O PROTETYCZNYM UŻYCIU NAGŁOSOWEGO SEGMENTU ŻE- WE WSPÓŁCZESNYM JĘZYKU POLSKIM
On the Supportive Use of the Initial że- Segment in Contemporary Polish

Summary/Abstract: The paper refers to the initial segment że- occurring in the sequences żeśmy, żeście, żeś, which are now commonly used standard Polish inflection in sentences like: Po d³ugiej dyskusji żeśmy postanowili to zaakceptować (After a long discussion we decided to accept it). The analysis leads to the conclusion that the że- segment is not a particle in the sentence; moreover, it cannot be considered a separate unit of the lexical system. Its role is restricted to an external function only, called supportive. It consists in formal supporting of -(e)śmy, -(e)ście, -(e)ś endings in pre-verbal position. As a result, the żeśmy, żeście, żeś sequences were recognized as morphologically indivisible facultative variants of the mobile endings of Polish verbs in the past tense.

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