I verbi graduali deaggettivali in ceco

The present article is devoted to deadjectival gradual verbs in Czech. The contribution starts by summarising the main points made by several scholars for English, concerning the scalar nature of these predicates, their connection with the gradual adjectives and their (a)telicity. Using data collected with Skecth Engine, an online text analysis tool, the article analyses four different derivational classes of Czech gradual verbs. Similarly to the other Slavic languages, Czech exhibits a very syncretical verbal system, where the same exponents, namely the contrast ‘perfective’/‘imperfective’, express both actional as well as aspectual values. Showing the different frequencies of the imperfective and perfective stems and commenting on the compatiblity of these stems with the comparison adverbs o+acc. ‘by x measure’, the paper shows how actionality and aspect interact in the context of Czech deadjectival gradual verbs.