Re: Strategies for disambiguating ad*

Hi,

From: "Yahya Abdal-Aziz" <yahya@...>
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 8:53 AM

> *** ObConLang, two questions for you:
> A.  Do you have any conlang in which adverbs and
> adjectives may have the same form, as in Malay?
> B.  If so, what strategies do you use to help listeners
> decide whether a given word functions as an adjective or
> as an adverb in a given utterance?
Dóesn't Malay reduplicate adjective so that they're adverbs?
I think I've read that Indonesian does that ... or not?
Or is this just optional? I'm not sure I understood all of
what you described, i.e. why _itu_, _yang_ and a
reduplicated verb force a specific meaning. The way Ayeri
handles adjectives and adverbs won't be too interesting for
you, since Ayeri has case marking and adjective agreement
and all:

"Sitadayea / le mavehara / trendatoganon / ehiro, matavara /
garanang / adasanoena / Sano Trendatogan Tado."
When / was built / *post office* / new, became / name / of
that road / Road Post Office Old.

That the word _hiro_ 'new' refers to the post office is
unambiguoulsy indicated by the prefix _e-_, which is a case
agreement for patientive objects, such as the post office.

As for adverbs, the 'Course Book' has still the rule in it
that adverbs are handled just like adjectives and thus need
to agree in case as well with their verbs. But verbs don't
show case in fact, except the person agreement and the
trigger marker do sometimes, but all in all, this rule is
strange because it doesn't make sense in my eyes. In fact, I
decided to drop it, so I have to rewrite things in the
'Course Book'. However, in the end I decided to keep
adjectives agreeing with nouns and adverbs not to need
agreement at all. The only rule is that they must
necessarily follow the head verb, while adjectives can
*theoretically* take any place in a sentence.

Regards,
Carsten

--
"Miranayam kepauarà naranoaris." (Kalvin nay Hobbes)
Pinena, Rayam 8, 2315 ya 04:37:09 pd