Pernilla Hallonsten Halling

k`a dv´a

like red

attr

‘I saw a red monkey’

2. 
   ka`
   

seq
vníxa`ga´-f-t-í
vomit-up-ref-1sg
ta´nta´n
first
ka`
like
ghúv-a`
excrement-gen
zwa´n

child

ta`
prep
xúla´
back

tsa´
def
k`a

like

kzún kzúN

grass

adv

‘I vomited first yellow and afterwards green.’

(7.38) Hdi (Afro-Asiatic) (Frajzyngier & Shay 2002: 349) pred

k`a

like

kùzún-kùzún

green

na`
cop
lgut
cloth
na´
dem

‘this shirt is green’ (for a shirt that one may hold in one’s hand)
Maltese (Afro-Asiatic) has an overlap of attr and adv in one specific construction with an object. In addition to Adjectives and Adverbs, Maltese has General Modifiers. In certain examples with objects, the use of General Modifiers leads to a construction where attr and adv cannot be distinguished.
(7.39) Maltese (Afro-Asiatic) (Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander 1997: 118) [attr adv]

1. 
   ferèu
   

rejoiced.3pl
ferèa
joy
kbira

big.sg.f

‘They rejoiced a big rejoicing.’/‘They were overjoyed.’ attr/adv

2. 
   xorbu
   

drank.3pl
xarba
drink
friska

fresh.sg.f

‘They drank a fresh drink.’/‘They drank freshly.’ attr/adv

The translation in (7.39a) arguably makes this example look like an instance of pred,

but it seems that it could be rephrased as, e.g., ‘They rejoiced greatly’. Maltese has the only instance of a total meaning overlap of attr and adv in the languages of the sample. Admittedly, it is a highly specialized construction and not a general pattern for the two functions in Maltese, but it is nonetheless interesting that attr and adv can be encoded identically. Since these last examples are quite specific, constructional-typological notation has not been provided for them (but see appendix B).
The languages with an [attr adv] overlap are only a handful, yet very different pat- terns are found here. They range from the constructional schematic overlap in Tagalog, to the highly specialized construction in Maltese, with the examples from Cherokee and Hdi somewhere in between. Still, the different patterns all share the fact that they point to attr and adv as encoded similarly or identically, without pred being involved. This shows that modification, as a function, unites attr and adv. Moreover, the constructions used in these two modifier functions may be related, even when there are no specifically related lexemes in attr and adv.

3. [attr pred adv] construction overlap

A constructional overlap of attr, pred, and adv may seem unintuitive. Not surprisingly, it is not clearly attested in any sample language. But two languages have tendencies to- wards overlaps of all three functions: Bora (Witotoan) and Nuu-chah-nulth (Wakashan). Why they are only tendencies and not clear overlaps as such will be discussed once ex- amples have been examined.
Bora (Witotoan) was treated in section 7.2 among the languages with an overlap of the attr and pred functions on the level of the construction. Just like the other languages in which such an overlap is attested, it is a total overlap, where the meanings of the two

5. 
   [ attr pred adv] construction overlap
   

functions cannot be distinguished. But the General Modifiers used in attr and pred

can be used also in adv, as illustrated in (7.40) and (7.41).
(7.40) Bora (Witotoan) (Thiesen 1996: 50)¹¹ [attr pred adv]

Ímí
good
cáraca.
chicken
attr/pred

‘the good chicken/the chicken is good’
(7.41) Bora (Witotoan) (Thiesen 1996: 50) [attr pred adv]

Ímí

good

cáraca
chicken
majchó.
eat
adv

‘The chicken eats well.’
Accordingly, the constructions found in the three functions in Bora look very much the same, with the General Modifier preceding the item that it modifies (in attr and adv) or is predicated of (in pred). This becomes even clearer in the constructional-typological notation in (7.42). Note that the construction with the classifier found in Form 2 of attr is a way of disambiguating between attr and pred.
(7.42) attr, pred, and adv in Bora

ATTR

Function: property modification within referring expression

Form 1: G.MOD N/S

Form 2: G.MOD-clf N Example: (7.40), (7.3)

preD

Function: property predication

Form: G.MOD N/S

Example: (7.40)

aDv

Function: property modification within predicating expression
Form 1: G.MOD S V Form 2: ADV V Example: (7.41), (35)
Judging from example (7.40), it seems that example (7.41) could equally well be intepreted as ‘The good chicken eats’. But although the constructional pattern sketches a neat overlap, the reality of the overlap can be questioned. Perhaps an example such as ‘The chicken is good and eats’ (which does not appear as very natural) would be required to see exactly how accurate the overlap of all three functions in Bora is. In sum, more data would be required to determine to what extent this overlap holds.
¹¹ This example is repeated from (7.2) in section 7.2.

In Nuu-chah-nulth (Wakashan), Stative Verbs are used in the attr, pred, and adv functions. Note that just as in the case of Bora, Nuu-chah-nulth is one of the languages that have an overlap of attr and pred, as illustrated in (7.43) and (7.44). Grammars differ in whether they treat mood, person, and number markers as clitics or affixes.

(7.43) Nuu-chah-nulth (Wakashan) [attr pred adv]

(Davidson 2002: 128; Nakayama 2001: 92)¹²

1. 
   PiPi;x_. ^wPi
   

big.inD.3sg

´qidi;L
dog
x_. u;
dem
attr

‘That is a big dog.’

2. 
   IJ^pišaq-Piš
   

bad-inD.3

Piiqh-IJyak
telli^˙ng-instrument
attr

‘There is bad news.’

(7.44) Nuu-chah-nulth (Wakashan) [attr pred adv]

(Davidson 2002: 128; Swadesh 1939: 446)¹³

1. 
   k^waPaks
   

small.inD.1sg

‘I am small.’

2. 
   Pi;h-ma
   

large-3sg.inD

‘The man is big.’


qo’Pas-Pi
man-def
pred
pred

As discussed in section 6.4.4, the same Stative Verbs can be used in the adv function.

(7.45) Nuu-chah-nulth (Wakashan) (Nakayama 2001: 113)¹⁴ [attr pred adv]

Pi:h^w-’aX-’at-qu:s
greatly-tel-shift-cond.1sg
Pu-’a:luk-’at
it-looking.after-shift
adv

‘They looked after me very well.’

From the examples above, it cannot be concluded that the Stative Verb is used in the same construction as in attr and pred, since the Stative Verb also carries markers for telicity and perspective-shifting in adv. Still, in carrying the same marking indicating mood, person, and number, Nuu-chah-nulth is at least a candidate for a language with a constructional overlap of all three functions, as captured in (7.46), where other encoding patterns attested in adv are also included.

¹² (7.43a) is repeated from (6.42) in section 6.4.4.

¹³ (7.44b) is repeated from (6.43) in section 6.4.4.
¹⁴ (7.45) is repeated from (6.44) in section 6.4.4.

5. 
   Summary and conclusion
   

(7.46) attr, pred, and adv in Nuu-chah-nulth

1. attr

Function: property modification within referring expression
Form: ST.V-mood.pers.num N/S (art) Example: (7.43)

2. preD

Function: property predication Form: ST.V-mood.pers.num N/S Example: (7.44)

3. aDv

Function: property modification within predicating expression
Form 1: ST.V-tel-shift-mooper.num V Form 2: V-sfx_ADVL
Form 3: SVC¹⁵
Example: (7.45), (8.30), (5.24)


As has been illustrated in this section, only Bora and Nuu-chah-nulth display near overlaps of all three functions on the level of the construction, and their patterns in doing so differ distinctly. However, the absence of clear overlaps of all functions is not unexpected.