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The author supports the thesis that prepositions are an integral part of noun phrases and as such function primarily as grammaticalised exponents of the semantic category of ’space’, and - secondarily - of the semantic categories of ‘source’ and ‘goal’ of an action.

The author presents her version of the semantic paradigm of case in Slavic and states that it is almost identical with the inventory of substantival word-formational categories.

The author discusses some social/ethnological characteristics of the Slavic South as opposed to the Slavic North: 1. the influence of the multicultural and multilingual environment on the direction, scope and pace of grammaticalization processes, 2. the character, phases and results of the first Slavic standardization with the church, and not the state, as the controlling power, 3. the influence of the absence of state administration based on the local language and local customs on the growth of local patriotism and the emergence of the so-called „little motherlands,“ 4. a late standardization of national languages and, in consequence, an accelerated development of the local variants of the „science of language“ and its reflection on all levels of education.

The author presents the thesis that complementary clauses and relative clauses are de facto noun phrases founded on the shifter-tandems of the type that, which..., that, who... Mutatis mutandis, constructions constituted with causal conjunctions are also often „syntactically nominalized“ with shifters built into the constitutive predicate, cf. Polish conjunctions as dlaTEGO, zaTEM, przezTO... , or French as pour que, parce que, quoique...

The author understands the “case” as a semantically motivated syntactic relation between the predicate and its implied argument. The semantic motivation of the relation means that the semantic role of the respective argument is coded in the semantic structure of the controlling predicate. Traditional adverbal cases such as Nominative, Dative, Accusative, Instrumental, Locative imply primarily arguments functioning as agent (N), addressee/beneficient (D), object (A), accompanying factor (I), location (L) - the above labels should be understood as generalized semantic roles. The set of concrete roles is open and it is impossible and unnecessary to compile a universal inventory of semantic roles.

The author argues in favor of the thesis that on the semantic level conjunctions and particles function as predicates, in other words, as constitutive members of propositions; they imply propositional, and only propositional, arguments and - in case of conjunctions - reflect the train of our thought, respectively provide information about relations between the events as perceived by the author of the text, and - in case of particles - reflect the speaker’s evaluation of corresponding events.

The paper is conceived as answer to the question why just the locative / adlative preposition na was chosen as grammatical marker for both dative and genitive case relationship in the Balkan Slavic languages. As key process which triggered all the subsequent changes the author sees generalization of the dative morphological form in the adnominal position.

We wszystkich pracach syntaktycznych Grickat w centrum uwagi autorki znajduje się składnia współczesnego języka serbskiego i historia składni tego języka, a raczej, dokładniej: semantyka i pragmatyka wybranych konstrukcji morfosyntaktycznych w historii i w dniu dzisiejszym języka serbskiego. Grickat wprawdzie nie posługuje się terminem ‘morfosyntaksa’, jednak regularnie bierze pod uwagę zmienność wykładników morfologicznych badanych konstrukcji i pragmatyczną motywację tej zmienności, m. in. tzw. „znaczenie leksykalne“ zaangażowanych w tych konstrukcjach leksemów. Charakterystyczny jest dla niej całościowy ogląd tekstu językowego na wszystkich poziomach jego struktury formalnej, co zresztą sama niejednokrotnie stwierdza expressis verbis.

The author finds that one of the most prominent features of the so-called Balkan Sprachbund is the extended system of grammaticalized modal distinctions both in the episthemic and deontic functional zone. She then focuses on two tendencies characteristic of the Balkan Sprachbund which are also present in the Serbian verbal system: (1) the differentiation of the exponents of the predicate of negation depending on its function and position in the discourse, and (2) the tendency to transform the synsemantic, most often modal, verbs into indeclinable particles.

The author states that a “biography” of a language presents de facto its capability to adapt to natural and/or man‑made changes in the environment of the community speaking the language in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Linguistica Copernicana is the property of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Linguistica Copernicana is the property of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Linguistica Copernicana is the property of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Linguistica Copernicana is the property of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Linguistica Copernicana is the property of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Linguistica Copernicana is the property of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The author examines grammaticalization procedures in Slavic languages. Topics discussed include the ability of language to adapt to cultural changes through lexical borrowing and morphosyntactic pattern creation, the distinction between linguistic communication and grammaticalized information, and the grammaticalized definiteness observed in Macedonian and Bulgarian languages.

Copyright of Linguistica Copernicana is the property of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)