Weak
and unstressed pronouns in Polish |
|
Bożena Cetnarowska
(Katowice) |
The present paper examines syntactic
properties of personal pronouns in Polish, focusing on atonic pronouns (i.e.
pronouns which occur in unstressed positions). Following the position taken in
Witkoś (1998) and Franks and King (2000), homonymy is recognized between strong
(stressed) forms and weak (atonic) forms of pronouns, e.g. the stressed was
'you.Pl.Acc' in (1a) and unstressed was in (1b):
(1) a. Właśnie WAS widziałam w kinie.
just you.Pl.Acc saw.1SgF in cinema
'It
was you.Pl that I saw in the cinema.'
b. Widziałam was w kinie.
saw.1SgF you.Pl.Acc in cinema
'I
saw you.Pl in the cinema.'
The question is considered whether atonic 1st
and 2nd person pronouns in Polish exhibit syntactic deficiency,
hence should be regarded as weak (or clitic) pronouns in the typology proposed
in Cardinaletti and Starke (1999). It is argued that the pronouns in question
allow for topicalization and coordination (as shown in 2). Consequently, it is
plausible to regard them as a subclass of strong pronouns, i.e.
"unstressed (strong) pronouns" (cf. Müller 2001 for German)
(2) a. Was NIE da się zapomnieć.(unstressed
'was', topicalized)
you.Pl.Gen not manage.fut.3Sg r.cl. forget
'One CANNOT
forget you (pl.).'
b. WAS nie da się zapomnieć.(stressed 'was', Contrastive
Focus)
you.Pl.Gen not manage.fut.3Sg r.cl. forget
'It's YOU
(pl) that one cannot forget.'
c. ?Widziałem was
[unstressed] i moją narzeczoną w kinie.
see.past.1SgM you.Pl.Acc and my fiancé in cinema
'I
saw you.Pl and my fiancé in the cinema.'
The example in (3) shows that there are
difficulties in maintaining Cardinaletti and Starke's claim that strong
pronouns in Polish have fixed [+human] reference.
(3) [Oddaj mi tę
broszkę. 'Give this brooch
(Fem.) back to me.']
JEJ ci na pewno nie pożyczę.
her/it.Acc/Gen you.Pl.Dat for sure not lend.Fut.1Sg
'Certainly I will not
lend it to you.'
However, with respect to the pronoun je 'it.Acc' and 'them.Acc.F/N', the distinction
between obligatory [+human] reference and the unrestricted [+/-human] reference
is relevant for its syntactic distribution.
(4) [Bliźniaczki zawsze mi pomagają.
'The twin sisters always help
me.']
Zaprosiłam je i twojego brata na urodziny.
invited.1SgF them.Acc.F/N and your brother on birthday.
'I
invited them and your brother to (my) birthday party.'
(5) [Okno w łazience nie domyka
się. 'The bathroom window
won't shut.']
??Pomalowałam je i drzwi na zielono.
painted.1SgF it.Acc.N and door on green
'I
painted it and (the) door green.'
This could be regarded as evidence
supporting the recognition of homonymous strong [+human] pronoun je, and
the deficient (weak) [-human] pronoun je.
REFERENCES
Cardinaletti, Anna and Michal Starke (1999)
"The typology of structural deficiency: A case study of the three classes of
pronouns". In: Henk van Riemsdijk (ed.) Clitics in the Languages of
Europe. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin/New York.
Franks, Steven and Tracy Holloway King
(2000) A Handbook of Slavic Clitics. OUP, Oxford.
Witkoś, Jacek (1998) The Syntax of
Clitics. Steps towards a Minimalist Account. Motivex, Poznań.