Russian vs. Polish Constructions Expressing State

Abstract

This article examines constructions expressing state in Russian and Polish. In Russian grammar, predicates denoting state are recognized as a distinct part of speech, which makes the use of such lexemes much broader than in Polish. Such predicates also show a notable ease of formation in both literary and colloquial speech. It is therefore worthwhile to consider how Polish equivalents render Russian predicates of state. Constructions with such predicates as совестно, обидно, досадно, любопытно, смешно, славно, and others often pose difficulties in translation into Polish. The study demonstrates that Russian exhibits a stronger tendency to synthesize state and evaluative meanings, whereas Polish more often keeps these two types of meanings separate. Polish also tends to employ different syntactic constructions, owing to the morphological specificity of lexemes that function as predicates. The author’s analysis draws on excerpts from Russian literary works included in the National Corpus of the Russian Language and their translations from the Polish Parallel Corpus.