CONCLUSION
This chapter on the inventory and classification of adverbs in
Shupamem has looked at the semantic, the syntactic and the morphological
aspects of the adverbs and adverbial expressions in Shupamem. I have gone
through fourteen adverbial groups, namely manner, celerative, temporal,
frequency, epistemic, locative, degree, restrictive, aspectual, speech act,
completive proximative, ideophonic and comparative adverbs.
Their syntactic inventory has revealed that some adverbs are
base-generated after the verb while the others are generated before the verb.
Speech act and epistemic adverbs in Shupamem are base-generated at the sentence
initial position. As for the aspectual adverbs, they appear before the verb,
but not at the sentence initial position. The rest of the adverbs come after
the.
As far as the morphological inventory of adverbs is concerned,
I have identified four types of adverbs. The first one concerns pure adverbs
and is divided into lexical and grammatical words. The second one includes
adverbs derived through adjunction of elements such as preposition+noun,
preposition+adjective, and others. The third type includes adverbs derived
throughaffixation. Here, the suffixes «kériì»
or «riì»are attached to nominal or adjectival
stems to form adverbs. As for the fourth type of adverbs, they are derived
through reduplication. Finally, the fith type of adverbs comprises those
derived and through substitution of the nominal or adjectival final vowel by
another vowel.
CHAPTER FOUR:
RELATIVE ORDER AND ADVERBS HIERARCHY IN
SHUPAMEM
INTRODUCTION
In the previous chapter, I made an inventory of adverbs in
Shupamem, wherein I stressed on the unmarked positions and the morphological
properties of adverbs. In this chapter on relative order and adverbs hierarchy
in Shupamem, I explore different orders of occurrence of adverbs and their
hierarchy in Shupamem. This chapter is structured into two main sections, which
are the relative order of adverbs, and the adverbs hierarchy in the sentence.
The first section will, in a step-by-step-like analysis, explore the different
orders of occurrence of adverbs, given that two or more adverbs can co-occur in
the same structure. In section two, I shall first recall the Cinquean adverbs
hierarchical framework (stated in chapter two on theoretical framework), then,
look at the adverb linear placement in the structure. Finally, I shall bring
out the adverbs fixedhierarchy in Shupamem.
2.6. RELATIVE ORDER OF
ADVERBS IN SHUPAMEM
It has been shown previously that two or more adverbs can
co-occur in the same structure in Shupamem. This section looks at the different
adverbs orders in a structure. I discuss most cases of adverbs co-occurrence in
Shupamem.
2.6.1.
Manner+Time
When a structure comprises both a manner and a temporal
adverb, the unmarked order requires that the manner adverb precedes the
temporal adverb. Nevertheless, the temporal adverb can come before the manner
adverb without rendering the sentence ungrammatical. This is shown in (1)
below:
(1) a) m?ìn lié po?kériì
n?Ì ?yì?
child slept well in the night
«The child slept well in the night»
b) m?ìn lié n?Ì ?yì?
po?kériì
child slept in the night well
«The child slept well in the night»
In (1.a) above, the manner adverb
«po?kériì» (well) comes before the temporal
adverb «n?Ì ?yì» (in the night). In (1.b)
however, this order is reversed, that is, the manner adverb comes after the
temporal adverb, and the sentence remains grammatical.
2.6.2.
Manner+Locative
The manner adverb occurs before the locative adverb in the
sentence in the unmarked position. However, the reverse is grammatical in
Shupamem, as shown in (2) below:
(2) a) Njoya su? taìsaÌ
maÌt?Ì kiì??Ìm
poìkériì
Njoya washed dish in the kitchen well
«Njoya washed the dish well in the kitchen»
b) Njoya su? taìsaÌ
poìkériì maÌt?Ì
kiì??Ìm
Njoya washed dish well in the kitchen
«Njoya washed the dishes in the kitchen well»
The data in (1.a) show that the locative adverb
«maÌt?Ì kiì??Ìm» (in the
kitchen) precedes the manner adverb
«poìkériì» (well). As for (2.b), it
shows that the manner adverb can come before the locative adverb in Shupamem.
