2.9.2.2.7. Frequency Adverbs
Frequency adverbs allow both focalization and topicalization
in Shupamem. This is shown in (45) and (46) below:
(45) Focalization
a) m?ìn suìu taìsaÌ
?kaÌ iìm?Ì?
child washed dish once
«The child washed the dish once»
b) aì ?kaÌ iìm?Ì? mb?ì
kaì m?ìn suìu taìsaÌ
n?ì
Cl. once is how child washed dish Decl.
«It is ONCE that the child washed the dish»
c) m?ìn suìu taìsaÌ
poì ?kaÌ iìm?Ì?
child washed dish Foc. once
«The child washed the dish ONCE»
(46) Topicalization
a) m?ìn suìu taìsaÌ
?kaÌ iìm?Ì?
child washed dish once
«The child washed the dish once»
b) ?kaÌ iìm?Ì?
n?ì, m?ìn suìu
taìsaÌ
once Top child washed dish
«Once, the child washed the dish»
Frequency adverbs can raise through focalization (45.b) or can
be focalized in-situ (45.c), and can also be topicalized (41.b). These
operations are tenable both for the frequency adverb I, that is, frequency
adverbs with «?gu?» (every) and the
frequencyadverbs II, that is, those with «?kaì» (the
number of times an action occurred).
2.9.2.2.8. Comparative Adverbs
Comparison in Shupamem is marked by the morpheme
«jékaìa» (like). This morpheme, alongside the
compared element, can be focalized and topicalized, as shown in (47) and (48)
below:
(47) Focalization
a) maÌtwaì jaì? jékaìa
?k?Ì??r?Ì
car passed like motorbike
«The car passed like a motorbike»
b) aì
jékaìa?k?Ì??r?Ì mb?ì
kaì maÌtwaì jaì?
n?ì
Cl. like motorbike is how car passed Decl.
«It is LIKE THE MOTORBIKE that the car passed»
c) maÌtwaì jaì? poì
jékaìa ?k?Ì??r?Ì
car passed Foc like motorbike
«The car passed LIKE A MOTORBIKE»
(48) Topicalization
a) maÌtwaì jaì? jékaìa
?k?Ì??r?Ì
car passed like motorbike
«The car passed like a motorbike
b) jékaìa
?k?Ì??r?Ì-?ì,
maÌtwaì jaì?
like motorbike-Top car passed
«Like the motorbike, the car passed»
As indicated in the previous cases, focalization of
comparative adverbs through the cleft copula «aì»
require the use of «mb?ì jékaì» (which
is how) and the declarative morpheme «n?ì» at the end
of the sentence, as shown in (47.b). They can be focalized with
«poì» (47.c)and topicalized (48.b).
2.9.2.2.9. Exocomparative Adverbs
Similar to the comparative adverbs, exocomparative adverbs
allow focalization and topicalization. Let's consider the data in (49) and (50)
below:
(49) Focalization
a) maÌtwaì jaì?
nduìniì
car passed differently
«The car passed differently»
b) aì nduìniì mb?ì
kaì maÌtwaì jaì?
n?ì
Cl. differently is how car passed Decl.
«It is DIFFERENTLY that the car passed»
c) maÌtwaì jaì? poì
nduìniì
car passed Foc differently
«The car passed DIFFERENTLY»
(50) Topicalization
a) maÌtwaì jaì?
nduìniì
car passed differently
«The car passed differently»
b) nduìniì-n?ì,
maÌtwaì jaì?
differently-Top car passed
«Differently, the car passed»
It can be seen from (49.b) above that focalization of
exocomparative adverbs through the cleft copula «aì»
requires the use of «mb?ì jékaì» (which
is how) and the declarative morpheme «n?ì» at the end
of the sentence. It can also be seen that exocomparative adverbs can be
focalized in-situ (49.c) and topicalized (50.b).
2.10. IMPACT OF ADVERB
FRONTING ON THE ADVERBS RELATIVE ORDER
This section studies the changes that occur in the order of
appearance of adverbs as the result of their fronting. In other words, I seek
to know whether focalization and topicalization can change the order of adverbs
that was previously considered irreversible. In fact, while studying the
relative order of adverbs, it was shown that six cases out of the twenty-one
studied, are irreversible. These are the orders epistemic>manner,
epistemic>manner>temporal, anterior tense>repetitive,
progressive>repetitive, progressive>durative, and
exocomparative>manner.
Here, I proceed by focalization and topicalization the lower
adverbs, in order to know whether it can precede the other one. It should be
noted that focalization here is concerned only with the cleft copula, given
that it is the one that triggers extraction to the left periphery.
2.10.1.
