Rise of the Composite Present Perfect Tense in Polish with the Verb miec 'to Have' as an Auxiliary iRENEusz Kida Uniwersytet Slqski w Katowicach, Ul. Bankowa 12, PL - 40-007Katowice; Akademia Techniczno-Humanistyczna w Bielsku-Bialej, Ul. Willowa 2, PL - 43-309 Bielsko-Biala, irekkida@yahoo.com - scn iv/2 [2011], 57-69 - V prispevku je obravnavan nastanek perfekta, sestavljenega časa sodobne poljščine, in sicer v okviru treh indoevropskih jezikov -angleščine, nemščine ter španščine. Čeprav kategorije perfekta jezikovni priročniki za poljski jezik ne navajajo, ga bo najbrž kmalu potrebno vključiti v slovnice in ga obravnavati ločeno, kot na primer v angleščini in španščini. Avtor prispevka prikazuje razvoj perfekta v angleščini in španščini ter prihaja do zaključka, da poljščina doživlja podoben proces. In this paper we discuss the phenomenon of the rise of the complex present perfect tense in modern Polish in the context of three Indo-European languages: English, German, and Spanish. Although the category of the present perfect tense does not exist in grammar books of the Polish language, it will probably soon need to be included, and the present perfect tense will be treated as a separate grammatical tense, as is the case in English and Spanish. While discussing the trajectory of the development of the present perfect tense in English and Spanish, we arrive at the conclusion that the Polish language is undergoing a similar process. Ključne besede: perfekt, gramatikalizacija, pripadnost, glagol imeti Key words: present perfect tense, grammaticalisation, possession, verb 'to have' 1 Introduction Owing to the process of grammaticalisation, nouns, adjectives, verbs, and other linguistic elements lose their expressivity (semantic force) and become more and more abstract. The loss of expressivity is nothing more than the loss of — 57 — Ireneusz Kida semantic force and the weakening of the original meaning of a given linguistic item. This loss is usually accompanied by phonetic reductions due to the process of phonetic attrition. It is hard to say which process precedes which, but it is quite logical to think that when a given linguistic item becomes weaker phonetically, that is, when it loses its phonetic load, it automatically becomes more abstract and conventional at the same time. Moreover, when it becomes more abstract and conventional, it loses its expressivity in the process of gram-maticalisation, and either becomes part of the grammatical system, which tends to be abstract and conventional itself, or simply falls out of use altogether. Nevertheless, it is also common that some linguistic items lose their expressivity owing to frequency of use, whereby they do not necessarily undergo the process of phonetic attrition. In this paper we will concentrate on the process of grammaticalisation that leads to the rise of composite perfect tenses. We will take into consideration the grammaticalisation of the possessive verb have in English, German and Spanish, and see what are the implications of our discussion for the Polish language. The problem of the rise of the composite tense in Polish has attracted the attention of a number of linguists1 and continues to be interesting and attractive. In our paper we would like to present our own observations regarding this problem and suggest that it is perhaps about time that the Polish composite perfect tense should be included in Polish grammar books, as is the case with languages like English, German or Spanish. 2 The present perfect tense in English Although the possessive verb have in English is undergoing a slow process of grammaticalisation, it is still semantically strong enough to be capable of expressing possession. For example, if somebody says in English I have a car, the sentence means that this person is in the possession of an object called a car. This possessive quality of the verb have has been used in English for talking about actions that have recently been completed and whose result can still be seen in the present2. In order to express such actions linguistically, it is enough to combine the verb to have in the appropriate person with the past participle, as in the example below: singular 'I have bought a car' plural 1. I have bought a car 2. you have bought a car 3. he has bought a car 1. we have bought a car 2. you have bought a car 3. they have bought a car 1 See, for example, Nitsch (1913), Pisarkowa (1963), Weiss (1977), Maslov (1988), Ned-jalkov and Jaxontov (1988), Koronczewski (1993) and Weimer (2005). 2 See, for example, Thomson and Martinet (1986) and Graver (1986). 58 yo compraré un coche 'I will buy a car'. The verb haber is also used as an existential verb, as in aquí hay un coche 'there is a car here'. As a matter of fact, the verb miec 'to have' is also used as an existential verb in Polish but, unlike in Spanish, its range of operation in this sense is restricted only to negative sentences, as in tutaj nie ma samo-chodu 'there is no car here'. In affirmative and interrogative sentences, Polish employs, respectively, the verb byc 'to be', as in tutaj jest samochód 'there is a car here' and czy tutaj jest samochód? 'is there a car here?' — 68 — ¡Sßavi-a Centra — Rise of the Composite Present Perfect Tense in Polish with the Verb miec 'to Have' ... — Daniel WEISS, 1977: Syntax und Semantik polnischer Partizipialkonstruktionen im Rahmen einer generativ-transformationellen Sprachbeschreibung. Bern. Björn WIEMER and Markus GIGER, 2005: Resultativa in den nordslavischen und baltischen Sprachen (Bestandsaufnahme unter arealen und grammatikalisierungstheo-retischen Gesichtspunkten). Munich, Newcastle. NASTANEK SESTAVLJENEGA ČASA PERFEKT V POLJŠČINI Z GLAGOLOM MIEČ 'IMETI' KOT POMOŽNIM GLAGOLOM Avtor članka obravnava začetke novega slovničnega časa v poljščini - perfekta. Trenutno ima perfekt v poljščini vlogo neformalnega časa, ki se uporablja v vsakdanji komunikaciji in je omejen le na nekatere kontekste, v katerih spominja na present perfekt, zaradi česar ga lahko z njim identificiramo. Ta neformalni čas se trenutno v poljščini ne obravnava kot poseben čas, zaradi česar še ni vključen v poljske slovnice, vendar pa bo, če se bo še naprej uporabljal in se celo razširjal na druge kontekste, nedvomno pritegnil pozornost jezikoslovcev, ki se ukvarjajo s poljsko slovnico. Posledično bo formaliziran in obravnavan kot poseben čas, tako kot v angleščini, nemščini, španščini in številnih drugih indoevropskih jezikih. Avtor prispevka sprva obravnava perfekt v angleščini in španščini, kjer se ta čas imenuje »preterite perfect«. Nato se posveti tako imenovanemu »Perfectu« v nemščini. Razprava o razvoju perfekta v treh indoevropskih jezikih postane osnova za razpravljanje o stanju perfekta v poljskem jeziku. Zdi se, da znotraj indoevropskih jezikov obstaja tendenca za ustvarjanje ločene časovne kategorije na podlagi glagola imeti, ki se veže s preteklim deležnikom. Ta težnja je opazna tudi v poljščini in če se bo nadaljevala, se bo potrebno perfekta lotiti s formalnega vidika, kar bo vodilo k oblikovanju novega časa v poljskem časovnem sistemu. — 69 —