Morphological and Semantic Properties of Homonymous De-adjectival Verbs in Polish: A Distributed Morphology Account

Anna Malicka-Kleparska

doi:10.18290/rh257311.9s

Published : 2025-12-19

Vol. 73 No. 11 Zeszyt specjalny (2025)

Morphological and Semantic Properties of Homonymous De-adjectival Verbs in Polish: A Distributed Morphology Account

Anna Malicka-Kleparska

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9344-7682

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rh257311.9s

Abstract

This text is devoted to the problem of formal representation concerning semantic and morphological differences among three classes of homonymous verbs in Polish, i.e. among change of state de-adjectival telic predicates, their atelic counterparts and verbs of existence, all based on identical roots. The analysis is carried out within the theory of Distributed Morphology. Semantic differences among these classes of predicates are shown to correspond to distinct prefixation patterns within this group of forms. Both semantic and morphological differences have to be coded in morpho-syntactic structures for the said verbs.

Verbs of existence are considered as representing Kimian states and the major structural difference between change of state verbs and verbs of existence is attributed to this character of the latter group of predicates. The analysis opens the discussion within Distributed Morphology concerning the representation of Kimian states in terms of verbal structures.

Keywords:

change of state verb, verb of existence, telicity, atelicity, Kimian state

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