The Semantics of still and the Modification of Polish Adnominal Participles

Abstract

Polish adnominal participles accept a wide range of event modifiers except when they are additionally modified by focus or phase particles corresponding to still . The paper argues that the semantic contribution of still is incompatible with the change-of-state component of the meaning of participles. While still presupposes that the property denoted by the participle holds over the initial proper subinterval during which the focalized state holds, the measure-of-change function found in resultative participles entails that the relevant subinterval corresponds to the change of state over which the relevant property does not hold yet. The participles modifiable by still are argued to lack the change-of-state component.