Jan Franciszek Miodek (born 7 June 1946 in

Tarnowskie Góry Tarnowskie Góry (German: ''Tarnowitz''; szl, Tarnowske Gōry) is a town in Silesia, southern Poland, located in the Silesian Highlands near Katowice. On the south it borders the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union, a megalopolis, the greater Si ...

Silesian Voivodeship Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province ( pl, województwo śląskie ) is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centered on the historic region known as Upper Silesia ('), with Katowice serving as its capital. Despite the Silesian V ...

), is a Polish

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

, a prescriptive grammarian and a Professor of

Wrocław University Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, ro ...

. He is regarded as one of the most prominent educators and promoters of the standard

Polish language Polish (Polish: ''język polski'', , ''polszczyzna'' or simply ''polski'', ) is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group written in the Latin script. It is spoken primarily in Poland and serves as the native language of the Poles. In a ...

Life and career

He was born on 7 June 1946, in

. His father was Franciszek Miodek and his mother was Janina (née Kowalska). In 1963, he graduated from the

Stanisław Staszic Stanisław Wawrzyniec Staszic (baptised 6 November 1755 – 20 January 1826) was a leading figure in the Polish Enlightenment: a Catholic priest, philosopher, geologist, writer, poet, translator and statesman. A physiocrat, monist, pan-Slavis ...

High School No.2 in Tarnowskie Góry. Since 1967, he has been working as a columnist in ''Gazeta Wrocławska'' newspaper, running the weekly "Rzecz o języku" linguistic column. Since 1989 he has held the post of the head (director) of the Institute of Polish Philology at the Wrocław University. Between 1987-2007, he hosted a popular weekly

TV program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

''Ojczyzna polszczyzna'' devoted to the

. He also created such programs as ''Profesor Miodek odpowiada'' and ''Słownik polsko@polski''. Since 2015, he has co-hosted the ''Polska z Miodkiem'' ("Poland with Miodek") program in which he discusses the

etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

of various words in the Polish language.

Awards and honours

* Wojciech Korfanty Award *Wiktor Award (1988, 1991, 1998) *Superwiktor Award (1998) *

Honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

of the

Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences Vytautas Magnus University Education Academy ( lt, Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto Švietimo akademija or VDU ŠA) – an academical unit of Vytautas Magnus University, which specialized in preparing school teachers and other educators. Located i ...

*Honorary degree of the

Opole University The University of Opole ( pl, Uniwersytet Opolski) is a public university in the city of Opole. It was founded in 1994 from a merger of two parallel educational institutions. The university has 17,500 students completing 32 academic majors and 53 ...

*Honorary Citizen of the City of

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

*Honorary Citizen of the City of

*Silver

Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

(2015)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miodek, Jan 1946 births Living people People from Tarnowskie Góry Linguists from Poland

Life and career

Awards and honours

See also

References