Pernilla Hallonsten Halling

kümé

good
wentru
man
attr

‘a good man’

2. 
   pichi
   

small

wentru
man
nie-n
have-1sg.ind
attr

‘I have a small man’
In pred, these Adjectives take verb endings. According to Smeets (2008: 71, 121) Verbs are zero-derived from Adjectives, as illustrated in (6.24).
(6.24) Mapudungun (Auracanian) (Smeets 2008: 71)

ti
the
wentru
man
kümé-Ø-y

good-vblz-3.inD

pred

‘the man is good’

The property word in kümé ‘good’ in (6.24) thus behaves just like a Verb, inflected for third person indicative.

A subset of the Adjectives can be used as they are in adv, and it these Adjectives that instantiate the overlap in question. In certain cases, this implies a semantic shift, as illustrated in (6.25b) compared to (6.23b).
(6.25) Mapudungun (Auracanian) (Smeets 2008: 81, 72) [attr adv]

1. 
   ñochi
   

slowly

treka-le-y
walk-st-ind-3
kiñe
one
adv

‘one walked slowly’

2. 
   pichi
   

small

ąungu-n
speak-1sg.ind
adv

‘I spoke for a short while.’
Examples such as (6.23b), where pichi means ‘small’, compared to (6.25b), where pichi means ‘a short while’, cannot be analyzed quite as instances of lexeme overlap (but see discussion of such shift in section 8.8). However, the cases that do not shift semantically, as in (6.25a), show that Mapudungun has an apparent overlap of attr and adv on the lexeme level. Depending on how the zero-derivation that Smeets (2008) argues for in pred is regarded, it might be suggested that Mapudungun fits better in the next section, with overlaps of attr, pred, and adv. Note that on the root level, Mapudungun has a total overlap (cf. table 6.3 in section 6.2.3).

4. [attr pred adv] lexeme overlap

Over half of the sample languages (33/60) have an overlap of attr, pred, and adv on the level of the lexeme. A substantial number of these languages have a class of lexemes that covers the functions of adjectives and adverbs, and thus occurs in attr, pred, and adv. I call this class general modifiers, and they are discussed under the heading with the same name below. It could be argued that the term general modifiers would be more suitable for lexemes that function in attr and adv, but exclude pred, since these are
the two functions of modification. pred, on the other hand, is a function of predication.
Interestingly though, lexemes that are used in attr and adv seem to always be used also in pred, There is only one marginal instance of a modifier that occurs in attr and adv to the exclusion of pred, attested in Mapudungun (Auracanian), as discussed in section

3. 
   The languages with general modifiers differ in terms of how extensive this class of items is. In some languages, it is the only type of modifier lexeme. Other languages have adjectives or adverbs, or both, in addition to general modifiers. In grammars of languages with fairly large adjective classes, it is often the case that the general modifiers are treated as a subset of adjectives, which can also be used adverbially. Such subsets vary in size, from a handful to dozens of items. Here, they will all be treated as general modifiers, irrespective of how many they are and whether they are described as a subset of adjectives, based on the fact that they are simple lexemes used in attr, pred, and adv.
   

Yet other languages have stative verbs in attr, pred, and adv. These are discussed
in the section headed ‘Stative verbs’. Again, in some cases such stative verbs found

in the overlap appear to constitute the primary way to encode attr, pred, and adv, respectively, while other languages have classes of adjectives and/or adverbs in addition. A table summary is provided for all the languages with an overlap of attr, pred, and adv in the final summarizing section. The table also indicates whether these languages have adjectives and/or adverbs in addition to having general modifiers or stative verbs.

General modifiers

General modifiers are simple lexemes that function in attr, pred, and adv. A A third of the sample languages (20/60) have such a class. In the Austronesian language Kilivila, both a class of General Modifiers and a class of Adjectives are attested. The Adjectives can be divided into two subclasses: those that always take classifiers and those that optionally take classifiers. Contrary to this, the General Modifiers do not take classifiers at all.⁵ The General Modifier class also appears to be larger than the two Adjective classes.⁶ In (6.26), an example with bwena ‘good’ is presented, both in attr and adv.⁷
(6.26) Kilivila (Austronesian) (Senft 1986: 111, 115) [attr pred adv]

1. 
   Gala
   

not
e-nukwali
he-know
keda
road
bwena.

good

attr

‘He does not know the right road.’

2. 
   Ki,
   

well
e-tatai
he-carve