Wybrane zjawiska fleksyjno-składniowe we współczesnej polszczyźnie

Abstract

This article focuses on three different grammatical phenomena that can be observed in contemporary Polish: the expansiveness of the -a ending in the Gen. sing., masculine inanimate nouns declension; changes within the accentual patterns of nominal pronouns; the problem with using adverbial participles related to the so-called identity of subjects. From the point of view of a structured description of language, the phenomena in question have a different status. In the case of the former, there is a visible tendency to extend the ending -a to further semantic groups of inanimate nouns but, as the figures obtained from the Grammatical Dictionary of Polish Language indicate, for masculine inanimate common nouns (m3) the ending -u is dominant. However, the proportions balance out when proper names are considered. There has also been a clear shift in accentuation patterns, with a tendency to abandon the formal distinction between accented and unaccented forms of nominal pronouns, which is also an example of linguistic change among generations. Replacing cię (‘you’), ci (‘for you’) by ciebie (‘you’), tobie (‘for you’) is not yet as common as the initial mi (‘for me’) instead of mnie (‘for me’), but the phenomenon is stabilizing and will probably eventually lead to changes in the nominal pronouns paradigm. By contrast, the third analyzed phenomenon remains clearly within the scope of the text. The growing suggestions to simplify the rules governing the use of adverbial participles do not apply to the constructions described in the article, which continue to be considered unfortunate or erroneous, though increasingly noticeable.