On the adverbialization of Polish indefinite quantifiers of nominal origin: A diachronic study of trochę ‘a bit’, odrobinę ‘a bit’, and masę ‘a lot’

Based on diachronic data extracted chiefly from the available lexicographic sources and historical corpora of Polish, this paper aims at determining whether the initial stage of the adverbialization of indefinite quantifiers of nominal origin typically involves extent modification, degree modification being a posterior development. The results of an investigation into the evolution of the functional status of the commonly used quantifiers trochę ‘a bit’, odrobinę ‘a bit’, as well as masę ‘a lot’ indicate that prior to establishing themselves as degree modifiers, the items function as extent modifiers, i.e. duratives or frequentatives. In their earliest adverbial attestations recorded in the analysed material, the quantifiers at issue modify the duration or frequency of the action denoted by the associated verbal element, or, if the pertinent verb encodes a punctual event, the duration of the resultant state, and only later do they start to combine with scalar predicates, i.e. degree verbs as well as gradable adjectives and adverbs, including adverbials in the form of prepositional phrases. Exceptional in this respect is masę ‘a lot’, as it (still) appears incapable of serving as a degree intensifier.