Slovak Temporal Adverb zákratko in the Light of Corpus Data

Abstract

Using material from the Slovak national corpus, this article examines the semantics of the Slovak adverb zakrátko, which belongs to a group of adverbs with the meaning “fast following”. The adverb is analyzed against the background of the other most commonly used adverbs that form a semantic group, which also include čoskoro, onedlho, and o chvíľu. In the first part of the article, the specificity of zakrátko compatibility is considered in the light of association measure indicators, three of which were selected – Minimal Sensitivity, logDice, and MI.log.f. Collocations specific only to zakrátko are singled out separately, namely those which include combinations with verbs that have a "social mark"; with verbs that denote disintegration, destruction, or, conversely, addition or filling in space; with some mental predicates; and with the negative form of the verb trvať 'last'. Then, correlations in compatibility between this adverb and čoskoro, onedlho, and o chvíľu are examined. While zakrátko has almost equal number of common correlates with čoskoro and onedlho, it is significantly less correlated with the adverb o chvíľu. In the second part of the article, cases of mutual compatibility of zakrátko and other frequency adverbs from the group are analyzed in pairs. Even in similar contexts, the use of zakrátko implies the speed and predetermination of the situation. It is shown that this adverb on one hand largely correlates with čoskoro and onedlho, while on the other it has its own specifics, which are expressed in the fact that zakrátko is more focused on specific situations that can be implemented in a deliberately short period of time.