Status gramatyczny predykatywnych SZKODA , WSTYD , ŻAL raz jeszcze

Abstract

The apparently nominal forms szkoda ‘pity’, wstyd ‘shame’, zal ‘regret’, when used predicatively, have been analysed either as ‘quasi-verbs’ (inflecting only for tense and mood), or as adverbs, or as nouns. The author recalls and reinforces arguments against their verbal analysis, and shows that such forms are categorially ambiguous. In their adverbial guise, they may be modified by other adverbs, they do not agree with the copula, they may co-occur with a dative experiencer, and they may occur in other predicative constructions, apart from copular constructions. In their nominal guise, they may be modified by adjectives, they agree with the copula, they do not easily combine with a dative experiencer, and they do not occur in other predicative constructions. The author also argues that this categorial ambiguity is correlated with the two copular constructions in Polish: one involving the purely verbal copula byc ‘be’ and the other involving the so-called ‘pronominal’ copula to (byc).