2.6.3.
Locative+Temporal
The locative adverb comes before the temporal adverb in the
sentence. Like in the previous cases, the reverse is possible as shown in (3)
below:
(3) a) Njoya wu??n mf?ì ndaìp
?kuìr?Ì
Njoya went to the house yesterday
«Njoya went to the house yesterday».
b) Njoya wu??n ?kuìr?Ì mf?ì
ndaìp
Njoya went yesterday to the house
«Njoya went yesterday to the house».
In (3.a) above, the locative adverb «mf?ì
ndaìp» (to the house) precedes the temporal adverb
«?kuìr?Ì» (yesterday). In (3.b), the order has
been changed and the temporal adverb comes before the locative adverb.
2.6.4.
Manner+Celerative
When a manner adverb co-occurs with a celerative adverb within
the same structure, the manner adverb precedes the celerative adverb. The
contrary is grammatical as shown in (4) below:
(4) a) Njoya ti?ì nsuì taìsaÌ
poìkériì m?j?Ìt m?Ìj?t
Njoya Prog. wash dish well slowly
«Njoya is washing the dishes well slowly»
b) Njoya ti?ì nsuì taìsaÌ
m?j?Ìt m?Ìj?t poìkériì
Njoya Prog. wash dish slowly well
«Njoya is washing the dishes slowlyvery good»
The example in (4.a) shows that the manner adverb
«poìkériì» (well) precedes the
celerative adverb «m?j?Ìt m?Ìj?t» (slowly).
However the celerative adverb comes before the manner adverb in (4.b) without
making the sentence ungrammatical.
2.6.5.
Manner+Locative+Time
Let's consider the examples in (5) below:
(5) a) Noya suìu taìsaÌ
?kuÌr?Ì maìt?Ì ki??Ìm
pokériì
Njoya wash dish yesterday in the kitchen well
«Njoya washedthe dishes well in the kitchen
yesterday»
b) Njoya suìu taìsaÌ
?kuÌr?Ì pokériì maìt?Ì
ki??Ìm
Njoya wash dish yesterday well in the kitchen
«Njoya washed the dishes well in the kitchen
yesterday»
c) Njoya suìu taìsaÌ
pokériì ?kuÌr?Ì maìt?Ì
ki??Ìm
Njoya wash dish well yesterday in the kitchen
«Njoya washed the dishes well yesterday in the
kitchen»
d) Njoya suìu taìsaÌ
pokériì maìt?Ì ki??Ìm
?kuÌr?Ì
Njoya wash dish well in the kitchen yesterday
«Njoya washed the dishes well in the kitchen
yesterday»
e) Njoya suìu taìsaÌ
maìt?Ì ki??Ìm pokériì
?kuÌr?Ì
Njoya wash dish in the kitchen well yesterday
«Njoya washed the dishes in the kitchen well
yesterday»
f) Njoya suìu taìsaÌ
maìt?Ì ki??Ìm ?kuÌr?Ì
pokériì
Njoya wash dish in the kitchen yesterday well
«Njoya washed the dishes in the kitchen well
yesterday»
These examples show that the order of occurrence of the
manner, locative and temporal adverbs within a structure in Shupamem is highly
flexible. The one can come before or after the others. However, the order in
(5.a) appears to be the most used in the structure, while the one in (5.d) is
the rarely used. Therefore, Time>Place>Manner is considered as the
unmarked order of these three adverbial classes.
2.6.6.
