[Lingtyp] questions about adverbs

[Martin Haspelmath]

Yes, they remind one of ideophones, but it seems that Alex François's 
term "lexically specific intensifiers" captures best what these forms 
are (though I would prefer "degree modifiers", to avoid confusion with 
self-intensifiers).

It seems that "ideophones" are generally understood more broadly, 
because they do not have to be degree modifiers (and maybe more narrowly 
at the same time, because they have to be "marked", and "depict sensory 
imagery", according to Dingemanse: 
http://ideophone.org/working-definition/).

It may be worth studying lexically specific degree modifiers more 
systematically across languages. Ekkehard König mentioned English 
"ice-cold", "crystal clear", "pitch-black", and German "hunde-müde" 
[dog-tired], "stock-dunkel" [stick-dark], and Jussi Ylikoski mentioned 
Finnish "upo-uusi" (extremeley new) – these are usually treated as 
marginal phenomena, but the fact that such lexically specific degree 
modifiers are found on at least three different continents (Wolof, 
Mwotlap, English) may point to something more general.

Martin

P.S. The term "adverb" is not wrong, but I try to avoid it, because it 
has been applied to a very heterogeneous range of phenomena.


Am 18.06.20 um 10:56 schrieb 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 <mailto: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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-- 
Martin Haspelmath (haspelmath at shh.mpg.de)
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Kahlaische Strasse 10	
D-07745 Jena
&
Leipzig University
Institut fuer Anglistik
IPF 141199
D-04081 Leipzig

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