ZMIANY SKŁADNIOWE W WYBRANYCH KONSTRUKCJACH Z BEZOKOLICZNIKIEM W ŚREDNIOWIECZNEJ POLSZCZYŹNIE
SYNTACTIC CHANGES Of SOME STRUCTURES WITH INFINITIVES IN OLD POLISH
Author(s): Agnieszka SłobodaSubject(s): Syntax, Historical Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Western Slavic Languages
Published by: Wydział Polonistyki Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: borrowing; extension; reanalysis; subject; impersonality;
Summary/Abstract: This article discusses the syntactic changes of constructions with infinitives as a subject of a sentence in the Old Polish language. The structures such as powyszyć słuszno Syna Człowieczego ‘it is right to exalt the Son of Man’, have not been explored in depth in Polish historical research. Krystyna Pisarkowa (1984) interpreted the role of the infinitive in such structures as the only formal subject of an impersonal sentence. According to Barbara Bartnicka (1982), in contemporary Polish, the infinitive in such combinations should not be treated as a subject but as an element of analytical modal predicate in non-agentive sentences, due to semantic limitations of predicates. The syntactic change leading to such an interpretation was a result of several processes. The author follows the hypothesis of Harris and Campbell (1995) that there are three basic mechanisms of syntactic change: borrowing, extension, and reanalysis.
Journal: Prace Filologiczne
- Issue Year: 78/2023
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 375-387
- Page Count: 13
- Language: Polish
