Abstract

Resultative constructions are defined according to the St. Petersburg school of typology. In Slavic, there are three main types of resultatives, the subject resultative, the object resultative and the possessive resultative. Subject resultatives are more developed in West Slavic than in East Slavic, possessive resultatives can be found in all Slavic languages, but while in West Slavic and South Slavic they are constructed with an auxiliary meaning ‘have’, in East Slavic they are mostly built with ‘be’ and an adessive bearer of the resulta-
tive state. In three Slavic varieties they developed into a dynamic perfect: North West Russian dialects, Kashubian, and Macedonian. In all three cases language contact might have played a decisive role. Object resultatives are the most common in all Slavic languages. While in most Slavic languages they are formally identical with the dynamic passive, in Polish, Standard Czech and Sorbian dialects there are formal devices to distinguish them.