Introduction

We assume that the basic conceptual categories referring to classes of lexical units, also known as parts of speech, are an inherent component of every grammar of a natural language. Throughout the years, linguists have distinguished various parts of speech on the basis of either homogeneous (semantic, functional or formal) or heterogeneous criteria.

This “Guidebook to the Semantic Grammar of the Polish Language” has been prepared by a team of scholars, some of whom agree with the view that lexemes should be di-

vided into syntactemes and paratactemes  – the two categories developed by contrasting the dependency syntax (sentence syntax) and the syntax of co-occurrence (utterance syntax), as proposed by Jadwiga Wajszczuk (2005, 2010) and disseminated at the beginning of the 21^st century in her publications. Syntactemes either open or fill semantically marked positions. Paratactemes, on the other hand, have neither of these two properties: they open positions that are not semantically or grammatically marked; what is more, no grammar constraints apply to the structure of expressions that fill such positions. Paratactemes are metatextual operators – as units determined by communication, they refer to the themerheme structure of an utterance.

The terms ‘syntacteme’ and ‘paratacteme’ have a broader scope than the numerous other parts of speech identified in the grammatical tradition, which has largely determined the organisation of chapters in the present study. The concept of a syntacteme is the topic of the chapter that precedes those dedicated to verbs, nouns, adjectives, numerals, adverbs, pro-forms and prepositions. The chapter elaborating on the concept of a paratacteme, on the other hand, precedes chapters on grammatical particles and conjunctions. In line with tradition, we have also classified interjections as a part of speech, without eliminating the manifestations of this concept from the grammatical system of the language. The chapter on interjections is the final one in our study.

The English part of our “Guidebook” starts with a chapter entitled “Parts of speech and their classifications.” It offers an overview of the classifications of parts of speech pro-

posed in grammar studies on the Polish language (and in some theoretical studies) from the beginning of the 20^th century to the beginning of the 21^st century, starting with Stanisław

Szober (1921), representing traditional grammar, and the classic structuralism of Jerzy Kuryłowicz, to Jadwiga Wajszczuk (2010), who favours a semantically motivated syntax. The chapter also includes a discussion of the evolution of criteria applicable to the classification of specific units. The reasoning is presented in the context of methodological reflections on the strengths and weaknesses of the classifications based on homogeneous criteria, logic-based divisions, and classifications that do not have such properties.

The chapter on syntactemes examines the concept of a component which, in traditional grammar, meant an “independent word” as an element of an utterance. The discussion focuses on the two concepts of syntactemes disseminated in Polish structuralist syntax – the concept developed by Henryk Misz (1967), based on the distribution criteria, and that of Jadwiga Wajszczuk (2005, 2010), relying on dependency syntax. Furthermore, we have explained the concept of a metapredicative operator, which represents borderline units straddling syntactemes and paratactemes, or, in other words, located somewhere between the objective level of language and the metatextual level.

The succinct presentation of the concept of a verb is dominated by the general syntactic description of this grammatical class of language units, referring to classic structuralism and the semantic concepts developed in the final decades of the 20^th century, including, among other things, semantic roles theory. The chapter discusses verbal categories (mood,

tense, aspect, voice and person), their semantic functions, as well as the semantic properties of selected verb classes.

The chapter on nouns elaborates upon the distinctive syntactic and morphological qualities of units belonging to this class. It explains the opposition between countable and uncountable nouns and the resultant grammatical and semantic consequences. The author further describes the common semantic classifications of nouns, including the division of common nouns into the names of natural species and the names of artefacts, presenting conflicting concepts applied to defining common names. The last part of the chapter on nouns discusses the evolution of the relation between nouns and other lexeme classes in popular grammatical classifications of words from the end of the 20^th century. It emphasizes, among other things, the meaning and referentiality of nouns as well as their syntactic functions.

The chapter on adjectives consists of three major parts. The first describes the place that adjectives hold in the various classifications of parts of speech and outlines the semantic, syntactic and morphological qualities of this class of lexemes (elaborating on, among other things, the hierarchy of the attributive and predicative position and restrictions with regard to the gradability of adjectives). The second part, on the other hand, focuses on the diversity of adjectives in terms of semantics and word-formation, while the third part deals

with selected syntactic aspects. It contains a detailed description of the predicative (but not sentence-forming) position of adjectives in combinations such as wrócił chory (he came back sick) and the linear position of adjectives in noun phrases.

