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Re: Innovative Adverb Formation

From:Stephen Mulraney <ataltanie@...>
Date:Sunday, July 14, 2002, 14:48
>Rather than forming adverbs from adjectives by appending an ending, I >can use a generic adverbial phrase head |naw| meaning approximately "in >a way, in a fashion". So: > > >|fom| "hot" >|naw fom| "hotly" (lit: in a hot way)
I like it. I've seen something like it before, too: In Irish, the word 'go' [g@] forms adverbs from adjectives: "madra maith" for "a good dog", but "tá sé go maith" for "he is good". I always thought it was the same as the preposition "go", meaning "to", though my dictionary saith this is not so. Also one ("to") causes lenition, while the other does not.
>I could even mark the noun phrase under |naw| with a case, and pull >stunts like |Tsygze je naw i warve.| "I will kill him like (I would >kill) a dog."
This is familiar too, though from my lang ML2. It has a nasty habit of treating almost anything as an adverb or adjective. Though I must say I'm getting a bit tired of such flexibility. My lang isn't nearly awkward enough (in the right ways, it's awkward in lots of wrong ways) to please me. But that's my lang - it could suit yours perfectly. It's a nice trick in itself.
>Whaddya think? Any obvious glaring catches?
I don't think there are. Depends on how it fits in with the rest of your syntax of course ;) stephen