Markierung der (In)Definitheit im Polnischen. Erste Ansätze von Grammatikalisierung der polnischen Demonstrativa?
Marking of (In)Definiteness in Polish. Initial Stages of Grammaticalization of Polish Demonstrative Pronouns?

Summary/Abstract: This contribution discusses, on the one hand, the conventional way in which (in)defi niteness is marked in Polish which does not possess articles. On the other hand, new linguistic developments will be focused upon, namely the increased frequency of appearance of determining pronouns, especially the demonstrative pronoun ten. Since the use of demonstrative pronouns allows for a defi nite way of reading, the question arises whether in this case the process of their transformation from lexical to grammatical signs has already begun. Based upon the corpus it shall be tested whether initial stages of grammaticalization of Polish demonstrative pronouns can be identifi ed. This paper also addresses the role of the article, which is one of the most important features of language to indicate (in)defi niteness, in languages that have articles. For this purpose, German will be used for comparison.

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