Manner+Epistemic
The epistemic adverb named epistemic I, that is,
«m?ì? mb?ì» (maybe),occurs at sentence initial
position. Therefore, the manner adverb will come after it in a post-verbal
position. As for epistemic II adverb «k?ì
mbuì?/puì?»(unavoidably) which never occurs sentence
initially, it will still precede the manner adverb. In brief, epistemic adverbs
occur before manner adverbs. This is shown in (6) below:
(6) a) m?ì? mb?ì
m?ìn lié poìkériì
maybe child slept well
«Maybe the child slept well»
b) *m?ìn lié poìkériì
m?ì? mb?ì
child slept well maybe
Intended: «The child slept well, maybe»
c) m?ìn k?ì mbuì? ndié
poìkériì
child unavoidably slept well
«The child unavoidably slept well».
d) *m?ìn lié poìkériì
k?ì mbuì?
child slept well unavoidably
Intended: «The child unavoidably slept well»
In (6.a) and (6.b) above, the epistemic I adverb
«m?ì? mb?ì» (maybe) and the epistemic II
«k?ì mbuì?» (unavoidably) come before the
manner adverb «poìkériì» (well). The
reverse is ungrammatical, reason why (6.b) and (6.d) wherein the manner adverb
comes before the epistemic adverbs are ungrammatical.
2.6.7.
Manner+Epistemic+Temporal
In case the epistemic adverb co-occurs with the manner and the
temporal adverbs, the epistemic adverb comes first. The unmarked order will be
Epistemic>Manner>Temporal. It is worth noting that the manner adverb may
precede the temporal adverb without rendering the sentence ungrammatical. This
is shown in (7) below:
(7) a) m?ì? mb?ì
m?ìn lié poìkériì n?Ì
?yì?
maybe child slept well in the night
«Maybe the child slept well in the night»
b) * m?ìn lié
poìkériì n?Ì ?yì? m?ì?
mb?ì
child slept well in the night maybe
Intended: «The child slept well in the night,
maybe»
c) * m?ìn lié
poìkériì m?ì? mb?ì n?Ì
?yì?
child slept well maybe in the night
Intended: «The child slept well in the night,
maybe»
In (7.a) above, the order is epistemic>manner>temporal.
In (7.b) and (7.c), the manner and the temporal adverbs precede the epistemic
adverb, and therefore, that makes the sentences ungrammatical.
2.6.8.
Manner+Frequency
The Frequency I adverbs come before the manner adverb in a
structure (8.a), while the manner adverbs come before the frequency II adverbs
(8.b) in the unmarked orders. The reverse is possible, as shown in (8.c) and
(8.d).
(8) a) Mfangam naì nsuì taìsaÌ
?gu? ?kuì???ì poìkéri
Mfangam Aff. Washes dish every morning well
«Mfangam washes the dishes well every morning»
b) Mfangam naì nsuì taìsaÌ
poìkéri ?kaì iìti?Ìn
Mfangam Aff. Washes dish well five times
«Mfangam washes the dish well five times»
c) Mfangam naì nsuì taìsaÌ
poìkéri ?gu? ?kuì???ì
Mfangam Aff. washes dish well every morning
«Mfangam washes the dishes well every morning»
d) Mfangam naì nsuì taìsaÌ
?kaì iìti?Ìn poìkéri
Mfangam Aff. washes dish five times well
«Mfangam washes the dish well five times»
In (8.a) above, the frequency I adverb «?gu?
?kuì???ì» (every morning) precedes the manner adverb
«poìkéri» (well), whereas in (8.b), it is the
manner adverb that precedes the epistemic I adverb. Similarly, epistemic II
«?kaì iìti?Ìn» (five times) precedes
the manner adverb «poìkéri» (well) in (8.c),
whereas the manner adverb precedes the epistemic II adverb in (8.d). All these
orders are grammatical in Shupamem.
2.6.9.
Temporal+Frequency
Temporal adverbs precede frequency adverbs, and this order is
reversible, as shown in (9) below:
(9) a) Mfangam naì nsuì taìsaÌ
n?Ì ?yì? ?kaì iìpa?
Mfangam Aff. washes dish in the night twice
«Mfangam washes the dish twice in the night»
b) Mfangam naì nsuì taìsaÌ
?kaì iìpa? n?Ì ?yì?
Mfangam Aff. washes dish twice in the night
«Mfangam washes the dish twice in the night»
In (9.a), the temporal adverb «n?Ì
?yì?» (in the night) precedes the frequency adverb
«?kaì iìpa?» (twice) while the frequency
adverb precedes the temporal adverb in (9.b). This shows that their order of
occurrence is flexible.
