Polish

A reference grammar which covers the essential points of Polish phonology, morphology, and syntax. Written to be usable by the general reader, not just the linguistics professional. Phonological information is presented from a combined phonogical and orthographical perspective, in order to introduce the Polish spelling system and its phonological values within a single chapter. Includes Polish minimal pairs and comparisons to English. Morphophonemic alternations are then set up, followed by individual sections on nominal, pronominal, adjectival, and verbal morphology. Verbal morphology is organized on the basis of a new application of the Jakobsonian one-stem system. Individual sections deal with specific semantic topics unfamiliar to English speakers, including verbal aspect, motion verbs, and numerals. The syntax section deals with general descriptive problems, but should also be of interest to more sophisticated users. Topics covered include issues of case and government, the use of pronominal clitics, the formation of questions and other sentence types, verbal agreement patterns, and verbal categories such as voice, mood, and aspect.