Terminy „sufiks” i „końcówka” w polskiej terminologii gramatycznej

Abstract

The Terms “Suffix” and “Desinence” among Polish Grammatical TermsThe Polish grammatical tradition seems unique in that the strict limiting of the use of the term “desinence, ending” to inflection and that of “suffix” to word formation is observed. This author arguesagainst an obligatory status of that differentiation. His opinion is that both terms should interchangeablybe used because a special term for an inflectional suffix (= “ending”) generally only produces redundant syntagms as is, for instance, the case with “genitive ending” = “inflectional genitive suffix”. A special problem concerns the English suffix -ing that forms both inflectional forms (a beating boy) and gerunds (beating a boy) and cannot actually be classified as either “suffix” or “desinence” (the fact that the term “gerund” is used for both functions in modern grammars does not eliminate the distinctness of the functions).