Epistemic>Manner
As previously shown, epistemic adverbs always precede manner
adverbs in the unmarked structures. This is shown in (51) below:
(51) a) m?ì? mb?ì
m?ìn lié poìkériì
maybe child slept well
«Maybe the child slept well»
b) *m?ìn lié poìkériì
m?ì? mb?ì
child slept well maybe
Intended: «The child slept well, maybe»
c) m?ìn k?ì mbuì? ndié
poìkériì
child unavoidably slept well
«The child unavoidably slept well».
d) *m?ìn lié poìkériì
k?ì mbuì?
child slept well unavoidably
Intended: «The child unavoidably slept well»
If focalized or topicalized, the manner adverbscan come before
the epistemic adverb in the structure. In fact, its focalization triggers its
raising to the left periphery and hence, it precedes the epistemic adverb. This
is shown in (52.b) for focalization, and (52.c) for topicalization.
(52) a) m?ì? mb?ì
m?ìn lié poìkériì
maybe child slept well
«Maybe the child slept well»
b) aì poìkériì
mb?Ì kaì m?Ìn lié n?Ì, m?ì?
mb?ì
Cl. well is how child slept Decl. maybe
«It is WELL that child slept, maybe»
c) poìkériì-n?ì, m?ì?
mb?ì m?ìn lié ??ìreÌ
well-Top maybe child slept so
«Well, maybe the child slept (so)»
These structures show that, in case of focalization with
«aì» (cleft copula) and topicalization, the manner
adverb can come before the epistemic adverb without rendering the sentence
ungrammatical. However, this is a complex structure and is rarely used in
discourse.
2.10.2.
Epistemic>manner>temporal
In the order epistemic>manner>temporal, the epistemic
adverb precedes both the manner and the temporal adverbs. None of these
post-verbal adverbs come before the epistemic adverb in the unmarked form. This
is shown in (53) below:
(53) a) m?ì? mb?ì
m?ìn lié poìkériì n?Ì
?yì?
maybe child slept well in the night
«Maybe the child slept well in the night»
b) * m?ìn lié
poìkériì n?Ì ?yì? m?ì?
mb?ì
child slept well in the night maybe
Intended: «The child slept well in the night,
maybe»
c) * m?ìn lié
poìkériì m?ì? mb?ì n?Ì
?yì?
child slept well maybe in the night
Intended: «The child slept well in the night,
maybe»
The order in (53.a) is grammatical given that the epistemic
adverb «m?ì? mb?ì» (maybe) precedes the manner
adverb «poìkériì" and the temporal adverb
«n?Ì ?yì? « (in the night). In contrast, those
in (53.b) and (53.c) are ungrammatical because the manner and the temporal
adverbs precede the epistemic adverb.
Through focalization and topicalization, these two adverbs can
precede the epistemic adverbs. This is illustrated below in (54.b) for
focalization, and (54.c) for topicalization:
(54) a) m?ì? mb?ì
m?ìn lié poìkériì n?Ì
?yì?
maybe child slept well in the night
«Maybe the child slept well in the night»
b) aì poìkériì n?Ì
?yì? mb?Ì kaì m?Ììn lié
n?Ì, m?ì? mb?ì
Cl. well in the night is how child slept Decl. maybe
«It is WELL IN THE NIGHT that the child slept,
maybe»
c) n?Ì ?yì? n?Ì,
poìkériì-n?ì, m?ì? mb?ì
m?ìn lié ??ìr?Ì
in the nightTop well-Top maybe child slept so
«In the night, well, the child slept, maybe»
With focalization in (54.b), the two post-verbal adverbs
«poìkériì» (well) and
«n?Ì ?yì?» (in the night) have been fronted
and thus, precede the epistemic adverb «m?ì? mb?ì»
(maybe). In the same light, they have been topicalized in (54.c) and
precede the epistemic adverb.
2.10.3. Anterior
tense>repetitive
While studying the relative order of the anterior tense and
the repetitive adverbs, it was noticed that the anterior tense
«t?Ìt» (already) precedes the repetitive aspectual
adverb «piÌt» (again), as shown in (55) below:
(55) a) m?ìn t?Ìt mbiìt
n??ì paìj?ì
child Ant. Rep. eat. food
«The child has already eaten food again»
b) *m?ìn piìt t?Ìt n??ì
paìj?Ì
child Rep. Ant. eat food
Intended: «The child already has eaten food
again»
It should be remembered that neither the anterior tense nor
the repetitive adverbs can be topicalized. However, if focalized, the order
anterior tense>repetitive remains unchanged. If changed, the sentence will
be ungrammatical. This is illustrated in (55.b) and (56.c) below:
(56) a) m?ìn t?Ìt mbiìt
n??ì paìj?ì
child Ant. Rep. eat. food
«The child has already eaten food again»
b) aì t?Ìt mbiìt n??ì
m?ìn paìj?ì
Cl. Ant. Rep. eat child food
«The child has ALREADY eaten food AGAIN»
c) *aì piÌt t?Ìt n??ì m?ìn
paìj?ì
Cl. Rep. Ant. eat child food
Intended: «The child has ALREADY eaten food
AGAIN»
The data above show that the anterior tense adverb always
precedes the repetitive adverb in both the unmarked and the marked forms.
