nominalized counterpart with basically the same meaning
wdkuftjuD:
tuik a-kri: building +
Nom + big ‘big building’ making the construction a compound noun N + N. As noted earlier, the same general meaning can be framed with
aom
sau: -
juD:aomwdkuf
kri: sau: tuik big
+ NomAtr + building ‘big building’. It appears at first glance that the head-final typology is violated in this construction,
and while there are three ways to formulate the attributive relation, the regular N + V construction is, in fact, a reduced clause pragmatically conventionalized into a whole concept.
Without the clause-final marker
onf
sany, or one of its variants, the attributive relation is
not highly predicational.
10
Stative verbs are not strongly predicational or assertive even when they are the main verb in a sentence. The three constructions form a cline of attribution with
varying degrees of nominality or predictability, as shown in table 20. Nominal
³ ´ Verbal
Predicable N
t-
a- +
V
[stative]
N V
[stative]
V
[stative]
+
aom
sau N
V
[stative]
+
onf.
sany. N
N V
[stative] +
onf
sany or variants
wdkuftjuD
:
tuik a-kri:
building + big ‘big building’
wdkufjuD
:
tuik kri:
building + big ‘main
building’
juD:aomwdkuf
kri: sau tuik
big + Nom + building ‘big
building’ quality of the
building
juD:onf.wdkuf
kri: sany. tuik
big + Nom + building ‘building
which is big’ predication of the
building
wdkufjuD:onf
tuik kri: sany
building + big + Nom ‘the building
is big’ statement about the building
Table 20. The spectrum of nominality of attributive constructions
3.5.3 Adverbs as Nominals
Adverbs typically demonstrate a mixed categoriality unlike other lexical classes and universally tend to be derived from other noun, verb, or adjective words Givón 1984:77.
The derivational path often determines their semantic and morphological characteristics. Such is the case with Burmese “adverbs.” What has been characterized in other grammars of
Burmese as adverbs are analyzable as double-verb modifiers to the matrix head verb or as derived nominals in a nominal compound, depending on the derivational process used in the
construction.
Adverbial concepts are normally formed from a base verb, which is reduplicated e.g.,
\ref\ref
mran mran fast + fast = ‘quickly’ and situated in the modifier position immediately
preceding the matrix verb, or from a verb stem that is nominalized with the
t-
a-
nominalizing prefix e.g.,
t\ref
a-mran Nom + fast = ‘quickly’. Another variant, though
10
At first glance, to say the sentence final nominalizer
on
f sany marks a construction as more predicational
seems like a contradiction of function. Yet, by the presence of
on
f sany the construction is elongated not
iconically reduced and therefore blending of the concepts into one whole concept is less likely. Also, the presence of
on
f sany indicates a boundary of a unit of perception, which though that unit is a nominal, when it
separates the stative verb unit from the head N, then it does not immediately bind to the head nominal but separates it and invokes a sense of predicating the verb of the nominal unit.
less common, is with the nominalizer prefix
w-
ta- e.g.,
w\ref
ta- mran ‘quickly’ see
4.2. The overt nominalization process operating in adverbials must be accounted for. The current analysis acknowledges the extensive process of nominalization and the way in which
this process is consistently reflected in the wider patterns in the language as a whole and does not need to posit a separate form class for adverbials. It is the construction and the semantic
profile that contributes the sense of manner, which is the basic semantic function for what have been classified as lexical adverbs.
Adverbials are shaped on the structure of a basic clause 66a by the addition of the features just described and exemplified in 66b–e.
66 a. unmodified action clause
armifvS0if: onf ausmif: odkh oGm: onf`
maung hla. wang: sany
kyaung: sui.
swa: sany
Maung Hla Win NomTop
school Ob
go NomSf
‘Maung Hla Win went to school.’ b.
\ref
mran as a doubled verb of manner
armifvS0if: onf ausmif: odkh \ref \ref oGm: onf`
maung hla. wang: sany kyaung:
sui. mran mran swa: sany
Maung Hla Win NomTop school
Ob fast fast
go NomSf
‘Maung Hla Win quickly went to school.’ c.
\ref
mran as a nominal complement of manner
armifvS0if: onf ausmif: odkh t\ref oGm: onf`
maung hla. wang: sany
kyaung: sui.
a-mran swa: sany
Maung Hla Win NomTop
school Ob
fast go
NomSf
‘Maung Hla Win quickly went to school.’ [Literally: MHW goes fast to school.] d.
