Polysemous nature of the Polish marker "się"

Abstract

The paper focuses on an analysis of the following Polish constructions with się: reflexive, inchoative, facilitative, passive, impersonal, and reciprocal. The Cognitive Grammar account adopted in the paper allows for a unified account of these senses of się. The analysis reveals the polysemous nature of the marker się, with the reflexive sense functioning as the prototype. By using such parameters as: the distinctness of participants, intentionality of the action, the sentience of the agent participant, and the co-reference of the agent and the affected entity, establishing the connecting semantic links between all the senses became possible. Including the passive use of się in the analysis proved to be particularly revealing, as this sense, though marginal in contemporary Polish, provides a connection between impersonal constructions with się and the remaining uses of this marker.