Word-formative Nests of Polish -czą-/-kon- Root in Historical Perspective Cover Image

Gniazda słowotwórcze polskiego rdzenia -czą-/-kon- w perspektywie historycznej
Word-formative Nests of Polish -czą-/-kon- Root in Historical Perspective

Author(s): Zuzanna Krótki
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, Western Slavic Languages
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego

Summary/Abstract: The article presents a lexical family with the -czą-/-kon- root. The source material of 95 words, selected from all available lexicographical sources that record old-time vocabulary, has been presented in the form of a historical word-formative nest. The aim of the analyses was to show the internal structure of derivative relations between the center of the *čęti, čьnǫ nest and a group of words with varying degree of derivation. The analyses constitute an attempt to answer the question of how formations of the -kon- root were built. (Re)construction of the nest has been used to discuss the perceived transformations, as well as to define the nature of changes in the meanings of examined units. In majority, the described semantic modifications have caused the narrowing of meaning. With the removal of primal meaning, the blurring of formative structure of derived words has occurred in the minds of Polish language users, and – what follows – has led to the disintegration of the vast word-formative nest. Over the centuries, as a result of this process, the Old Polish nest with the koniec centre has been broken up, giving eight Structures of Word-formative Nests (Polish abbreviation: SGS), while the nest of konać, having undergone the division, today produces ten word-formative nests (SGS).

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 15-38
  • Page Count: 24
  • Language: Polish