Polish and English specificational copular clauses

The aim of this paper is to provide an LFG+Glue analysis of specificational copular clauses in Polish and English (e.g., The winner is John). In the proposed account, the English construction is related to its predicational counterpart (John is the winner) at the level of s-structure: it represents an alternative mapping of s-structural arguments to grammatical functions, contributing a presupposition about the current Question Under Discussion. In Polish, the same effect arises through simple inversion at the level of c-structure, possible due to flexible word order. The second part of the paper examines the so-called pronominal copula in Polish, aiming to formalise its nuanced syntax and semantics.

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Publication Details

Journal
Open Journal Systems (Global Science & Technology Forum)
Published
2025-10-08
DOI
https://doi.org/10.18148/lfg/2025.v30i.83
Primary Topic
Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Polish and English specificational copular clauses

Sebastian Zawada
Open Journal Systems (Global Science & Technology Forum)
Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
article

Polish and English specificational copular clauses

Sebastian Zawada
article en

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide an LFG+Glue analysis of specificational copular clauses in Polish and English (e.g., The winner is John). In the proposed account, the English construction is related to its predicational counterpart (John is the winner) at the level of s-structure: it represents an alternative mapping of s-structural arguments to grammatical functions, contributing a presupposition about the current Question Under Discussion. In Polish, the same effect arises through simple inversion at the level of c-structure, possible due to flexible word order. The second part of the paper examines the so-called pronominal copula in Polish, aiming to formalise its nuanced syntax and semantics.

Open Journal Systems (Global Science & Technology Forum)
Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Computer Science (CZ), Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Quality Education
Openalex Percentile: Top 13%
Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
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