March 3, 20260 citationsOpen Access

Demonstrative TO in Polish

Key Points

The demonstrative word 'to' shows differing anaphoric capabilities in nominal positions and unique copular structures, highlighting its complex linguistic role.
In typical nominal positions, 'to' only refers to antecedents without number and gender, affecting its syntactic applicability in Polish.
In the copular structure TO + BYĆ, 'to' can refer to any antecedent, which broadens its functional use in sentences.
The anaphoric agreement mechanism indicates that 'to' is blocked by personal pronouns when antecedents possess number and gender, demonstrating linguistic restrictions.

Abstract

This paper offers an LRFG analysis of the Polish demonstrative word to, which may occur in two syntactic environments: (i) in typical nominal positions and (ii) in the unique copular structure TO + BY´Ć ‘to be’ + NP, in which the right-hand NP appears in the nominative case and triggers agreement with the copula. In (i), to may only refer to antecedents lacking number and gender (e.g. clauses), whereas in (ii) it may refer to any antecedent. To is analysed as one underspecified vocabulary item exponing two structures: a noun lacking number and gender in (I) and a demonstrative identifier in (ii). The difference in their anaphoric possibilities follows from blocking: to is blocked in (i) by personal pronouns whenever the antecedent has number and gender, due to an anaphoric agreement mechanism and the specification of vocabulary items.

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