[Lingtyp] questions about adverbs

[Kofi Yakpo]

Dear Aminata,

As Dmitry points out, these words would normally be referred to as
ideophones in African linguistics. Most ideophones in "African languages"
(they are more of an areal than a genetic feature) are
lexically/constructionally restricted in one or the other way, so there is
not much need to invent a new label for them besides "ideophone".
Colour-specific ideophones can be found in all Atlantic-Congo languages I
am familiarity with, and the European-lexifier creoles of Africa incl.
Kriyol (Casamance, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde).

You could check the work of Mark Dingemanse and the works he cites for an
overview of most of the literature.

Best,
Kofi
————
Dr Kofi Yakpo • Associate Professor
University of Hong Kong <http://arts.hku.hk/> • Linguistics
<http://www.linguistics.hku.hk/> • Scholars Hub
<http://hub.hku.hk/cris/rp/rp01715>
Resident Scholar: Chi Sun College
<http://www.chisuncollege.hku.hk/the-college/>

My publications @ zenodo
<https://zenodo.org/search?page=1&size=20&q=yakpo&sort=-publication_date>
On the Outcomes of Prosodic Contact <https://muse.jhu.edu/article/751031>
A Grammar of Pichi <http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/85>


On Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 7:07 PM Majigeen Aminata <aminatamajigeen at yahoo.com>
wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I am currently working on what are called “adverbs” (see words un bold) in
> wolof literature. Wolof, spoken in Senegal (West Africa) has specific words
> that only work with some colors: *white*, *black*, *red* and each
> word-adverb match only with its color, they are not commutable.
>
> weex* tàll*: extremely white (it can't be whiter)
>
> ñuul *kukk*: extremely black (it can't be more black)
>
> xonq *coyy*: extremely red (it can't be more red)
>
> Others words adverbs go with state verbs and are specific to them as well.
> They are not commutable.
>
> baax *lool*: extremely nice (it can't be nicer)
>
> bees* tàq:* really new (nobody has ever used it)
>
> dëg*ër këcc*: extremely hard (it can't be harder)
>
> diis* gann*: really heavy (very difficult to carry)
>
> fatt* taraj*: extremely blocked (it can't be more blocked)
>
> fess *dell*: extremely full (it can't be fuller)
>
> forox* toll*: really acidic (it can't be more acidic)
>
> gàtt *ndugur*: really short (he can't be shorter)
>
> jeex* tàkk*: completely finished, ...
>
> In Wolof they are called intensifiers but this term does not convince me
> because it can be confusing. They do not intensify the verbs. These words
> mean that the state or action of the verb is at its end of completude. I
> would like to know if there are languages ​​that work like that and what is
> the terminology used for this kind of construction. Can someone also
> recommend me new documentation on the definition of the concepts of verbs,
> adverbs, adjectives… in African languages?
>
> Thanks and regards.
>
> Aminata
>
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