ZMIANY W SYSTEMIE GRAMATYCZNYM POLSZCZYZNY PO ROKU 1918 (FLEKSJA, SŁOWOTWÓRSTWO, SKŁADNIA)
Changes in the grammatical system of Polish after 1918 (inflection, word formation, syntax)

Summary/Abstract: This paper is an attempt to demonstrate the most significant trends in the evolution of the grammatical system of the Polish language in the conventional period of the past century. Grammar, which determines the identity of a language, evolves much more slowly than vocabulary. The trend to simplify the system, which can be observed on the example of verbal inflection (decline of the past perfect tense, immobilisation of personal suffixes), and – to a lesser extent – nominal inflection (regression of the vocative case), is one of intra-linguistic changes. Many changes have social grounds, e.g. the increase in the level of education and the culture of writing results in the progressing intellectualisation of forms of expression, which is manifested e.g. by using analytical prepositions in syntax or compounds in word formation. Finally, the changes in the social status of women are reflected in the category of appellative feminatives and surnames. Observable at the end of the Modern Polish period, the trend to expose gender in language, which diminished in the post-war period of the Polish People’s Republic, has become more dynamic for the past two decades.

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