2.6.10. Temporal+Frequency
I+Frequency II
In some constructions, the
frequency I and frequency II adverbs can co-occur with the temporal adverb. In
this case, the most used order requires that frequency I adverbs come first,
followed by the frequency II adverbs, and lastly by temporal adverbs. This
order is reversible, as shown in (10) below:
(10) a) Mfangam naì nsuì taìsaÌ
?gu? lién??ì ?kaì iìpa? n?Ì
?yì?
Mfangam Aff. Washes dish everyday twice inthe night
«Mfangam washes the dish twice every day in the
night»
b) Mfangam naì nsuì taìsaÌ
?kaì iìpa? ?gu? lién??ì n?Ì
?yì?
Mfangam Aff. Washes dish twice every day inthe night
«Mfangam washes the dish twice every day in the
night»
c) Mfangam naì nsuì taìsaÌ
n?Ì ?yì? ?gu? lién??ì ?kaì
iìpa?
Mfangam Aff. washes dish in the night everyday twice
«Mfangam washes the dish twice every day in the
night»
The data in (10.a) display the order frequency I>frequency
II>temporal. As for (10.b) the order is frequency II>frequency
I>temporal. Finally, the order of adverbs in (10.c) is temporal>epistemic
I>epistemic II. In brief, the order between epistemic I, epistemic II and
temporal adverbs is interchangeable.
2.6.11.
Frequency+Locative+Time
When frequency, locative and temporal adverbs co-occur,
locative adverbs come first, followed by frequency and temporal adverbs. In
other words, the unmarked order islocative>frequency>temporal. As earlier
illustrated, the reversed possibilities are grammatical. This is shown in (11)
below:
(11) a) m?ìn wu?Ìn mf?ì ndaÌ
lér?Ìwa ?kaì iìpa? ?kuÌr?Ì
child went to school twice yesterday
«The child went to school twice yesterday»
b) m?ìn wu?Ìn ?kaì iìpa?
mf?ì ndaÌ lér?Ìwa ?kuÌr?Ì
child went twice to school yesterday
«The child went twice to school yesterday»
c) m?ìn wu?Ìn ?kuÌr?Ì
?kaì iìpa? mf?ì ndaÌ lér?Ìwa
child went yesterday twice to school
«The child went yesterday twice to school «
In (11.a), the locative adverbial «mf?ì
ndaÌ lér?Ìwa» (to school) precedes the frequency
adverb «?kaì iìpa?» (twice). The latter in
turn precedes the temporal adverb «?kuÌr?Ì»
(yesterday). In (11.b), the frequency adverb precedes the temporal adverb
which precedes the locative adverb. Finally, in (11.c), the temporal adverb
precedes the frequency adverb which in turn precedes the locative adverb. All
these orders demonstrate that the order between these adverbs is flexible
2.6.12.
Manner+Place
The locative adverb comes before the manner adverb in the
structure. The reverse is possible as shown in (12) below:
(12) a) m?Ìmviì ?iìi maì
ndaìp n?Ì nd??ìr?ì
goat entered in the house rapidly
«The goat entered the house rapidly»
b) m?Ìmviì ?iì n?Ì
nd??ìr?ì maì ndaìp
goat entered rapidly in the house
«The goat entered the house rapidly»
The data in (12.a) show that the locative adverb comes before
the manner adverb. However, the manner adverb can come before the locative
adverb without rendering the sentence ungrammatical, as is the case in (12.b)
above.
2.6.13.
Habitual+Frequency:
The habitual aspect adverb comes before the frequency adverbs
in the unmarked order. This can be reversible, especially when the frequency
adverb is raised to the sentence initial position. The examples in (13)
illustrate this case:
(13) a) m?ìn kaì
?gw?Ìn lér?ÌwaÌ ?gu?
