verboids - verbal nouns, adjectives and adverbs

[Ilija Casule]

In Macedonian grammar the terminology is as follows: deverbative
nouns in -nje are VERBAL NOUNS, the n/t-(historically)participle is
VERBAL ADJECTIVE, and the -jk'i form a VERBAL ADVERB. We can choose
to call them, as is the case with other grammars, verboids.

 The term "participle" is rightfully avoided in Macedonian, as very
little participial has survived e.g. in the -jk'i form, and the -n/t
form can be derived both from transitive and intransitive verbs.
While it is historically adequate, synchronically it doesn't seem
appropriate.

The use of the term "gerund" in Macedonian would be imprecise since
both the verbal noun and the verbal adverb display gerundival traits.
The distinction between VERBAL and DEVERBAL (DEVERBATIVE) has been
made in Macedonian in regard to the nouns - the verbal noun(-nje) is
grammaticalised (inter alia) and displays both verbal and nominal
accommodation within the sentence; the deverbative nouns (-ba,-ez^,-a
etc.) cannot be derived systemically and have nominal accommodation.
Nevertheless, it seems inadequate to overdifferentiate a VERBAL NOUN
in - nje (like in c^itanje knigi, or edno vleguvanje c^ovekot vo
sobata, or mesecot go mina vo knigi prodavanje etc) and a DEVERBAL
NOUN in c^itanje na knigi.(Also note that c^etene is Bulg, the
Macedonian form is c^itanje). This second use would have to be
subsumed under the broader category of the form.

We must also be careful in assigning terms to categories in different
languages - while adverbial participle or gerund may work for
Bulgarian (in theory), it would be inadequate in Macedonian.

Regards,
Ilija Casule
School of Modern Languages
Macquarie UNiversity
Sydney, NSW 2109
Australia
[If anyone is interested in the peculiarities of the Macedonian verbal
noun, the book George mentioned is C^as^ule Ilija (1989) Sintaksa na
makedonskata glagolska imenka, Skopje:St. zbor (with a 30 page
summary in English. Also C^as^ule (1988) "The Development of the
Macedonian Verbal Noun in the Context of the Loss of the Infinitive",
IJSLP, Vol. XXXVII (pp. 61-72)]