Czecb adverb/adverb pairs

[Chew G]

Venturing (probably inadvisedly) outside my specialism, I'd ask whether this is similar to the distinctions in Afrikaans and maybe other Germanic languages between strong and weak forms of verbs (strong always for the figurative sense, weak maybe for both figurative and literal) -- "bederfde vrugte", rotton fruit, ";n bedorwe kind", a corrupted child; "'n gebreekte ruit", a broken pane, "'n gebroke man", a broken man, etc., though in these cases I couldn't quite imagine the weak form for the figurative sense.
 
Geoff 
 
 Geoffrey Chew
 Department of Music, Royal Holloway, University of London
 g.chew at rhul.ac.uk

________________________________

From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list on behalf of Jindrich Toman
Sent: Tue 11.11.08 01:36
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Czecb adverb/adverb pairs



In addition to hluboce, vysoce, siroce, I would add sikme from sikmý
"oblique, slanting":
Obraz visí sikmo / ?sikme. "The picture is not hanging straight"
But:
Dívali se na nej sikme "They looked at him with suspicion."
sikmo would (should?) really mean from a sharp angle, at least
normatively--I would not be be surprised by other judgments (registers may
play an additional role in this).

(As for siroko/ siroce see:
 siroko (??siroce) rozvinutá vlajka  vs. *siroko/ siroce rozvinutá teze.)

I think that it should not be so difficult to find other cases in which a
form can be used both non-figuratively and figuratively, while the
figurative usage would require a specialized form--in a way a good case for
the theory of markedness. Take German schwer and schwierig. You can hear
both eine schwierige Frage and eine schwere Frage, but you definitely cannot
say der schwierige Koffer if you refer to the weight of the suitcase.

JT



On 11/10/08 5:24 PM, "Paul B. Gallagher" <paulbg at PBG-TRANSLATIONS.COM>
wrote:

> Dear friends,
>
> I've been having a chat with a Czech translator who explains that a few
> adverbs have two forms, depending on whether the sense is relatively
> concrete or figurative. I'm wondering if any of the other Slavic
> languages do this (AFAIK Russian does not, but I'm not a native).
>
> Below are some examples my colleague cited.
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> Byla _vysoko_ v horách. She was high in the mountains. [physical
> location, destination, distance]
> Byla _vysoce_ postavena/placena.  She had a high post/was highly paid.
>   [manner, rank, degree on a scale conceived of metaphorically in terms
> of height]
> _Vysoce_ si cenil jeho poesie. He valued his poetry highly. [quality,
> manner, intensifier, metaphorically]
>
> Spicáky jsou velké a osazené _siroko_ od sebe.  The canine teeth are
> large and widely spaced.  [position, distance, location]
> Pre výmenu skúseností sú dvere _siroko_ otvorené.  The doors are wide
> open for an exchange of experiences.  [Slovak, not Czech, but close
> enough: physically wide open]
> Musíme zasáhnout _siroce_ proti vsem státním podporovatelum terorismu.
> We must strike broadly against all state supporters of terrorism.
> [manner, intensity]
> SdKfz 250 byl první _siroce_ pouzívaný nemecký obrnený transportér.
> The SdKfx 250 was the first widely used German armored transport.
> [manner, extent, metaphorical breadth]
>
> Venku je _chladno_. It is cold outside. [physical fact, objective like
> distance - and an anglophone could argue it's a noun, but Czech
> grammars classify it as adverbial]
> R. 1802 odplul do Ameriky, ale byl tam prijat _chladne_.  In 1802 he
> sailed to America, but he was received coldly there.  [manner,
> emotion, quality]
> Zena vypadala _chladne_.  The woman had a cold demeanor. [ditto;
> metaphorical temperature]
> Zene bylo _chladno_. The woman felt cold.  [physical temperature, fact]
>
> Dnes je _teplo_. It is warm today. [physical fact, objective like distance]
> _Teple_ se oblékla. She was dressed warmly. [manner, quality, feeling]
> Proto on _teple_ obhajoval vytvorení národních vedeckých spolecností.
> So he warmly advocated the creation of national scientific societies.
> [emotion, feeling, quality, intensity]
>
> Rád se potápí _hluboko_ pod vodou. He likes to dive deep under the
> water.  [physical location, distance]
> Je do neho _hluboce_ zamilovaná. She's deeply in love with him.
> [extent, intensity, metaphor]
> Spíte _hluboce_ a klidne.  You are sleeping deeply and quietly.
> [metaphor, intensity, manner]
> _Hluboko_ dole není nic nez písek. Deep down there's nothing but sand.
>   [physical location, distance]

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