Zur Operation Merge in den unpersönlichen się ‚sich‘-Konstruktionen im Polnischen

Abstract

The paper contains an analysis of impersonal constructions with the reflexive pronoun ‘się’ in the Polish language in comparison with their equivalents in the German language. On the basis of numerous sentence examples an observation can be made that such constructions imply a subject with the role of an agent or experiencer for which there is no phonological or morphological marker. We seek answers to following questions: Which semantic and syntactic features allow for an interpretation of the subject as agent or experiencer and what is the role of the pronoun ‘się’ in the constructions under analysis? What syntactic rules regulate the blocking of phonological and morphological markers of the subject? What generative mechanism structures the ‘się’-constructions and lies at the source of the interpretation of the ‘się’-element? The theoretical basis here is the TGG as originated by Chomsky, in particular the operations ‘Merge’, ‘Move α’ and ‘Agree’ stemming from the Principles and Parameters framework and Minimalist Program (MP). The aim is to show, how the operation Merge (combining two elements to form a complex syntactic object) together with the operations Move α (creating syntactic relations between individual constituents) and ‘Agree’ (checking of agreement and case) affect the marking of the agent or the experiencer role in the ‘się’-constructions in Polish.

Keywords

• subject deletion
• Minimalist Program
• generative grammar: Principles and parameters theory
• Comparative syntax of Polish and German