About the verb "zgadnąć" (semantic study)

Abstract

The term used in the title has so far not been the subject of a more extensive linguistic reflection. The author of the paper aims at providing a disciplined description of lexical units containing the segment zgadnąć with respect to their structure and meaning. The method of analysis is based on  putting forward hypotheses in the form of analytical  implications and subjecting them to falsification by bringing them down to contradiction. The content of the paper focuses on issues relating to reconstruction of the form of lexical  units (on the basis of  segmental  and supra-segmental signals)  and  reconstruction of  the hierarchy of meaningful components. In close relationship with the content of the  analysed terms, the discussion also considers the following notions: ‘stać się’, ‘wiedzieć’  and ‘być gotowym powiedzieć’. The author tries to prove that those components belong to  the semantic structure of the examined phrase; he also proposes a preliminary explication of meanings in the terms of natural semantic meta-language.