DiAsPol250 - The Development of the Polish Aspect System in the Last 250 Years against the Background of Neighbouring Languages
Final Report Abstract
The project has created a comprehensive database of aspect triplets in Polish, Czech and Russian. Such triplets consist each of one perfective (pfv.) stem which, being derived with a prefix from a “primary” (or simplex) imperfective (ipfv.) stem, itself derives another (“secondary”) ipfv. stem via an added or changed suffix (e.g., Pol. tworzyćIPFV1 ⇒ s-tworzyć PFV ⇒ stwarz-a-ćIPFV2 ‘create’, Russ. gotovit’ IPFV1 ⇒ pri-gotovit’ PFV ⇒ prigotavl-iva-t’ IPFV2 / prigotovlj-a-t’ IPFV2 ‘cook, prepare meal’, Cz. budit IPFV1 se ⇒ pro-budit PFV se ⇒ probouz-e-t IPFV2 se ‘wake up’).The database covers the period 1750-2020 and contains rich information relevant for the frequencies (especially of IPFV2 stems) in six subperiods, morphological properties (prefixes, suffixes, with variants), attestation in dictionaries (pertinent for inferring type frequencies). All these pieces of information are relevant for determining the “life time” of particular triplets. Indirectly, this database also allows to infer about the “vitality” of Natural Perfectives (i.e. pfv. members of aspect pairs with an unprefixed ipfv. member). Thereby, this is the first database of aspect triplets (and Natural Perfectives) comparing different Slavic languages and accounting for diachronic changes on more reliable and comprehensive empirical ground. The database is accessible under http://www.diaspol.uw.edu.pl/ (with “user manuals”). It served as basis for several papers that cast light on the significance of triplets for the aspect systems of the aforementioned languages and on some methodological issues, in particular on how quantitative analyses (tree-structure models, cluster analysis) may be helpful in determining functional distribution “beneath the surface” and in figuring out typical representatives of different triplet types. In another central article we have pointed out some pitfalls regarding the assessment of diachronic changes in the architecture of Slavic aspect; most importantly, it can be shown that triplets do not as such decrease and that the “size” of the triplet inventory (at any given synchronic stage) is by no means per se indicative of the stability of the system. Independently from the triplet database, issues concerning the aspect-modality interface were explored. No results could be obtained with respect to possible diachronic changes in the distribution of aspect choices to deontic and non-deontic functions (with modal auxiliaries and non-past indicative forms), nor with respect to distributional changes between habitual vs non-deontic modal or future interpretations of perfective present tense (in Polish and Russian). The reason was that already on the contemporary stage the discrimination of these functions turned out more difficult than had been previously assumed (and admitted) in research, which primarily was not based on usage-based data (e.g., random samples from corpora). The big side effect of this apparent negative experience was that, regardless of the synchronic level of the particular language, analytical tools for assessing natural language data have to be sharpened and theory building has to be made more appropriate for dealing with “diffuse” semantics. Relevant publications are underway. Most publications (published, forthcoming and still underway) of the project have also taken advantage of two corpora built by other subteams of the project (in Warsaw, Germersheim, and Cracow).
Publications
- 2020. Badania aspektu w językach polskim, czeskim i rosyjskim za pomocą korpusów i baz danych (pierwsze podsumowanie tematu) [Investigations into Polish, Czech and Russian aspect on the basis of corpora and other databases (first summary)]. Forum Lingwistyczne 7, 45-58
Wiemer, Björn, Joanna Wrzesień-Kwiatkowska, Marek Łaziński
(See online at https://doi.org/10.31261/FL.2020.07.04) - 2020. How morphologically related synonyms come to make up a paradigm. Russian Linguistics 44-3, 231-266
Wiemer, Björn, Joanna Wrzesień-Kwiatkowska & Piotr Wyroślak
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11185-020-09231-0) - 2020. O sinonimax i suppletivizme neskol’ko inače, to est’ s točki zrenija osnov [On synonyms and suppletion in another way, i.e. from a stem-based view]. In: Iomdin, Leonid L. & Igor’ M. Boguslavskij (eds.): Ot semantičeskix kvarkov do vselennoj v alfavitnom porjadke (Sbornik statej k 90-letiju Jurija Derenikoviča Apresjana) (A Festschrift ...). Moskva: Institut russkogo jazyka, 144-167
Wiemer, Björn
- 2021. Diachronic dynamics of a stem-derivational aspect system: how cluster analysis helps discover patterns. Korpus – gramatika – axiologie 23, 47-86
Wiemer, Björn, Joanna Wrzesień-Kwiatkowska, Szymon Wrzesień-Kwiatkowski
- 2022. No paradigms without classification: how stem-derivation develops into grammatical aspect. In: Diewald, Gabriele & Katja Politt (eds.): Paradigms regained: Theoretical and empirical arguments for the reassessment of the notion of paradigm. Berlin: Language Science Press, 67-125
Wiemer, Björn
(See online at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5675844)
