Can Polish -no/-to Demote Discourse-Prominent Referents? Corpus Data vs. Acceptability
Most human impersonal constructions can either refer to demoted referents or demote a previously discourse-prominent referent. According to Bunčić (2019), however, the Polish ‑no/‑to construction cannot be used to demote a topical referent. This paper reports the results of a corpus study and two ac...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Presses universitaires de Caen
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Discours |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/discours/12850 |
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| author | Iga Kościołek Daniel Bunčić |
| author_facet | Iga Kościołek Daniel Bunčić |
| author_sort | Iga Kościołek |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Most human impersonal constructions can either refer to demoted referents or demote a previously discourse-prominent referent. According to Bunčić (2019), however, the Polish ‑no/‑to construction cannot be used to demote a topical referent. This paper reports the results of a corpus study and two acceptability judgement tests. While the corpus data indicate that the construction is indeed avoided in this context, the acceptability judgement tests show that the construction is not rated worse in this context than in others. Clearly, ‑no/‑to after a coreferential noun phrase is a case of a completely acceptable expression that nonetheless is avoided in favour of other expressions in language practice. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e8b6dbf2696b4b898f9d5b029a1e0ffb |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1963-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Presses universitaires de Caen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Discours |
| spelling | doaj-art-e8b6dbf2696b4b898f9d5b029a1e0ffb2025-01-30T09:53:16ZengPresses universitaires de CaenDiscours1963-17232023-12-013310.4000/discours.12850Can Polish -no/-to Demote Discourse-Prominent Referents? Corpus Data vs. AcceptabilityIga KościołekDaniel BunčićMost human impersonal constructions can either refer to demoted referents or demote a previously discourse-prominent referent. According to Bunčić (2019), however, the Polish ‑no/‑to construction cannot be used to demote a topical referent. This paper reports the results of a corpus study and two acceptability judgement tests. While the corpus data indicate that the construction is indeed avoided in this context, the acceptability judgement tests show that the construction is not rated worse in this context than in others. Clearly, ‑no/‑to after a coreferential noun phrase is a case of a completely acceptable expression that nonetheless is avoided in favour of other expressions in language practice.https://journals.openedition.org/discours/12850discourse prominenceimpersonal constructionshuman impersonal pronounsacceptabilityfrequencygivenness |
| spellingShingle | Iga Kościołek Daniel Bunčić Can Polish -no/-to Demote Discourse-Prominent Referents? Corpus Data vs. Acceptability Discours discourse prominence impersonal constructions human impersonal pronouns acceptability frequency givenness |
| title | Can Polish -no/-to Demote Discourse-Prominent Referents? Corpus Data vs. Acceptability |
| title_full | Can Polish -no/-to Demote Discourse-Prominent Referents? Corpus Data vs. Acceptability |
| title_fullStr | Can Polish -no/-to Demote Discourse-Prominent Referents? Corpus Data vs. Acceptability |
| title_full_unstemmed | Can Polish -no/-to Demote Discourse-Prominent Referents? Corpus Data vs. Acceptability |
| title_short | Can Polish -no/-to Demote Discourse-Prominent Referents? Corpus Data vs. Acceptability |
| title_sort | can polish no to demote discourse prominent referents corpus data vs acceptability |
| topic | discourse prominence impersonal constructions human impersonal pronouns acceptability frequency givenness |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/discours/12850 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT igakosciołek canpolishnotodemotediscourseprominentreferentscorpusdatavsacceptability AT danielbuncic canpolishnotodemotediscourseprominentreferentscorpusdatavsacceptability |