, and Inequality in Brazil and the United States”.

Year 2025/2026

May 19: “Bummerland: Ruin and Restoration in Trump’s New America”

May 18, 2026

Join us for a public talk titled “Bummerland: Ruin and Restoration in Trump’s New America” by Randolph R. Lewis (University of Texas at Austin).