Difference between revisions of "Adverbs"

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(Created page with " gimam apaax gimam tok apaax gimam tok gimam ‘I sing loudly.’ nangam weʄa legleg legleg nangam weʄa ‘I swim often.’ When adverbs modify adjec…")
 
 
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The positioning of adverbs in the sentence is as flexible in Sereer as in English, as examples (1) to (4) show:
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gimam apaax
  
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gimam tok
 
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apaax gimam
 
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tok gimam
  
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‘I sing loudly.’
  
   
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<gl id="ex1" fontsize=12>
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nangam weʄa legleg
 
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\gll gim -am <b>apax/tok</b>
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legleg nangam weʄa
  
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sing 1sg very/a-lot
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‘I swim often.’
  
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\trans I sing loudly.
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</gl>
   
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<gl id="ex2" fontsize=12>
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When adverbs modify adjectives, they cannot intervene between the stative verb and bare adjective with those adjectives that have a verb-adjective form, like balig 'black':
  
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\gll <b>apax/tok</b> gim -am
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<b>very/a-lot</b> sing 1sg
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\trans I sing loudly.
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</gl>
   
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<gl id="ex3" fontsize=12>
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oboxole fop abalga balig
  
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\gll nang -am weʄ -a <b>legleg</b>
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oboxole abalga balig fop
  
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habitual 1sg swim INF sometimes
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*oboxole abalga fop balig
  
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\trans I swim often.
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</gl>
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<gl id="ex4" fontsize=12>
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\gll <b>legleg</b> nang -am weʄ -a
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sometimes habitual 1sg swim INF
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\trans I swim often.
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</gl>
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When adverbs modify adjectives, they can come before or after the verb phrase, but cannot intervene between the stative verb and bare adjective with those adjectives that have a verb-adjective form, like <i>ɓalig</i> 'black':
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(5)
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oɓoxole fop aɓalga ɓalig
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oɓoxole aɓalga ɓalig fop
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*oɓoxole aɓalga fop ɓalig
 
'The dog is completely black.'
  
'The dog is completely black.'
   
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The adverb fop can also mean 'both':
   
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(6)
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Adverbs have flexible noun-class membership, and sometimes can behave as tense-bearing verbs and as adjectives. For instance, fop can be the adverb 'completely', or the quantifier 'all' in a partitive construction:
  
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okoor fo otew fop aƈiʄ
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‘the boy and girl all are smart’
   
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The most remarkable thing about adverbs in Sereer is that, like adjectives, there is a group of words that can serve adverbial, adjectival and even verbal functions. For instance, <i>fop</i> can be the adverb 'completely', or the quantifier 'all' in a partitive construction:
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fop no boxole abalga balig
  
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(7)
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fop no ɓoxole aɓalga ɓalig
 
‘All of the dogs are black.’
  
‘All of the dogs are black.’
   
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The ability of adverbs to be used as verbs can be illustrated with these minimal pairs:
⚫
Go back to: [[]]
  
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(8)
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retam ñofu ñofam o ret
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‘I go quickly.’ ‘I hurry up and go.’
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weʄi ñofu ñofi weʄ
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‘Swim quickly!’ ‘Hurry up and swim!'
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The sentences in (8) illustrate how adverbs can be verbs.
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  ⚫
Go back to: [[Sereer Grammar]]
   
 
[[User:Oana|Oana]] 00:47, 8 December 2012 (UTC)
  
[[User:Oana|Oana]] 00:47, 8 December 2012 (UTC)

Latest revision as of 21:58, 16 May 2013

The positioning of adverbs in the sentence is as flexible in Sereer as in English, as examples (1) to (4) show:

<gl id="ex1" fontsize=12> \gll gim -am apax/tok sing 1sg very/a-lot \trans I sing loudly. </gl>

<gl id="ex2" fontsize=12> \gll apax/tok gim -am very/a-lot sing 1sg \trans I sing loudly. </gl>

<gl id="ex3" fontsize=12> \gll nang -am weʄ -a legleg habitual 1sg swim INF sometimes \trans I swim often. </gl>

<gl id="ex4" fontsize=12> \gll legleg nang -am weʄ -a sometimes habitual 1sg swim INF \trans I swim often. </gl>

When adverbs modify adjectives, they can come before or after the verb phrase, but cannot intervene between the stative verb and bare adjective with those adjectives that have a verb-adjective form, like ɓalig 'black':

(5) 

 oɓoxole fop aɓalga ɓalig
 oɓoxole aɓalga ɓalig fop
 *oɓoxole aɓalga fop ɓalig
 'The dog is completely black.'

The adverb fop can also mean 'both':

(6) 

 okoor fo otew fop aƈiʄ 
 ‘the boy and girl all are smart’

The most remarkable thing about adverbs in Sereer is that, like adjectives, there is a group of words that can serve adverbial, adjectival and even verbal functions. For instance, fop can be the adverb 'completely', or the quantifier 'all' in a partitive construction:

(7) 

 fop no ɓoxole aɓalga ɓalig
 ‘All of the dogs are black.’

The ability of adverbs to be used as verbs can be illustrated with these minimal pairs:

(8) 

 retam ñofu	               ñofam o ret
 ‘I go quickly.’	       ‘I hurry up and go.’

 weʄi ñofu	               ñofi weʄ
 ‘Swim quickly!’              ‘Hurry up and swim!'


The sentences in (8) illustrate how adverbs can be verbs.


Go back to: Sereer Grammar

Oana 00:47, 8 December 2012 (UTC)

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