Nazwy terenowe jako czynnik utrwalający gwarę

The main purpose of this article is to present how geographical names (microtoponyms) acquire slang names. The site of inquiry is the area of Wręczyca Wielka, which contains the names of different physiographic objects, e. g. fields, meadows, forests, paths. The data was collected from 2011 to 2015 during the informal utterances of the oldest and middle generations of the inhabitants of the area. The analysis also contains the justifications for the microtoponyms. The linguistic material was collected in the area near Kłobuck in the north of the Silesian Province. The first part of this article is devoted to the main transformation of the Polish rural areas after 1945. The latter parts of the text present e.g. the fact that microtoponyms sustain phonetic slang features which do not exist in contemporary slang, and the fact that geographical names are one of the elements of folk culture, as well as the link between the former and contemporary folk image.