Staropolskie konstrukcje z przyimkami

Abstract

Old Polish constructions with prepositions. A short synthesis
 Structures with prepositional expressions constitute a large collection of Old Polish constructions that underwent multiple linguistic processes. As the starting point of my considerations, I assume that prepositions are not functional syntactic units. A syntactic unit, i.e. an element, is a prepositional expression, i.e. a preposition together with the nomen in the appropriate case. Prepositional expressions are an analytical form that is functionally equivalent to an inflectional case, a synthetic form. Structures with cases are considerably lexicalized in Old Polish, and the processes in which they participate are not innovative – while processes in which prepositional expressions take part radically reorganize the area of relations based on categorical spacial meanings. It is mainly the preposition itself that carries the meaning, while other ingredients of the context, especially the nomen linked by the preposition, must harmonize with it. All the other categorical spacial meanings, of which there is more than fifty, are created with the participation of a broader context. Taking this into account, I consider a majority of categorical non-spacial meanings to be transformations of spacial meanings. They can be more or less distinct; the less distinct they are, the greater the probability of a rise of government, i.e. of a formal schema “announced” by the verb.