How morphologically related synonyms come to make up a paradigm

Abstract

The Slavic perfective (pfv): imperfective (ipfv) opposition is based on stem derivation. It creates a complex network of functions for finite and non-finite forms, which largely applies regardless of aspectual pairedness (and actionality groups), since this opposition has classificatory properties. However, can derivationally related stems claimed to represent identical lexical concepts be treated as representatives of one or of two paradigms? The issue becomes especially intricate with aspect triplets in which two ipfv stems correspond to one pfv stem, as though combining two productive patterns of aspect derivation. On this background, we test some core assumptions of the morphology-lexicon interface on one typical aspect triplet from Polish and Czech, the cognate ipfv Pol. dzielić – rozdzielać, Cz. dělit – rozdělovat ‘divide, separate’. We provide their token-based analysis for the period 1750–2017. The two ipfv stems show preferences for different basic functions associated with the ipfv aspect, the coding of marginal arguments and adjuncts also yields clear biases of choice. These preferences prove stable over time, distinctions in form typically associated with inflection turn out to be altogether irrelevant. Our findings, as well as a revision of theoretical positions, support a notion of paradigm in which typical inflectional distinctions are brought into an equilibrium with functional inventories and collocational constraints.