\ref
mran not as a verb chain, or sequence ungrammatical
armifvS0if: onf ausmif: odkh \ref oGm: onf`
maung hla. wang: sany kyaung:
sui. mran swa: sany
Maung Hla Win NomTop school
Ob fast go
NomSf
‘Maung Hla Win quickly went to school.’ e.
\ref
mran as the main verb, swa: as subordinate clause
armifvS0if: onf ausmif: oGm: aom tcg \ref onf`
maung hla. wang: sany kyaung: swa: sau: a-hka
mran sany
Maung Hla Win NomTop
school go
Nom Nom-time fast NomSf
‘Maung Hla Win went quickly to school.’ [Literally: When MHW went to school, he quick.]
The structural difference between 66a and 66b is the addition of a doubled verb of manner,
\ref
mran ‘fast’, which functions to qualify the action of the matrix verb ‘go’. It
does this similarly to the compounding or doubling found in nominal forms. In 66b the “adverb” functions as the first pair of a compound—in this case, [VV] + V. The normal,
balanced form of a compound is V + V or VV + VV. The first member or set of the doubled compound functions as a kind of qualifier or temporal antecedent to the final verb. This is due
to the head-final nature of Burmese. The final matrix verb typically has greater scope and focus in the sentence as a whole, whereas the preceding verb or verb compound has a sense of
prior temporality in a logical or chronological sequence in reference to the matrix verb, rather than to the sentence. The preceding verb generally has a less focal role in the overall action.
Its sense of qualifying the verb tends to be a part of the semantics of the situation.
It is also true that doubled verbs can appear as the main verb of the clause:
juD:juD:bJ
kri: kri: bhai: big + big of course ‘It’s really big’;
\ynf: \ynf: aemhf
prany: prany: nau:
slow + slow ok? ‘Slowly, ok?’ They also appear in the imperative mood:
\ref\refvdkuf
mran mran luik fast + fast Rev ‘Get out of here fast’ This data is Colloquial Burmese since
such use of stative verbs is less formal. The structure of the “adverb” as verb is displayed in figure 19.
Figure 19. Adverb analyzed as a verbal compound construction.
Stative verbs are semantically restricted to manner readings and cannot combine as a verb sequence except when reduplicated; hence, 66d is ungrammatical. There are also
typical frozen expressions used in the preverbal position, such as
t\rJwrf:
a-mrai tam: N +
V: always + continue = ‘always’. The nominalized form of the adverbial is accounted for by compounding with the
previous nominal N + N or as a reduced clause N + V. The interpretation as derived nominals is supported by the fact that these forms often retain the ability to take
complements:
Ak[l:aehtvGwf csdef:
buddhahu: ne. a-lut hkyin: Wednesday + avoidance +
make an appointment ‘make an appointment avoiding Wednesday’;
0t0 pm:
wa. a-wa. ca:
be complete + Nom-complete + eat ‘eat until full’. The interpretation of the N + V constituency of the “adverbial” with the nominal rather than with the verb occurs when the
verb is not reduplicated:
vufawGhoif
lak twe. sang [hand + meet]
N
+ study ‘learn by experience’;
a|vkH\ykwf
re lum prut [water + be covered]
N
+ boil ‘boil covered with water’;
of\yefnm\yef|dkuf
bhai pran nya pran ruik [ [right+turn]
N
+ [left+ turn]
N
]
N
+ hit ‘hit with the left and then the right in turn’.
The N + N interpretation is represented in figure 20.
Figure 20. Adverb as nominal compound construction
The analysis presented in 3.5.2 and 3.5.3 demonstrates how it may be possible to reduce the number of basic word categories. The constructions establish a framework from
which the semantic component interprets both adjectival and adverbial senses, though this is more a problem for westerners than for native speakers of Burmese. The intuition of
numerous linguists that underlyingly only Nouns and Verbs structure Burmese grammar has been shown to be plausible. It has also been shown that it is the structural rules that contribute
the distinctive sense or usage of a particular nominal or verbal as it is constructed within the rules of grammar and that the same principles that structure grammar may contribute to the
structure of semantic meaning. In the following sections we shall see that the same principles also structure larger grammatical units. Burmese grammar is structured by a common set of
underlying units that combine iteratively in a regular system throughout the grammar. The functional load of grammar is reduced to a few basic patterns and constructions, shifting the
bulk of the complexity to semantic and conceptual processes.
3.5.4 Types of Particles