The key focus of the chapter on numerals is the presentation of the semantic and formal criteria applied to distinguish numerals as a class of lexemes in studies on Polish grammar in the 19^th and 20^th century. It discusses the internal semantic divisions within the class of numerals, as well as the differentiation between different syntactic relations involving numerals in the contemporary Polish language.

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The chapter on adverbs consists of four subchapters. The first one discusses adverbs in the various classifications of parts of speech. The author analyses the status of adverbs from the perspective of the theme-rheme structure, as well as the relationship between adverbs and modalizers, prepositions and appositions. The second subchapter describes the relationships between adverbs and metapredicative and metatextual operators, discussing the issue of homonymy between adverbs and other parts of speech. The third subchapter is dedicated to adverb formation and multi-segment adverbs. Finally, the fourth subchapter elaborates on the selected semantic concept of adverbs, discussed in reference to the literature on this part of speech.

Pro-forms as a class are deeply rooted in the grammatical tradition, despite being largely syntactically, morphologically and semantically heterogeneous. The chapter on pro-forms discusses the role played by this class in the classification of parts of speech, and defines proforms as viewed in traditional grammar (acting as substitutes with respect to units from other classes) and in semantic grammar (as the markers of non-linguistic and intratextual reference, as units of specific, non-specific, general, or discursive reference, as occasional expressions).

Prepositions are classified in this study as syntactemes (and thus not morphemes), since they may fill positions opened by other syntactemes and open a syntactic position for a nominal part of speech. The chapter discusses the selected concepts of a preposition in Polish 20^th century grammars. It differentiates between the prepositional unit of language (cf. e.g. do in: oddał coś do naprawy) and a preposition as a part of a different unit (e.g. verbal; cf. do in: zabiera się do szycia). The chapter analyses the classifications of prepositions proposed in the literature (into secondary prepositions and prepositions proper) as well as the syntactic functions of prepositional noun phrases.

Paratactemes are units that co-occur with other units, but unlike syntactemes they do not form relations based on dependency syntax; rather, they refer to the theme-rheme structure of an utterance. The class of paratactemes contains, among other things, particles (which open a single, primarily right-sided position) and conjunctions (which open two positions, on both sides). The chapter outlines the history of research on paratactemes and the scope of this class of units.

The chapter on particles traces the evolution of research on particles in Polish linguistics in the 20^th century, from their place in traditional and distributive syntax to their function as rheme comments in the semantic syntax of the turn of the 20^th and 21^st century. The issues discussed include the scope of the class, the relationship between particles and adverbs, metapredicative operators and modifiers of declarativeness.

Conjunctions are defined as metatextual units which open two positions and are characterised by a stable position commenting upon the theme-rheme structure. The article discusses the evolution of research methods focusing on conjunctions in Polish linguistics in the 20^th and at the beginning of the 21^st century. It describes the relationship between conjunctions and particles, between conjunctions and relative pro-forms and between conjunctions and prepositions. The analysis focuses on the criteria applicable to the internal classification of conjunctions and the classifications of conjunctions presented in the literature.

The chapter closing the description of parts of speech discusses interjections in prewar grammars of the Polish language and the criteria applied to distinguish and categorise

678 • Maciej Grochowski interjections as a class of units in literature in the second half of the 20^th and at the beginning of the 21^st century. The final portion of the study contains a review of the semantic classifications of interjections.

This “Guidebook” refers to the methodology of linguistic research developed in the European tradition (in the 19^th and 20^th century in particular) which significantly affected the development of the semantic grammar of the Polish language in the last decades of the20^th and at the beginning of the 21^st century. It presents the development of research on specific parts of speech and the evolution of the concept of their divisions and classifications, focusing predominantly on the 20^th century. As a result, the “Guidebook” is, to a large extent, a study of the history of the linguistics and theoretical linguistics of the Polish language.

The “Guidebook” has been a team effort, and thus specific chapters and entries, especially as far as their interpretative sections are concerned, are the original work of their authors.

The key purpose of this study is to pursue the cognitive function of science – to present the outcomes of Polish research on the semantic grammar of the Polish language and grammar theory. The very same function is pursued by the bibliographies prepared for the specific parts of speech. The selections of references also represent the original choices of their respective authors, and thus we have refrained from consolidating them, despite partial overlaps.