Nie masz, kto ratując, czyli o staropolskich imiesłowach nieodmiennych czasu teraźniejszego w zdaniach podmiotowych
Nie masz, kto ratując: on uninflected present participles in Old Polish subject clauses

Summary/Abstract: The paper analyzes the curious syntactic behaviour of certain uninflected participles (part. praes. act./adv.) in Old Polish. Examples are drawn from Old Polish translations of the Book of Psalms and certain other sources. Comparing the Latin text and the Old Polish syntactical equivalents, as well as taking into account the Greek, Old Church Slavic as well as Old Czech counterparts, the authors conclude that the forms under discussion could assume the role of a subject — a fact previously unnoticed by scholars. The authors present this unusual usage of participles in Old Polish against the background of a critical analysis of previous treatments of the subject, at the same time pleading for greater terminological precision and a systematic consideration of the broader Slavic background.

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