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Article published In: Similatives: Semantic sources, pathways, and types of usage
Edited by Anna Kisiel, Hélène Vassiliadou, Valentina Benigni, Beatrice Bernasconi, Lieselotte Brems and Dejan Stosic
[Lingvisticæ Investigationes 48:2] 2025
► pp. 377–404

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Marking similarity “in the style of”

Czech prepositional phrases with (non-)taxonomic nouns in contrast with Polish

 | Palacký University Olomouc
 | Palacký University Olomouc
 | KU Leuven
Published online: 19 February 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/li.00135.jan
Abstract
This paper compares Czech and Polish prepositional phrases formed with non-taxonomic abstract nouns such as styl ‘style’ or duch ‘spirit’. It analyzes their syntactic functions, surrounding contexts (especially co-occurrence with indefinite pronouns), and semantic-pragmatic extensions, including similarity, exemplification, and quotative uses. While Polish shows broad grammaticalization (of variable advancement) of both taxonomic and non-taxonomic nouns into similative, exemplifying and quotative constructions, Czech limits such developments to a small set of manner-based nouns, which brings further evidence that the semantic domain of ‘manner’ is a productive source for the emergence of similative and quotative constructions, even in the absence of analogical models based on taxonomic nouns in Czech. The findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how similarity and related meanings are grammatically expressed in Slavic languages.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • 1.Taxonomic nouns and their grammaticalization in Czech and Polish
    • 1.1Grammaticalized uses of taxonomic nouns in Czech and Polish: The genitive
    • 1.2Prepositional phrases with taxonomic nouns
  • 2.Prepositional models for similarity in Czech and Polish: The case of non-taxonomic nouns
    • 2.1Czech prepositional phrases with non-taxonomic nouns against the backdrop of Polish: Similative, or not?
      • 2.1.1Ve znamení ‘in sign’ (cf. Polish pod znakiem, spod znaku)
      • 2.1.2Po(dle) vzoru ‘according-to model’ (cf. Polish na wzór)
      • 2.1.3Ve smyslu ‘in sense’ (cf. Polish w sensie)
      • 2.1.4V duchu ‘in spirit’ (cf. Polish w duchu)
      • 2.1.5Na způsob ‘on manner’ (cf. Polish na sposób)
      • 2.1.6Ve stylu ‘in style’ (cf. Polish w stylu)
    • 2.2Discussion
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
  • Czech corpora
  • Polish corpora
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