Pochlebstwo jako konstytutywna cecha oracji Sejmu Wielkiego

The main objective of this article is to present flatteries in the speeches of the Four-Year Sejm (the Great Sejm 1788–1792). In the first part of the work I describe psychological, sociological and pragmatic aspects of flatteries. Then, I present diversity of these speech acts and analyze the main functions of flatteries in the speeches of parliamentarians. The main conclusion is that flatteries fulfil the functions of persuasion, language etiquette, expression, identification and integration.