?kuì?n??ì
child Hab. go school every morning
«The child always goes to school every morning»
b) ?gu? ?kuì?n??ì
m?ìn kaì ?gw?Ìn
lér?ÌwaÌ
every morning child Hab. go to school
«The child always goes to school every morning»
In (13.a), the habitual aspect adverb
«kaì» (habitual) precedes the frequency adverb
«?gu? ?kuì?n??ì» (every morning), whereas in
(13.b), the frequency adverbs precedes the habitual aspect adverb. This does
not affect the grammaticality of the sentence.
2.6.14. Anterior tense
Repetitive
The anterior tense adverb precedes the repetitive adverb. This
order is not reversible, as shown below:
(14) a) m?ìn t?Ìt mbiìt
n??ì paìj?ì
child Ant. Rep. eat. food
«The child has already eaten food again»
b) *m?ìn piìt t?Ìt n??ì
paìj?Ì
child Rep. Ant. eat food
Intended: «The child already has eaten food
again»
The data in (14.a) show that the anterior tense adverb
«t?Ìt» (already) precedes the repetitive adverb
«mbiìt» (again). This order is not interchangeable,
reason why the data in (14.b) wherein the repetitive adverb precedes the
anterior tense adverb are ungrammatical.
2.6.15.
Frequency+Habitual+temporal
The habitual adverb, given that it is always pre-verbal, comes
before the frequency adverb. The reverse is possible, as shown below:
(15) a) m?ìn kaì
n?e???ì n?Ì ?yì? ?kaì
ipa?
child Hab. urinate in the night twice
«The child always urinates twice in the night»
b) m?ìn kaì
n?e???ì ?kaì ipa? n?Ì ?yì?
child Hab. urinate twice in the night
«The child always urinates twice in the night»
c) n?Ì ?yì? m?ìn
kaì n?e???ì ?kaì ipa?
in the night child Hab. urinate twice
«Every night, the child urinates twice»
In (15.a), the adverbs order is
habitual>temporal>frequency, while in (15.b), the order is
habitual>frequency>temporal. Finally, the temporal adverb
«n?Ì ?yì?» (in the night) has been raised to
the sentence initial position. It is followed by the habitual adverb, which
precedes the frequency adverb.
2.6.16.
Progressive+durative
The progressive adverb precedes the durative adverb. The
contrary is not grammatical. This is shown in (16) below:
(16) a) m?ìn ti?ì ?k?ì
ndié
child Prog. Dur. sleeps
«The child is still sleeping»
b) *m?ìn ?k?ì ti?ì die
child Dur. Prog. sleeps
Intended: «The child is still sleeping»
In (16.a), the progressive adverb «ti?ì»
(progressive) comes before the durative aspect adverb
«?k?ì» (still). Given that this order is not
reversible, the data in (16.b) is ungrammatical.
2.6.17.
Progressive+repetitive
The progressive aspectadverb comes before the repetitive
adverb. This order is not reversible, as shown in (17) below:
(17) a) m?ìn ti?ì mbiìt
ndié (m?ì? ?kée)
child Prog. Rep. sleep Rep.
«The child is sleeping again»
b) * m?ìn piìt ti?ì
ndié (m?ì? ?kée)
child Rep. Prog. sleep Rep.
Intended: «The child is sleeping again»
In (17.a), the progressive aspect «ti?ì»
precedes the repetitive aspect «mbiìt». As said
above, this order is not reversible. That is why the data in (17.b) are
ungrammatical.
2.6.18. Speech
act+Epistemic
Speech act and epistemic adverbs are higher adverbs. They are
base-generated at the sentence initial position. When they co-occur, the speech
act adverb precedes the epistemic adverb. It is possible to reverse this order.
