Reflexives as Part of Verb Lexemes in the VALLEX Lexicon

Václava Kettnerová, Markéta Lopatková, Anna Vernerová

Abstract:

Reflexivity represents one of the core research tasks in current linguistics. As the use of
reflexives, encoding a variety of meanings, typically brings about changes in verb valency, the
description of reflexivity is highly relevant – among others – also for valency oriented studies.
In this paper, we address the reflexive in Czech categorized as a derivational morpheme
(e.g., zlomit pf ‘to break something’→zlomit se pf ‘to break; to crack’), with the focus on valency
behavior of reflexive verbs as represented in the valency lexicon of Czech verbs VALLEX.
In the data component of the lexicon, reflexive verbs, i.e., verbs with reflexive lexemes, are
captured in separate lexicon entries, represented by respective verb lemma(s) containing the
free reflexive morpheme se or si. In VALLEX, there are 922 lexical entries for reflexive verbs
described in 1 545 lexical units represented by 1 525 verb lemmas (this number covers almost
one quarter of lexical units and one third of verb lemmas in the lexicon). Reflexive verbs can
be divided into two groups: into those without any non-reflexive counterpart (reflexiva tantum,
208 lexical units represented by 177 verb lemmas) and into those for which a non-reflexive
base verb can be identified (derived reflexive verbs, 1 337 lexical units represented by 1 348 verb
lemmas). Those derived reflexive verbs that are directly related to their non-reflexive base verbs
are classified into seven types on the ground of their relation to the non-reflexive counterparts,
captured in the data component of the lexicon by the value of the attribute reflexverb.
Further, the relation of derived reflexive verbs and their respective non-reflexive counterparts
is described by formal rules comprised in the grammar component of the lexicon (19 rules
in total), which provide the information