2.10.4.
Progressive>durative
The order progressive>durative, as shown in chapter four,
is irreversible. In other words, putting the durative aspect
«?k?ì» (still) before the progressive aspect
«ti?ì» (progressive) renders the sentence
ungrammatical. This is shown in the data below:
(57) a) m?ìn ti?ì ?k?ì
ndié
child Prog. Dur. sleeps
«The child is still sleeping»
b) *m?ìn ?k?ì ti?ì die
child Dur. Prog. sleeps
Intended: «The child is still sleeping»
Both the durative aspect and the progressive aspect adverbs
cannot be topicalized. As far as focalization is concerned, the order remains
the same. In fact, the progressive aspect still precedes the durative aspect.
The contrary renders the sentence ungrammatical,as illustrated in the data in
(58) below:
(58) a) m?ìn ti?ì ?k?ì
ndié
child Prog. Dur. sleeps
«The child is still sleeping»
b) aì ti?ì ?k?ì ndié
m?ìn
Cl. Prog. Dur. sleeps child
«The child IS STILL SLEEPING»
c) *aì ?k?ì ti?ì ndié
m?ìn
Cl. Dur. Prog. sleeps child
«The child IS STILL SLEEPING»
Like in the previous case, the data in (58) above show that
the progressive aspect always precedes the durative aspect, be it in the marked
or the unmarked forms.
2.10.5.
Progressive>repetitive
In the unmarked form, the progressive aspect precedes the
repetitive aspect adverb. The reverse is ungrammatical, as shown in (59)
below:
(59) a) m?ìn ti?ì mbiÌt
ndié
child Prog. Rep. sleeps
«The child is still sleeping»
b) *m?ìn piÌt ti?ì
ndié
child Rep. Prog. sleeps
Intended: «The child is still sleeping»
As mentioned above, both the progressive and the repetitive
aspect adverbs cannot be topicalized. As for focalization, the order
progressive>repetitive remains unchanged.
In fact, «ti?ì» (progressive) still
precedes «piÌt/ÌmbiÌt» (repetitive).
This is illustrated in (60) below:
(60) a) m?ìn ti?ì mbiÌt
ndié
child Prog. Rep. sleeps
«The child is still sleeping»
b) aì ti?ì mbiÌt ndié
m?ìn
Cl. Prog. Rep. sleeps child
«The child IS STILL SLEEPING»
c) *aì piÌt ti?ì ndié
m?ìn
Cl. Rep. Prog. sleeps child
Intended: «The child IS STILL SLEEPING»
All the data above show that the orders anterior
tense>repetitive, progressive>durative, and progressive>repetitive
remain unchanged both in the unmarked and the marked forms. That is, the order
between the aspectual adverbs is not reversible.
2.10.6.
Exocomparative>manner
In the unmarked order, the exocomparative adverb precedes the
manner adverb. The reverse is not possible, as shown in (61) below:
(61) a) jiì léraÌ? naì
ndét lér?ÌwaÌ ndu?niì
poìkériì
Dem. teacher Aff. teach lesson differently well
«This teacher teaches differently well»
b) * jiì léraÌ? naì ndét
lér?ÌwaÌ poìkériì ndu?niì
Dem. teacher Aff. teach lesson well differently
Intended: «This teacher teaches differently well»
If topicalized or focalized, the manner adverb precedes the
exocomparative. This is illustrated in (62.b) below for focalization, and
(62.c) for topicalization.
(62) a) jiì léraÌ? naì
ndét lér?ÌwaÌ ndu?niì
poìkériì
Dem. teacher Aff. teach lesson differently well
«This teacher teaches differently well»
b) aì poìkériì
mb?Ì kaì jiì léraÌ? ndét
lér?ÌwaÌ ndu?niì n?ì
Cl. well is how Dem. teacher teach lesson differently
Decl.
«It is WELL that this teacher teaches
differently»
c) poìkériì-n?ì,
jiì léraÌ? naì ndét
lér?ÌwaÌ ndu?niì
well-Top Dem. teacher Aff. teach lesson differently
«Well, this teacher teaches differently»
In (62.b) above, the manner adverb
«poìkériì» (well) has been focalized
and fronted, thus, precedes the exocomparative adverb
«ndu?niì» (differently). In (62.c), the manner adverb
has been topicalized and precedes the exocomparative adverb. So, with
focalization and topicalization, one moves from the order
exocomparative>manner to manner>exocomparative. However, it should be
mentioned that these structures, though being grammatical, are rarely used in
the discourse.
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