Manner predication
Manner predication is a type of secondary predication which ascribes a property to an event. The expression used for manner predication is called Manner expression.
Examples
English (Germanic, Indo-European):
| (1) | Carl walked slowly. |
| Olga smiled sweetly. | |
| Wycliffe worked efficiently. |
Coding strategies
Languages of the world employ various strategies to predicate manner to an event. It seems that most languages have more than one strategy. Below are examples of coding manner predication which are presented in more detail in Loeb-Diehl 2005.
Coordinate clause constructions
In this strategy, manner and event are coded each in a separate clause of the same rank.
Coordinate clauses with same subject
Here the verbs of the coordinated clauses refer to the same referent.
Muna (Austronesian, West-Malayan) (Van De Berg 1989:181)
| (2) | ne-rimba | no-tende |
| 3s-be.fast | 3s-run | |
| He runs fast. (lit. He1 is fast, he1 runs.) | ||
Coordinate clauses with different subjects
This strategy is similar to (2), but the verb in the manner-clause shows default agreement rather than agreement with the argument of the verb in the event-clause.
Ambrym (Austronesian, East-Oceanic) (Paton 1971:77)
| (3) | om | geh | mə | faiah |
| 2s.PRES | work | 3s.PRES | be.strong | |
| You work strongly. (lit. You work, it is strong.) | ||||
Non-finite clause constructions
Manner is coded as a less finite verb form (subordinated).
Non-finite clauses with same subject
In this strategy, the subject of the non-finite form is the same as the subject of the main clause, which is shown by agreement (e.g. in person, number, gender). Such Forms are traditionally called participles or relative clauses.
Abkhaz (Caucasian, Nort-West) (Hewitt 1979:240)
| (4) | d-las-nə | də-cè-ytˀ | a-pħ°əs |
| 3sf-quick-PTCP.PAST.ABS | 3sf-go-FIN | DEF-woman | |
| The woman goes quickly. (lit. She, who is quick, goes.) | |||
Sanuma (Yanomami) (Borgman 1990:34)
| (5) | opi-i | a | kali-palo-ma |
| be.slow-REL | he | work-REPET-COMPLET | |
| He worked slowly. (lit. He, who is slow, worked.) | |||
Non-finite clauses with different subject
The non-finite clause is not explicitely referring to the subject of the main clause or is understood to have different subject. The non-finite verb form is referred to as converb (beside other terms like gerund, adverbial participle, verbal adverb, …).
Turkana (Nilo-Saharan, East-Sudanic) (Dimmendaal 1982:379)
| (6) | è-pès-e-tè | nɪ-a-ron-o-nị |
| 3-be.quick-A-PL | REL.NEUT-be.bad-SG-REL.CLAUSE | |
| They kicked him badly. (lit. They kicked him, which is bad.) | ||
Abkhaz (Caucasian, Nort-West) (Hewitt 1979:240)
| (7) | ye-las-nə | də-cè-ytˀ | a-pħ°əs |
| 3sn-quick-PTCP.PAST.ABS | 3sf-go-FIN | DEF-woman | |
| The woman goes quickly. (lit. She goes, which is quick.) | |||
Non-finite clauses with copula
In few languages we find participial clauses where the manner coding item itself is not verbal and a copula ‘to do’ or ‘to be’ carries the participial marking.
Malayalam (Dravidian) (Asher & Kumari 1997:112)
| (8) | aval | bhamgiy=aayi | prasamgiccu |
| she | beauty=COP.PTCP | speak-PAST | |
| She spoke beautifully. (lit. She spoke being beautiful.) | |||
Nubian (Nilo-Saharan, East-Sudanic) (Kauczor 1920:285)
| (9) | kē=nd-i | akra |
| good=COP-PTCP | rest.PRES.2s | |
| Did you rest well (lit. Did you rest being well?) | ||
Adjective-like constructions
Here the manner item is not morphologically a non-verbal, but more like an adjective.
Agreeing adjective
We find languages where the manner coding adjective agrees with the subject, like depictive construction or an apposition, i.e. as a property of a participant of an event.
Gooniyandi (Australian, Bunaban) (McGregor 1990:345)
| (10) | a. | wangmadda | wardji |
| mad.ABS | he.went | ||
| He walked madly (lit. He walked mad.) | |||
| b. | gardlooni | wangamadda-ngga | |
| I.hit.him | mad-ERG | ||
| I hit him crazily. | |||
Latin (Italic, Indo-European). (Vroom 1938:74)
| (11) | mendicus | a | me | tristis | stipem | petivit |
| beggar.NOM.masc.sg | from | me | sad.NOM.masc.sg | gift.ACC | ask.PERF.3sg | |
| The beggar asked me sadly for a gift. | ||||||
Hindi (Indic, Indo-European). (McGregor 1977:33)
| (12) | vah | sīdhī | cali, | phir | dāhine |
| she | straight.FEM | went | then | to.the.right | |
| She went straight ahead, then to the right. | |||||
Non-agreeing adjective
In this strategy the manner coding adjective has default agreement or no agreement at all. In Bulgarian it is invariably marked for neuter gender
Bulgarian (Indo-European, Slavonic) (Scatton 1984:345)
| (13) | tja | pée | xubav-o |
| she | sing.PRES | nice-NEUT | |
| She sings nicely. | |||
German (Indo-European, West-Germanic)
| (14) | Sie | arbeiten | schnell |
| They | work.PRES.3PL | fast | |
| They work fast. | |||
Similative construction
Similative construction is a manner predication based on comparison. Examples:
Susan sang like a nightingale.
Susan sang as if she was on fire.
See also
References
- Asher, R. E. & Kumari, T. C. 1997. Malayalam. Routledge Descriptive Grammars. London: Routledge.
- Borgman, Donald M. 1990. Sanuma. In: Desmond C. Derbyshire & Geoffrey K. Pullum (eds.) Handbook of Amazonian Languages, Vol. 2, 15–248. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
- Dimmendaal, Gerrit Jan. 1983. The Turkana Language (Publication in the African Languages and Linguistics, 2). Dodrecht: Foris.
- Hewitt, B. George. 1979. Abkhaz. (Linguia descriptive Studies, 2). Amsterdam.
- Kauczor, P. D. 1920. Die Bergnubische Sprache: Dialekt von Gebel-Delen. Vienna: Akademie der Wissenschaften.
- Loeb-Diehl, Flora. 2005. The Typology of Manner Expressions. Diss. Ponsen & Looijen.
- Van De Berg, René. 1989. A Grammar of the Muna Language. Ph.D. Dissertation, Leyden University.
- Paton, W. F. 1971. Ambrym (Lonwolwol) Grammar. Pacific Linguistics, B 19.
