The Old Polish (and Old Czech) dubitative irrealis and its implications

Abstract

Old Polish and Old Czech texts show a wider range of irrealis marking in complement clauses with speech-act and epistemic stance verbs in comparison with contemporary Polish, where this marking is restricted to negative polarity contexts and the complementation of verbs with an inherently negative meaning like wątpić ‘doubt’. The article offers an analysis of this marking type, which went out of use in the Middle Polish period, when it was ousted by constructions with dubitative complementisers like jakoby. An analogous development can be observed in Old Czech. The Old Polish and Old Czech facts raise questions about the nature of the more widely attested irrealis uses in the scope of overt or implicit negation. In the case of the latter, irrealis use is often ascribed to the action of negation, which suspends veridicality or assertivity. The facts discussed in the article suggest that negative polarity contexts merely facilitate the manifestation of the dubitative irrealis without being a condition on its use. Certain languages, including Old Polish and Old Czech, show a wider use not licensed by negation, which points to an implicational pattern: dubitative irrealis manifests itself at least, but not exclusively, in the scope of negative polarity. The dubitative irrealis in complementation sheds doubt on veridicality-based interpretations or realis vs irrealis distinctions.