Winszowanie i dobre słowo w gwarze

The article analyzes traditional forms of seasonal greetings connected with Christmas, New Year and Easter celebrations. The analysis follows the ethnolinguistic and pragmatic frameworks and draws on the notion of performative utterances (in its broad definition). In the course of analysis of a wide range of wishes and seasonal greetings, both sung and recited, two basic types of such utterances have been established: 1. optative utterances, based on lexicalized expression of modality; 2. performative utterances, based on syntactic structures incorporating modal verbs. The author enriches his linguistic analysis with broader contextual considerations of folk culture and rules of conduct as well as focusing on the reasons of the current decline in the tradition of seasonal greetings.