Connotations culturelles dans la perspective humboldtienne. Étude comparative des unités phraséologiques du français et du polonais

The main idea of this article is to indicate the relation of language and culture through reference to Humboldtian philosophy of language and some linguistic theories which lake up this problem. The analysis presented here deals with cultural connotations of idiomatic expressions and assuming that languages are representations that render the spirit of nations, it illustrates particular aspects of relationship between language and culture, namely: - placing expressions in the cultural specificity of particular communities, - difficulties encountered while translating them into another language, which are connected with differences in illustrating them (giving their picture). Examples collected in the further part are to show a certain group of these idiomatic expressions which are motivated immediately by social reality that is specific of either the Polish or the French nation.