Collocational profiles and semantic properties of quantifying nouns in Polish (with the meaning ‘many x-s’)
Collocational profiles and semantic properties of quantifying nouns in Polish (with the meaning ‘many x-s’)

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines the collocational profiles of eleven quantifying nouns in Polish: góra ‘mountain’, lawina ‘avalanche’, nawał ‘load’, huk ‘bang’, grad ‘hail’, deszcz ‘rain’, burza ‘storm’, chmura ‘cloud’, las ‘forest’, sznur ‘rope’, and warkocz ‘braid’. The analysis of their more and less frequent collocates is combined with a brief analysis of lexicographic descriptions of these items, focusing on the way their quantifying uses are presented in older and modern Polish dictionaries. An overview of their present-day uses shows how quantifying meanings build on primary meanings. In some cases, such as lawina ‘avalanche’, broadening the collocational range facilitates actional traits, with temporal sequentiality mapped onto the primary meaning of these lexical items via metaphorization. The author argues in favour of the semantic generalisation of quantifying uses for most discussed items (with the exception of las ‘forest’), while also providing arguments for their non-synonymity.

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