Correctness of the Paratactic Syntactic Structure with the Correlated Conjunction: Jak..., Tak (I)

Abstract

Polish dictionaries regulating language use are not consistent in their evaluating the correct use of words or grammatical constructions. This lack of consistency is noticeable within a single dictionary, let alone different dictionaries, even those published by PWN (Polish Scholarly Publishing): Wielki słownik ortograficzny (Great Orthographic Dictionary) or Wielki słownik poprawnej polszczyzny (Great Dictionary of Correct Polish). The inconsistency in question can be illustrated by the correctness judgements concerning the paratactic syntactic structure with the correlated conjunction jak..., tak (i)/tak..., jak (i) [as..., so/as...] as well as a similar construction with the complex conjunction jak i [and also...]. This text discusses how the above-mentioned structures are handled in the past and present publications devoted to correct language use. The data collected make the author conclude upon the use of the above-discussed constructions in Polish, and lead her to formulate a set of proposals concerning increasing the consistency of the correctness criteria for their use.