In this case, the speech act adverb will come at the sentence final position,
preceded by a pause. This is shown in (18) below:
(18) a) m?Ì ndaì ?gaÌm m???
mb?ì m?ìn j?Ì paìj?ì
Honestly maybe child ate food
«Honestly, maybe the child ate food»
b) m??? mb?ì m?ìn
j?Ì paìj?ì, m?Ìndaì
?gaÌm
maybe child ate food, honestly
«Maybe the child ate the food, honestly»
In (18.a) above, the order of adverbs is speech
act>epistemic, while in (18.b), it is epistemic>speech act. It should be
noted that the absence of the pause here will render the speech act adverb
«m?Ì ndaì ?gaÌm» (honestly) a manner
adverb. The sense of the sentence will be «It is honestly that the child
ate food».
2.6.19.
Manner+Exocomparative
When a manner adverb co-occurs with an exocomparative adverb,
the exocomparative adverb comes before the manner adverb. The reverse is
ungrammatical, as shown in (19) below:
(19) a) jiì léraÌ? naì
ndét lér?ÌwaÌ ndu?niì
poìkériì
Dem. Teacher Aff. teach lesson differently well
«This teacher teaches differently well»
b) * jiì léraÌ? naì ndét
lér?ÌwaÌ poìkériì ndu?niì
Dem. Teacher Aff. teach lesson well differently
Intended: «This teacher teaches differently well»
In (19.a), the exocomparative adverb
«ndu?niì» (differently) precedes the manner adverb
«poìkériì» (well). As far as (19.b) is
concerned, the manner adverb precedes the exocomparative adverb. This order
renders the sentence ungrammatical.
2.6.20.
Temporal+Exocomparative
Temporal adverbs follow exocomparative adverbs in the
structure. This order is reversible, as shown in (20) below:
(20) a) jiì léraÌ? lét
lér?ÌwaÌ ndu?niì ?kuÌr?Ì
Dem. teacher taught lesson differently yesterday
«This teacher taught differently yesterday»
b) jiì léraÌ? lét
lér?ÌwaÌ ?kuÌr?Ì
ndu?niì
Dem. Teacher taught lesson yesterday differently
«This teacher taught differently yesterday»
The example in (20.a) shows that the exocomparative adverb
precedes the temporal adverb. In the same vein, the example in (20.b) shows
that the temporal adverb can come before the exocomparative adverb without
making the sentence ungrammatical.
2.6.21.
Locative+Exocomparative
Exocomparative adverbs precede locative adverbs in the same
structure. Like the previous cases, the order can be reversed. This is shown in
(21) below:
(21) a) paì léraÌ? wu?Ìn
maì Yaoundé ?g??ì ?g??ì
Pl. teacher went to Yaoundé similarly
«The teachers went to Yaoundé similarly»
b) paì léraÌ? wu?Ìn
?g??ì ?g??ì maì Yaoundé
Pl. teacher went similarly to Yaoundé
«The teachers went to Yaoundé similarly»
In (21.a), the locative adverb «maì
Yaoundé» (to Yaoundé) precedes the exocomparative
adverb «?g??ì ?g??ì» (similarly). The reverse
is possible, that is why the order exocomparative>locative in (21.b) does
not render the sentence ungrammatical.
In brief, the analysis of the ordering of twenty-one possible
combinations of adverbs that I have studied can be presented as follows:
· poìkériì>n?Ì
?yì?: Manner>Time (reversible)
· maÌt?Ì
kiì??Ìm>poìkériì: Locative>manner
(reversible)
· mf?ì
ndaìp>?kuìr?Ì: Locative>Temporal
(reversible)
· ?kuÌr?Ì>maìt?Ì
ki??Ìm>pokériì: Temporal>Locative>manner
(all reversible)
· ?gu?
