3.6.1 Aktionsart
As observed above, apart from aspectual contrast betweenIPFVandPFVin deriva-tion from simplex verbs, affixes carry a semantic surplus which contributes to the lexical verbal meaning. Some prefixes only modify the meaning of the verb ac-cording to the spatial meaning of the cognate preposition. In these cases, prefixed verbs often occur in the clause with the corresponding preposition of the argu-ment:
(42) a. Heinz Heinz
opowiedział
about.PFV.tell.IPFV.PST
o
‘Heinz told about two bodies found at the Vistula river’ (Przepiórkowski et al. 2012)
b. Edyta Edyta
opowiedziała
about.PFV.tell.IPFV.PST
wszystko
‘Edyta reported everything in detail.’ (Przepiórkowski et al. 2012) On the other hand, prefixes often develop some additional, functional mean-ings besdies the spatial or prepositional ones. In aspectual studies, this phe-nomenon is called AKTIONSART. The term was first used for by Sigurd Agrell Agrell (1908) to describe the semantics of the rich inventory of Polish aspectual morphemes.7
7Aktionsart is often confused withlexical aspectortypes of situation, which is a direct trans-lation of the German word. While the original term refers exclusively to the meaning of verbal affixes in Slavic languages, the latter two terms apply either to the inherent actional properties of the whole verb in languages which do not encode a distinction similar to PVAin the whole verbal paradigm or to the actional properties of whole predicates. Many actional properties can be derived from Aktionsart which is probably the source of confusion. The classic general works describing lexical aspect and types of situation are: Vendler (1957), Comrie (1976), Mourelatos (1978), for Polish Laskowski (1996, 1998a), for Finnish Leino (1991) and Hakulinen et al. (2004).
Contemporary descriptions of prefix meanings and Aktionsart in Polish are presented in Bartnicka et al. (2004: 330-339) and Wróbel (1998: 545-568). The former adopts a form-based model – each morpheme is described separately with all its possible meanings. In the latter, the functional meaning is a distinct factor to which all possible morphemes are assigned. ´Smiech (1986) only considers pre-fixation and takes a form-based approach. His detailed, atomistic descriptions do not provide any general, unified conclusions which help explain the link between
PVAand Aktionsart.
In her relatively recent dissertation, Łazorczyk (2010) elaborates on some is-sues of morphology ofPVAwithin the frame of generative grammar and with some reference to diachronic studies, but it does not provide a full overview of Aktion-sart. The main focus is placed on the prefixes and the secondary imperfective pre-fixes (imperfective prepre-fixes in the prefixed, imperfective verbs, and imperfective morphemes built around the consonantw). The author considers prefixes and suf-fixes in question to be the markers of telicity (presuf-fixes) or detelicisers (secondary suffixes).8
Aktionsart applies to the very frequent prefixes, such as po-, na-, za-, and prze-. I now compare their spatial meanings and the types of Aktionsart they are capable of expressing.
3.6.2 The prefix
po-The prefixpo-is the least lexicalised prefix. It keeps the original spatial meaning only in combination with a verbal root which encodes the meaning related to motion along a surface. This is visible in the examples: pokry´c ‘to cover with something’,pobieli´c‘to cover with a white substance’,pobiec‘to run along some path’.
A different meaning ofpo-refers to a ‘portion of time’,poczyta´c‘to read a bit, for a while’,pota´nczy´c‘to dance a bit, for a while’. The usage of the prefixpo-in this function is calledDELIMITATIVE(DELIM).
Po-might have inchoative (INCH) meaning; an independent situation is a phase of another situation represented by the verbal root. This function ofpo-applies mainly to situations describing the emotions likepokocha´c ‘to start loving’ or polubi´c‘to start liking’.
In many contexts, in particular in prefix stacking, po-marks either a distri-butional motion (one by one, one to many), for example,po-roz-dawa´c‘to
dis-8In this case, following Borer (2005), telicity is understood as satisfying the condition of not being cumulative or not being divisible by the predicate in an argument structure.
tribute’, po-z-biera´c‘to collect’, po-za-stanawia´c ‘to think, to consider one by one, in portions of time’. Such a usage of the prefix is called DISTRIBUTIVE
(DISTR).
3.6.3 The prefix
na-The prefixna- often keeps its lexical meaning9 as in the verb napisa´c‘to write down’, but in many cases its meaning can be better understood in terms of accu-mulation,as innałowi´c ryb‘to catch plenty of fish’ ornagada´c si˛e‘to talk a lot, to satisfy the need for chatting’. In order to distinguish between the motiononto and the multiple motion, the second usage is calledACCUMULATIVE(ACCUM).
Accumulativena-also has unrestricted distribution in prefix stacks.
3.6.4 The prefix
za-The spatial semantic contribution ofza-isbehind or behind the border, and it is realised in the verbs zakry´c‘to cover’,zala´c‘to pour on’, zatka´c ‘to clog up, to plug up)where the subject covers the object. A similar relation is visible in the verbszajecha´c‘to drive by’,zasi ˛a´s´c‘to sit down to’ a similar relation is visible.
The problems pose verbs such as:zakocha´c si˛e‘to fall in love’,za´spiewa´c‘to perform a song’, zawrze´c‘to cook to a full boil’. ´Smiech (1986) suggests that those verbs fuse the meaning of the verbzacza´c‘to start, to begin’ and of the root.
Alternatively, Bartnicka & Satkiewicz (2000: 273) and Tabakowska (2003:
171) consider the prefix za-as apure aspectual markerthat does not contribute any surplus to the lexical meaning of the verb.
However, in many cases, the presence ofza-may be explained with the fact that the subject becomes covered either physically, as inzaton ˛a´c‘to sink down’, or metaphoricallyzaduma´c si˛e‘to sink in thoughts’,zakocha´c si˛e‘to fall in love’.
Similar points were made by D ˛abrowska (1996) and Bacz (2005).
In a sense, all presented points may be true, for certain groups of verbs, ac-cording to the type of arguments they require. Verbs keeping the spatial meaning require either an object which becomes covered, or a prepositional directional ar-gument: zajecha´c przed + ACC ‘to drive by’ , zasi ˛a´s´c do + GEN ‘to sit down to’.
Verbs where the subject becomes covered need an argument with a preposition w‘into’, or occasionally they occur with the reflexive markersi˛e. Although the
9According to the corpus-based study of Łazi´nski (2011), among all prefixesna-occurs most frequently in clauses with the corresponding preposition.
marker is lexical (verbs withoutsi˛eare not transitive) they indicate that the patient or mover is realised as subject.
Verbs like zata´nczy´c ‘to dance’, za´spiewa´c, zagra´c ‘to play’ cannot be ex-plained as lexically motivated. Object argument, if it appears, is partially seman-tically redundant. It is obvious that if one dances, one dances a dance, and if one plays, one plays music or a game. Thus, the object of those verbs is in fact an inherent-scale argument (see Section 2.6.4).
In that case za- introduces a limit, similarly to DELIM.po-. The difference between the two prefixes is that while po- seems to prefer delimiting straight-forwardly over the duration (unless an interval is given, the implicit interval isa while),za-is used in a delimitative meaning when the inherent-scale argument is possible.
A similar function of za- can explain the meaning of verbs zadzwoni´c ‘to call, to ring’,zamówi´c‘to order’, andzapłaka´c‘to cry’. Admittedly, those verbs are intransitive, but interestingly, all are derived from verbs meaning ‘to produce sound’, thus analogues toza´spiewa´c‘to sing’. This meaning could be explained as a ‘unit of action’ very similar to the function of a semelfactive morpheme.
3.6.5 The prefix
prze-In accordance with the lexical meaning ofprze-, prefixed verbs an require object argument to which the real or metaphorical relationthroughapplies. This may refer to movement, for example,przekroczy´c ulic˛e‘to cross the street’. Metaphor-ically, it functions like the Englishgo through, for example,przeliczy´c dzieci‘to count children’,przeanalizowa´c dane‘to analyse data’.
ThePERDURATIVE(PERDUR) function ofprze-is realised when object argu-ment refers to an interval, and thus has a durational reference. The object can explicitly name the interval, for example,przesiedzie´c na zebraniugodzin˛e‘to sit for an hour in the meeting’,przeta´nczy´ccał ˛a noc‘to dance all night long’, or im-plicitly, for example,przespa´ccały wykład‘to sleep through the whole lecture’.
prze-is thus a DISCRETISER, similarly to DELIM.po- andza-in the function of delimitative or semelfactive.