Pernilla Hallonsten Halling

Semantic types and semantic shift

Dixon (1982 [1977], 2004) lists several core and peripheral types of adjectives (and a set of types found in really large adjective classes as mentioned in section 2.5.1, added in the later work, see Dixon 2004: 5). The semantic types of adverbs presented in the present study are fewer. The only clear core semantic type for adverbs alone is that of speed (which is also found among Dixon’s peripheral types of adjectives). value is a type for both adjectives and adverbs and/or general modifiers. It is also one of Dixon’s

core types of adjectives.
noise
and
care
are peripheral semantic types for adverbs.

Both adjectives and adverbs (of the type examined here) denote properties and serve the function of modification. One may thus ask why the semantic types are so skewed in their distribution for these two classes. The answer can be found within the nature of the expressions that are being modified, i.e. in the difference between referring and predicating expressions, respectively. This can be observed already by examining the semantic types of property words that occur as adjectives and how or if they can be used as adverbs. As discussed in section 8.7, Plungian & Rakhilina (2013) show the tendency for speed words to either originate in time words or shift towards time meanings. If Dixon’s semantic types of adjectives are examined as instantiated in English, and these examples are compared to their respective potential adverb versions, then other types of semantic shift are revealed. Such shift can be argued to be at least partly inherent to the change of function from adjective to adverb. Table 8.12 illustrates English examples of property words used adjectivally and adverbially and the meaning shifts that goes with some property words, but not with others, when the function is changed.

Table 8.12. Semantic types and shifts from adjective to adverb usage