WILEŃSKIE KONSTRUKCJE Z SIĘ (ekskurs diachroniczny)
Vilnius constructions with się ‛oneself’ (a diachronic excursus)

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on passive constructions with się ‛oneself’, common in today’s Vilnius variant of Polish (e.g. Karty telefoniczne kupują się w kiosku ‛Phone cards are bought at a newsagent’s, literally: Phone cards buy themselves at a newsagent’s). At first glance, one could consider these constructions as a Belarusian or Russian syntactic calque. However, they are only ostensibly loan translations from Belarusian or Russian, because they should be considered as an archaism originating from the northern borderlands of Poland, known in common Polish starting from the 16th century, and they have almost completely disappeared in the 20th century. The author examines the history of these constructions and the reason of their disappearance in common Polish.

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