?kuì???ì>poìkéri: Frequency I>manner
(reversible)
· poìkéri>?kaì
iìti?Ìn: manner>Frequency II (reversible)
· n?Ì ?yì?>?kaì
iìpa?: Temporal>Frequency II (reversible)
· ?gu? lién??ì>?kaì
iìpa?>n?Ì ?yì?:
FrequencyI>FrequencyII>Temporal(all reversible)
· mf?ì ndaÌ
lér?Ìwa>?kaì
iìpa?>?kuÌr?Ì:locative>Frequency II>temporal
(all reversible)
· maì ndaìp>n?Ì
nd??ìr?ì: Locative>Celerative (reversible)
· ndu?niì >?kuÌr?Ì:
Exocomparative>time (reversible)
· maì Yaoundé>?g??ì
?g??ì: Locative>Exocomparative (reversible)
·
ndu?niì>poìkériì: Exocomparative>manner
(irreversible)
· poìkériì>m?j?Ìt
m?Ìj?t: Manner>celerative (irreversible)
· t?ì>mbiìt: Anterior
tense>Repetitive (irreversible)
·
ti?ì>mbiìt:Progressive>Repetitive (irreversible)
·
ti?ì>?k?ì:Progressive>Durative (irreversible)
2.7. ADVERBS HIERARCHY IN
SHUPAMEM IN THE LIGHT OF THE CINQUEAN APPROACH
The previous section aimed at bringing out the relative order
of adverbs when they co-occur in Shupamem. In this section, I present the
hierarchy of the adverbs based on the approach of Cinque (1999). I first recall
the Cinquean view on the adverbs hierarchy, then, I classify adverbs according
to their place of occurrence in the sentence (Higher and lower classes).
Finally, I bring out the fixed hierarchy of adverbs in Shupamem.
2.7.1. The Cinquean
Approach
As previously mentioned in chapter two, Cinque (1999) posits
that adverbs occur in a fixed order in all the languages. He proposes that each
adverb should occur at the specifier position of the various functional
projections. These functional projections are the Mood (Mood-), the Modality,
(Mod-), the Tense (T-), and the Aspect (Asp-). The scheme he proposed to
account for his point of view was presented in the section on the Cartographic
Approach.
According to Cinque (1999), even if the specifiers or the
heads of the functional projections are not realized, the whole hierarchy maybe
present in a sentence. This hierarchization is based on the adverb linear
placement within the sentence. Thus, in order to establish the fixed hierarchy
of adverbs in Shupamem, I first look at their linear placement within the
structure.
2.7.2. Adverbs linear
placement
Cinque (1999) classifies adverbs into two classes, which are
higher class adverbs and lower class adverbs. The higher class comprises
adverbs that are base-generated at the sentence initial position. On a
domain-based classification, these adverbs are also called CP-adverbs (Njike
2009). As for the lower class, it is made up of adverbs that do not occur at
the sentence initial position. These are pre-verbal and post-verbal adverbs.
2.7.2.1. Higher class
adverbs
As mentioned above, this is the class of adverbs whose
unmarked position is sentence initial position. Throughout chapter three, I
noticed that only the speech act and the epistemic I adverbs are base-generated
at the sentence initial position. However, some adverbs can be raised to the
sentence initial position through focalization and topicalization as will be
shown in the next chapter. Examples of higher class adverbs are presented in
(22) below:
(22) a) m??? mb?ì maÌtwaì
tu?Ì n?Ì ?yì?
maybe car came in the night
«Maybe the car came in the night».
b) m?Ì ndaì ?gam
m?Ì j??ìn ??ìn
honestly I P1 see thief
«Honestly, I have seen the thief»
The examples in (22) show that speech act and epistemic I
adverbs belong to the higher class adverbs, because they are base-generated at
the sentence initial position.
The section on their relative order revealed that the most
frequently used order is speech act>epistemic.
2.7.2.2. Lower class
adverbs
The lower class is made up of adverbs that occur either before
or after the verb.
2.7.2.2.1. Pre-verbal lower
class adverbs
Pre-verbal adverbs, as shown previously, are aspectual and
epistemic II adverbs. Consider the data in(23) below:
(23) a) m?ìn kaì nsuì
???Ì?
child often wash clothes
«The child often washes the clothes» (Habitual)
b) m?ìn piÌt nsuì
???Ì?
child again wash clothes
«The child washed the clothesagain» (Repetitive)
c) m?ìn paì m?Ì jin
nsuì ???Ì?
child Prog. wash clothes
«The child is washing the clothes (Progressive)
d) m?ìn t?Ìt nsuì
???Ì?
child already. wash clothes
«The child has already the clothes»
(perfective/anterior tense)
e) m?ìn kaì? ?k?ì nsuì
???Ì?
child still wash clothes
«The has already the clothes» (continuative)
In all the data presented above, the aspectual adverbs come
just before the verb. They are preverbal lower class adverbs. The study of the
relative order of some combinations of aspectual adverbs revealed the following
hierarchy: Anterior tense>Repetitive; Progressive>durative;
Progressive>repetitive.
