On the so-called accusative se in Czech: A (not only) diachronic perspective

This article deals with the Czech reflexive form se and its categorization from both diachronic and synchronic perspectives. It is argued that in Old Czech, the reflexive was clearly a pronoun because it could be used in a number of contexts that are indicative of its having a syntactic function, e.g. in the context of coordination. Since then, however, the reflexive se has been gradually losing its pronominal nature, being replaced in pronominal contexts by the (originally genitive) form sebe. This process has not been completed yet, hence in contemporary Czech, the reflexive has both pronominal features and features of a morpheme/particle. It thus cannot be discretely categorized; such a categorization would be an inadequate oversimplification because it would necessarily ignore some of the features of the reflexive. Therefore, instead of asking whether the form se is a pronoun or a morpheme/particle in contemporary Czech, I try to answer the question of what pronominal and what non-pronominal features it has.