A pseudo-coordinated serial verb construction “wziąć i V2” in Polish

This article argues that a double-verb construction built around the verb wziąć and the element i – the so-called J(uncture)-WZIĄĆ gram – is a less canonical Serial Verb Construction (SVC). The gram complies with all the traits postulated as inherent to the prototype of SVCs with one noticeable exception – it exhibits an element that is homophonous with the conjunctive coordinator i ‘and’. However, i in the J-WZIĄĆ gram is not a true coordinator, nor is the J-WZIĄĆ gram a genuine coordinated structure. Rather, i functions as a dummy juncture, and the J-WZIĄĆ gram constitutes an example of pseudo-coordination – a stage on the grammaticalization path from coordination to verbal serialization.