On the borderline between inflectional and derivational morphology: The case of the Czech verbal prefix po-
Abstract
The present case study deals with the functions of the Czech verbal prefix po-. Three functions of the prefix are analysed by contrasting the existing theoretical descriptions with corpus data.
In its primary, word-formational function, po- modifies the meaning of the base verb (expressing one of the semantic features described as Aktionsart or other meanings; e.g. kreslit 'to draw' > pokreslit 'to cover with drawings'). In its second function, po- derives perfective counterparts from the imperfective verb; here, the prefix is considered to be a grammatical means used for the formation of aspectual pairs of verbs (cf. kárat 'to admonish.impf' > pokárat 'to admonish.pf').
The third function of po- is manifested in the class of determinate verbs; it is a part of the morphological form of these verbs in their (imperfective) future meaning (e.g. běžet 'to run' - poběží '(he) will run'). A group of verbs suspected of exhibiting similar behaviour as the pure determinate verbs is analysed and attested using