2.7.2.2.2. Post-verbal
adverbs
The post-verbal adverbs are the rest of adverbs, such as
manner, locative, degree, temporal, restrictive, exocomparative, and others.
The hierarchy between these adverbs is highly flexible. In fact, out of the
twenty-one combinations I studied previously, there are fifteen cases of
reversible orders against six cases of irreversible ones.
The results of this analysis show that speech act and
epistemic I adverbs precede all other adverbs in Shupamem. They are followed by
the aspectual adverbs, which belong to the pre-verbal lower class adverbs. The
post-verbal adverbs are the last in the chain. This is summarized in the
diagram below:
Adverbs
Higher class Lower class
- m?Ì ndaì ?gaÌm (Honestly)
- m?ì? mb?ì (maybe)
Include: Manner, Celerative, Frequency, Epistemic II, Degree,
temporal, locative, restriction, proximative, Comparative and Exocomparative
adverbs
Pre-verbal lower class Post-verbal
lower class
- t?Ìt (Already)
- piÌt/mbiìt(again)
- ti?ì (Prog.)
- kaì? ?k?ì(still)
Figure6, Hierarchical scheme of adverbs in Shupamem
After the identification of the adverbs linear placement, the
hierarchy of the adverbs in Shupamem is as follows:
(24) [m?Ì ndaì ?gaÌm
Mood-speech act honestly
[m?ì? mb?ì
Mod-epistemic I maybe
[maÌn??ìm m?ìkét
f?Ì? Mod-Proximative soon
[ti?ì Asp-Progressive
progressive
[t?ìt Asp-Anterior
already
[kaì Asp-Habitual
always
[k?ì puÌ?
Asp-Epistemic II unavoidably
[kaì? ?k?ì
Asp-Continuative/durative still
[piìt Asp-repetitive
again
[?aÌ jiìi
Asp-Locative here
[?guì
lién??ì Asp-Frequency I everyday
[?kaì ipa?
Asp-Frequency II twice
[n?Ì ?yì?
Asp-Temporal in the night
[poìkériì
Asp-manner well
It should be remembered that the order between the post-verbal
adverbs is highly flexible. That is why all the structures in (25) below and
other possible combinations of their post-verbal adverbs are grammatical.
(25) a) m?Ì ndaì?gaÌm,
m?ì?mb?ì p?ìn
ti?ì mbiÌt
?k?Ì mbuì?
Epist. Sp.act children Prog. Rep. unavoidably
?kaìam mf?ì
ndaìp ?guì
lién??Ì ?kaì ipa?
n?Ì ?yì?
poìkériì
play Loc. Freq1 Freq2. Temp. Mann.
«Honestly, maybe the children are unavoidably still
playing well twice every day at home in the night»
b) m?Ì ndaì?gaÌm,
m?ì?mb?ì p?ìn
ti?ì mbiÌt
?k?Ì mbuì?
Epist . Sp.act children Prog. Rep. unavoidably
?kaìam
poìkériì
?guì lién??Ì
mf?ì ndaìp ?kaì
ipa? n?Ì ?yì?
play mann. Freq.1 Loc. Freq.2 in the night
«Honestly, maybe the children are unavoidably still
playing well twice every day at home in the night».
The order of post-verbal adverbs in (24.a) is
epistemicII>locative>frequency I>frequency II>temporal>manner,
while that of (24.b) isepistemic
II>manner>frequencyI>locative>frequencyII>temporal.
This shows the flexibility of the post-verbal adverbs orders.
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