The special feature of this seventh volume in the general series and fourteenth in the entire set of this journal published since 1991, currently as the official journal of Adam Mickiewicz University Institute of Oriental studies in existence only since May 1, 2005, is again a compact section entitled "Research on languages of China" which contains further results of our engagement in research of China's minority languages and cooperation with specialists themselves descending from the minority groups involved and creating the new intelligentsia emerging in minority societies but for the first time included are also preliminary results of our interest in the enormous diversity of interwoven ethnolects classified as dialects or varieties of Chinese and even the variety considered the official national language of China in one of its most official manifestations, the language of law. The contents are complemented with two contributions unrelated to the said section, one contributing to our even better understanding of both the structure of the Japanese language as well as the intricate communication strategies of its native users, and the other presenting an equally intricate, and very little known outside the very narrow circle of insiders, community of Samaritans living in two groups divided by the border between Israel and the Palestinian Autonomy and their origin.
With the foundation, in fact the upgrading of the former Chair of Oriental Studies to the rank of the Institute of Oriental Studies at Poznań and subsequently handing over the Linguistic and Oriental studies from Poznań to the Institute, the decision was made to call into existence a new expanded Editorial Board consisting in the first place of elected senior research workers of the Institute and to modify the process of editing the journal. We hope to be in the position to announce first names in this volume but it will necessarily take some time to work out the new formula for the journal. Needless to say, the editor did not function in a vacuum but was strongly and efficiently supported by friendly and disinterested, often timeconsuming, advice and other indispensable assistance from numerous great persons from all over the world. Herewith I do express my most sincere gratitude and my assurance of utmost obligation. With some we had to part forever and we bid farewell to them on the pages of the journal. It is my hope that with the new formula we will still be able to count on support and cooperation.

Spis treści:

Editor's Preface

Stefan SCHORCH (Bielefeld) The Origin of the Samaritan Community

Arkadiusz JABŁOŃSKI (Poznań) What is and What Should Never Be. The Recognition of Problems Concerning NP Deletion in Grammars and Textbooks of Japanese

RESEARCH ON LANGUAGES OF CHINA

Maria KURPASKA (Poznań) The Language Policy of the People's Republic of China and the Dialects of Chinese

Alfred F. MAJEWICZ (Poznań and Stęszew) Recent Developments in Lesser-used Language Protection in European Union with Projection on China's Minority Language Situation

BAI Bibo & Xu Xianming (Yuxi, China) Hani Marriage Customs (2). Love Songs - Hani Language Texts

BAI Bibo & Xu Xianming (Yuxi, China) Hani Language Preservation and Literacy in Hani Under Globalization

ZHu Liyong (Yuxi, China) Investigation Report on the Current Situation of Hani Language in Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China

Xu Xianming & BAI Bibo (Yuxi, China) Linguistic Relationship Between the Bai Nationality and the Neighboring Hani Nationality in Yuanjiang County

Halina WASILEWSKA (Poznań) The Script Varieties of the Traditional Yi Writing

Alfred F. MAJEWICZ (Poznań and Stęszew) Research Results on 'Newly Discovered Minority Languages' in China

Wojciech JAKÓBIEC (Poznań) Die Unterscheidung zwischen Gesetzesspreche und Juristen-sprache in festlandchinesischer Rechtssprache

W. Wilfried Schuhmacher (Gadstrup, Denmark) In the Wake of Vilhelm Thomsen: jotaz (jotuz ?) 'gens, domestiques'

W. Wilfried Schuhmacher (Gadstrup, Denmark) On the Origin of Nias Daf3a 'foreigner'

REVIEWS

Werner WINTER 2005. Kleine Schriften //Selected Writings in zwei Banden. Festgabe aus Anlass des 80. Geburtstags. Ausgewahlt und herausgegeben von Olav HACKSTEIN. Bremen: Hempen Verlag. Vols. 1-2 (Alfred F. Majewicz, Poznań and Stęszew) Xu Shixuan 2001. The Bisu Language. Lincom Europa (Alfred F. Majewicz, Poznań and Stęszew)

Hiroko STORM 2003. A Handbook of Japanese Grammar. LincomEuropa (Alfred F. Ma-jewicz, Poznań and Stęszew)

Noriko KATSUKI-PESTEMER 2003. Japanese Postpositions. Theory and Practice. Lincom Europa (Alfred F. Majewicz, Poznań and Stęszew)

Tsutomu AKAMATSU 1997. Japanese Phonetics. Theory and Practice. Lincom Europa (Alfred F. Majewicz, Poznań and Stęszew)

GAO Fayuan (ed.) 2001. Manzu - Baoshan Wafang xiang Shuigouwa cun. Manchu - Shui-gouwa village, Wafang in Baoshan, investigation of minority villages in Yunnan] (Halina Wasilewska, Poznań)

E. R. TENISHEV (ed.) 2002. ... [comparative-historical grammar of Turkic languages, regional reconstructions]. - Moskva: Nauka (Yuri Tambovtsev, Novosibirsk)

A selection of recent publications that reached the Editors' desk