Verb-based approximations in Polish as a first language: acquiring and structuring the verbal lexicon

Dominika Jagielska

CLLE-ERSS, Toulouse University

Abstract

We want to study two elements involved in the acquisition of Polish as a first language. The first element is lexical hierarchy of verbs. We observe that, when acquiring the verbal lexicon of a first language, learners use a large number of generic verbs such as kroić “to cut” or (roz)zbić, (z)łamać et (po)psuć “to break”. These verbs may be used in non conventional statements. The second element is non conventional statements based on verbs, such as Rozbiera drewno “She undresses the wood”. These statements are considered as errors, over-extensions or metaphors. But we assert that these statements reflect a semantic flexibility which is essential to the acquisition of the (verbal) lexicon when learning a first language. We believe that verbal lexicon is organized through semantic proximity. This is in agreement with several other authors’ works. Our subjects are Polish adults and children. The children may be in the early or late stages of language acquisition. They were subjected to an experimental protocol which consisted in two tasks: action denomination and action reformulation. Our results include both semantic and statistical analysis. They reveal that all types of subjects produce a large number of generic verbs and non conventional statements.

Keywords:

verbs, acquisition, Polish, semantic, approximation, generic, metaphor