Polish Predicational Clauses with the Preposition z ‘of’

Anna Bondaruk

Anna Bondaruk The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Faculty of Humanities

Keywords: predicational clauses; Polish; Minimalist Program; information structure; control

Abstract

The paper aims at providing a syntactic analysis of one minor type of predicational clauses in Polish in which the logical subject figures as a complement of the preposition z ‘of’, whereas the predicate is marked for the nominative case. The theoretical model used here is the Minimalist Program of Chomsky (2000, 2001, 2008). Z-predicational sentences have not been systematically analysed so far and the only available analysis, that of Hentschel (2001), concentrates on determining the restrictions on the type of the PP complement and the nominative DP as well as on discovering the grammatical subject of this type of sentence. It is argued in the paper that the prepositional complement in the clauses under consideration tends to be definite and referential, while the nominative DP must always be indefinite and non-referential. Based on agreement and control, it has been demonstrated that it is the nominative DP that acts as a grammatical subject in this type of copular clauses. Moreover, this DP is always targeted for Agree by T and ends up in the canonical subject position, i.e. Spec, TP. Whenever the PP precedes the subject, it is topicalised and hence moved to Spec, CP. The different positions of the PP and the DP with respect to each other underline their different information structure in the given sentences.

References

Bailyn, John, and Barbara Citko (1999). “Case and agreement in Slavic predicates.” In H. Coats, K. Dziwirek, and C.M. Vakareliyska (eds.), Annual Workshop on Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics: The Seattle Meeting, 17–37. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Michigan Slavic Publications.

Bondaruk, Anna (2013). Copular Clauses in English and Polish. Structure, Derivation and Interpretation. Lublin: Wydawnictwo KUL.

Bowers, John (1993). “The syntax of predication.” Linguistic Inquiry 24: 591–656.

Bowers, J. (2001). Predication. In M. Baltin, and Ch. Collins (eds.), The Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Theory, 299–333. Oxford: Blackwell.

Chomsky, Noam (2000). “Minimalist inquiries: The framework.” In R. Martin, D. Michaels, and J. Uriagereka (eds.), Step by Step, 89–155. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Chomsky, Noam (2001). “Derivation by phase.” In M. Kenstowicz (ed.), Ken Hale. A Life in Language, 1-52. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Chomsky, Noam (2008). “On phases.” In R. Freidin, C. P. Otero, and M.L. Zubizarreta (eds.), Foundational Issues in Linguistic Theory. Essays in Honor of Jean-Roger Vergnaud, 134–166. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Citko, Barbara (2008). “Small clauses reconsidered: Not so small and not all alike.” Lingua 118: 261-295.

Dziwirek, Katarzyna (1994). Polish Subjects. New York and London: Garland Publishing Inc.

Grochowski, Maciej, Stanisław Karolak, and Zuzanna Topolińska (1984). Gramatyka współczesnego języka polskiego. Składnia. [Grammar of the contemporary Polish language. Syntax]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

Hentschel, Gerd (2001). “On the perspectivisation of noun phrases in copula sentences, mainly in Polish: (Y) to (jest) X and similar phenomena.” In V. S. Chrakovskij, M. Grochowski, and G. Hentschel (eds.), Studies on the Syntax and Semantics of Slavonic Languages, 161–213. Oldenburg: Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Universität Oldenburg.

Higgins, Roger (1979). The Pseudo-Cleft Construction in English. New York: Garland.

Mikkelsen, Line (2005). Copular Clauses. Specification, Predication and Equation. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Müller, Gereon (1998). Incomplete Category Fronting: A Derivational Approach to Remnant Movement in German. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

Nagórko, Alicja (1996). Zarys gramatyki polskiej [An outline of Polish grammar]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

Przepiórkowski, Adam, Mirosław Bańko, Rafał L. Górski, and Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk (2012). Narodowy Korpus Języka Polskiego. [National Corpus of the Polish Language]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

Slioussar, Natalia (2011). “Russian and the EPP requirement in the Tense domain.” Lingua 121: 2048–2068.

Żychliński, Sylwiusz (2013). “On some aspects of the syntax of object Experiencers in Polish and English.” Ph.D. Dissertation, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań.