%0 Journal Article
%T Reflections on semelfactivity in Polish
%A Bacz, Barbara
%J Studies in Polish Linguistics
%V Volume 7 (2012)
%N Vol. 7, Issue 1
%P 107-128
%K semelfactivity, the semelfactive suffix –ną-, za- and s-/z- perfectives expressing single acts, cluster model of aspect, implicational hierarchy of the model, -nu- /s- allomorphy in Russian
%@ 1732-8160
%D 2012
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/studies-in-polish-linguistics/article/reflections-on-semelfactivity-in-polish
%X This paper discusses the means employed by the Polish verb in order to communicate the meaning of single occurrence (i.e. semelfactivity). An introspective examination of the semelfactive uses of Polish perfective verbs with the suffix –ną-, the inchoative and resultative (“purely aspectual”) prefixes za- and s-/z- as well as the prefixes expressing subjective evaluation of single acts is carried out from the perspective of the cluster model of aspect (proposed for Russian by Janda 2007). The possibility of applying to Polish Dickey and Janda’s (2009) allomorphy hypothesis, which states that in Russian semelfactivity is expressed by both the suffix –nu- and the prefix s-, is considered. It is shown that even though the cluster approach to aspect offers an attractive, user-friendly method of talking about semelfactivity, numerous problems posed by the Polish semelfactive data require adjustments of the model’s implicational hierarchy. The allomorphy hypothesis is less motivated in Polish than in Russian for a Polish category of s- prefixed semelfactives is harder to isolate.