Re: How many verbs?

On Mon, 12 Jul 2004, Gary Shannon wrote:

> This is just a random thought, but I was wondering if
> there were any natlangs with this feature that
> occurred to me for use in a conlang.  The number of
> verbs in the language would be very small, covering
> only the most basic form of a particular action and
> the details would be provided by an adverb-like word
> that narrowed down the meaning of the verb.
>
> For example, the language would not have the verbs "to
> run" or "to walk", but would use adverbs with the verb
> "to move" giving, for example: "to move 'runly'" or
> "to move 'walkly'".  These adverbs could then be
> applied to other verbs to create idioms unique to the
> language like: (using English words)
>
> This boy act-he excitedly too-much did, and speak-he
> runly did.  Speak-I requestly did, that speak-he
> walkly do.
>
> By using the adverbs "runly" and "walkly" in different
> contexts their meanings would somewhat broader and
> more versatile, thus keeping the number of such
> special adverbs reasonably small as well.
>
> So I can't help but wonder how small a set of verbs
> would constitute a useful set.  I'm not thinking of
> minimalism for its own sake, but to create as many
> verbs as would be useful without violating the spirit
> of not creating a new verb when a verb + adverb would
> do the job.  A mere 10 verbs and 10 adverbs would give
> 100 verb + adverb combinations possibly taking over
> for 100 separate English verbs, or possibly creating
> novel meanings not expressible in English without some
> circumlocution.
You might be interested in Kalam, a language from the
New Guinea Highlands described by Andrew Pawley in
"A language which defies description by ordinary means"
in _The_Role_Of_Theory_In_Language_Description_.
I quote:
   In this language verb stems are a closed set,
   consisting of about 100 members.  Speakers rely
   heavily on a small subset of these, termed here
   "generic verbs": 15 generic verbs account for 89
   percent of all verb occurrences in text; 35 generic
   verbs account for 98.6 percent of all verb tokens.

There is extensive verb serialization in Kalam, e.g. a
conventional expression translating roughly as 'to massage' is:

   pk     wk  d    ap   tan    d    ap   yap     g-
   strike rub hold come ascend hold come descend do

Other examples from the paper:

   b   ak   am mon  p-wk      d   ap   ay-a-k
   man that go wood hit-break get come put-3SG-PAST
   'The man fetched some firewood'

   b   tw  d-y           mon  tb  lak-p
   man axe hold-SS.PRIOR wood cut split-PERF.3SG
   'The man split the wood with an axe'

   b   mon-day     d    yok-e-k,              waty  at  am-b,
   man stick-piece hold displace-DS.PRIOR-3SG fence top go-PERF.3SG
      wog-mgan  yow-p
      garden-in fall-PERF.3SG
   'The man threw a stick over the fence into the garden'

   kab  añañ  ap   yap  pk-e-k              pag-p          ok
   rock glass come fall strike-DS.PRIOR-3SG break-PERF-3SG that
   'The stone fell on the glass and it broke'

and so on.  A few sample generic verbs:
   ag-  make a sound: emit, resound, speak, etc.
   d-   control, constrain: hold, obtain, get, touch, handle, catch, seize,
        stop, cease, complete something
   yok- force something away from its usual or secure position: remove,
        displace, dislodge, dislocate, throw, propel, get rid of something,
        put something out of place, send away, banish, etc.

A very interesting language (and a good article to read if you can get your
hands on it.)

--Apollo

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