Variant Forms of the Pronouns mój, twój, swój (Possessive Adjectives My, Your, One’s) in Mickiewicz’s Phraseology

Abstract

The variant forms of the possessive pronouns mój, twój, swój are the full (non-contracted) forms, eg. mojego, swoją, and the short (contracted) ones, eg. mego, swą. Those possessive pronouns that may be a component – usually in a fixed form – of a phrase are the subject of the article. The aim of the work is to show in what phrases, in Adam Mickiewicz’s works, the possessive pronouns mój, twój, swój occur and to attempt answering the question: what does using the short or the long forms depend on.

The study is based on The Glossary of Adam Mickiewicz’s Language. Phrases are discussed that include possessive pronouns in the non-contracted form, then ones including variant forms, and finally phrases with contracted forms. Phrases with possessive pronouns that have the function of a noun are studied separately. Only those phrases that are easily joined are discussed, whereas the loose ones are omitted.