The polysemic meaning chain of the genitive case in Polish

Abstract

Summary The Polish genitive case is explored from the point of view of its proposed polysemy. We adopt the view that the genitive represents an instance of structured polysemy (Nikiforidou 1991). Like Nikiforidou, we reject the opinion that the genitive instantiates accidental homonymy or shows general single meaning. Our analysis demonstrates that several meanings we identified are intricately tied to each other. There are two prototypical meanings with their several semantic extensions, the latter departing from the former. Contrary to Nikiforidou’s proposal of the genitive as a “radial category” (Lakoff 1987), we support an alternative model. In our view, structured polysemy found in the genitive is better handled by a model referred to as the “meaning chain” (Taylor 1988). Some of the meanings identified are motivated by other meanings in the chain, without directly relying on some semantic centre. Our description of the Polish genitive sheds new light on the holistic semantics of this category with allegedly only grammatical meaning.