Demonstrative TO in Polish

An LrFG analysis

Abstract

This paper offers an L_RFG 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.