This study investigates the semantic systematicity in the pathways through which various functional markers become polar question particles (PQPs). This research proposes that the high degree of semantic cohesion between sources and targets suggests that a pre‐existing semantic component radically increases the likelihood of some markers becoming PQPs. It observes that all functional classes which have been noted to become PQPs in various languages share semantic similarities, meaning that they can all be analysed as markers of polarity (negation, affirmation or open polarity). It tests this pattern by means of an in‐depth corpus analysis, examining the modern and historical PQP pathways in Estonian – a language unusually rich in PQPs. The results show that the sources for all six analysed PQPs, as well as elements which they themselves have given rise to, confirm the proposed pattern of PQPs arising from polarity markers. The semantic map summarising these patterns illustrates the space of polarity between two axis – mood (interrogative and non‐interrogative) and bias (negative, affirmative, open polarity). These results highlight the importance of semantic factors in grammaticalisation.

This study focuses on Estonian verb-complement structures, which include oblique (non-canonically marked) complements marked in spatial cases. Not all approaches agree on whether canonical arguments and oblique complements have argument status of the same type, but they do mostly agree that the two types of complement markings are used by different types of verbs. First, oblique case is viewed as always indexing the original semantics of the case (direct semantics), that is osutama ‘point at’ selecting an allative (‘onto’) complement. Second, oblique case usage is seen as referring to a restricted set of syntactic relations (indirect semantics), that is Estonian allative and adessive being used for marking Experiencers. In any case, oblique complement verbs are viewed as more semantically restricted than canonical object verbs. This study tests these two hypotheses in a quantitative corpus approach. In a non-semantically extracted sample of verbs (n = 232), it compares the lexical-semantic transitivity of oblique and canonical complement verbs in order to investigate the degree to which indirect semantic effects differentiate between the two types of verbs. In addition, it outlines direct semantic effects between oblique case frames in terms of semantic roles. Finally, it investigates the way these patterns are related to the cases’ individual grammaticalisation degrees.

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Ülevaade. Artiklis arutleme inimestelt semantilist leksikaalset infot koguva uurimuse peamiste probleemide üle. Kirjeldame katset, millega kogume konkreetsushinnanguid eestikeelsetele sõnadele. Artikli eesmärk on analüüsida semantiliste tunnuste hinnangutena kogumist kui meetodit tervikuna. Hinnangute kogumise metoodikat on vaja sisuliselt ja kriitiliselt hinnata, sest sellise info kogumine on nii keelepsühholoogia kui ka keeletehnoloogia valdkonnas aina olulisemal kohal. Esmalt käsitleme konkreetsust ja abstraktsust kui mõisteid ning seda, kuidas neid varem uuritud on. Seejärel anname ülevaate uuringutest, mis on kogunud konkreetsushinnanguid teiste keelte sõnade kohta ning toome välja selliste hinnangute peamised kasutusalad. Kolmandaks anname ülevaate eestikeelsete sõnade konkreetsushinnanguid koguvast katsest ning sellega kaasnevatest probleemidest nii sisu kui ka vormi osas.