Parts-of-Speech: Several Questions

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eldin raigmore
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Parts-of-Speech: Several Questions

Post by eldin raigmore »

Question 1:
Does anyone know of any natlang which distinguishes the following three types of adverbs into distinct parts-of-speech?
  1. Adverbs that modify entire clauses or entire sentences, such that the result is still a clause or a sentence;
  2. Adverbs that modify a verb or a verb-phrase, such that the resulting entire phrase can still be used as a verb-phrase;
  3. Adverbs that modify an adjective or an adjectival phrase, such that the entire resulting phrase can still be used as an adjectival phrase?
If not, are there, at least,
  • a natlang that distinguishs (a) from (b)+(c);
  • a natlang that distinguishs (b) from (a)+(c);
  • and a natlang that distinguishs (c) from (a)+(b)?
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Question 2:
For purposes of this question, by "complementizer", I mean a class of words that operate on a clause and/or a sentence to turn it into something that can be a participant in a larger clause or sentence; for instance, can function as the subject or an object of some verb; or otherwise can function where a noun-phrase could usually function (e.g. object of an adposition).
Does anyone know of any natlang in which complementizers, so described, are an open word-class?
Does anyone know of any natlang in which complementizers, so described, can be phrases, rather than single words?

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Question 3:
For purposes of this question, by "adjunctivizer", I mean a class of words that operate on a clause and/or a sentence to turn it into something that can be used as a clausal or sentential adverb (i.e. an adverb that can modify a clause or a sentence). Examples might be "while", "whenever", "as long as", "as often as", "as surely as".
Does anyone know of any natlang in which adjunctivizers, so described, are an open word-class?
(Obviously English is a natlang in which adjunctivizers, so described, can be phrases, rather than single words.)

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Question 4:
For purposes of this question, by "relativizer", I mean a class of words that operate on a clause and/or a sentence to turn it into something that can modify a noun or a noun-phrase; or otherewise be used as if an adjective.
Does anyone know of any natlang in which relativizers, so described, are an open word-class?
Does anyone know of any natlang in which relativizers, so described, can be phrases, rather than single words?

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Question 5:
Does anyone know of any natlang which distinguishes the following two types of adpositions into distinct parts-of-speech?
  1. Adpositions that operate on their object noun-phrase in such a way that the entire resulting adpositional phrase can be used as a clausal/sentential adverb;
  2. Adpositions that operate on their object noun-phrase in such a way that the entire resulting adpositional phrase can be used as an adjective?
Examples of (a)(b) might be genitive adpositions such as English's preposition "of". Many other English prepositions might be examples of (b)(a).
Edit: I got (a) and (b) swapped. 2017_06_02 16-00 Fri Jun 2 4-00 PM
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Question 6:
Does anyone know of any natlang with a class of adpositions which operate on their object noun-phrase, in such a way that the resulting entire adpositional phrase, can be used as a complementizer? (NOTE: a positive answer to this question implies a positive answer to Question 2.)
(The German phrase "bei mir" might be an example, or not; someone who knows German can decide. Maybe it's more of an example of 5a.)

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Question 7:
Does anyone know of any natlang having a class of nominalizers that nominalize clausal/sentential adverbs?
(Odds are some familiar languages do.)
If so, is that class of nominalizers an open word-class in any natlang?
And can any such nominalizers be phrasal, instead of single words, in any natlang?

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Question 8:
Does anyone know of any natlang having a class of nominalizers that nominalize univalent verbs?
(Odds are some familiar languages do.)
If so, is that class of nominalizers an open word-class in any natlang?
And can any such nominalizers be phrasal, instead of single words, in any natlang?

[hr][/hr]

Question 9:
Does anyone know of any natlang having a class of nominalizers that nominalize complementizers?
If so, is that class of nominalizers an open word-class in any natlang?
And can any such nominalizers be phrasal, instead of single words, in any natlang?

[hr][/hr]

Question 10:
Does anyone know of any natlang having a class of nominalizers that nominalize adjectives?
(Odds are some familiar languages do.)
If so, is that class of nominalizers an open word-class in any natlang?
And can any such nominalizers be phrasal, instead of single words, in any natlang?

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Question 11:
Does anyone know of any natlang having a class of subordinators that operate on a clause in such a way that the resulting phrase can be used as a univalent verb (in some larger clause)?
(I would accept a class of bivalent verbs in which one argument must be a clause or sentence and the other a nominal, noun, noun-phrase, pronoun, or something of that class.)
If so, is that class of subordinators an open word-class in any natlang?
And can any such subordinators be phrasal, instead of single words, in any natlang?

[hr][/hr]

Question 12:
Does anyone know of any natlang having a class of subordinators that operate on a clause in such a way that the resulting phrase can be used as a complementizer (in some larger clause)?
(Or a class of two-argument complementizers, where both arguments must be clauses or sentences?)
If so, is that class of subordinators (or bivalent complementizers) an open word-class in any natlang?
And can any such subordinators (or bivalent complementizers) be phrasal, instead of single words, in any natlang?

[hr][/hr]

Question 13:
Does anyone know of any natlang having a class of words that operate on clausal/sentential adverbs to produce clauses?
(Might be considered "univalent verbs whose argument must be a clausal or sentential adverb".)
If so, is that class of words an open word-class in any natlang?
And can any such operators be phrasal, instead of single words, in any natlang?

[hr][/hr]

Question 14:
Does anyone know of any natlang having a class of words that operate on univalent verbs to produce clauses?
(Might be considered "univalent verbs whose argument must be a univalent verb".)
If so, is that class of words an open word-class in any natlang?
And can any such operators be phrasal, instead of single words, in any natlang?

[hr][/hr]

Question 15:
Does anyone know of any natlang having a class of words that operate on complementizers to produce clauses?
(Might be considered "univalent verbs whose argument must be complementizer".)
If so, is that class of words an open word-class in any natlang?
And can any such operators be phrasal, instead of single words, in any natlang?

[hr][/hr]

Question 16:
Does anyone know of any natlang having a class of words that operate on adjectives to produce clauses?
(Might be considered "univalent verbs whose argument must be an adjective".)
If so, is that class of words an open word-class in any natlang?
And can any such operators be phrasal, instead of single words, in any natlang?

[hr][/hr]

That's all for this post.
Last edited by eldin raigmore on 02 May 2018 20:08, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Parts-of-Speech: Several Questions

Post by Creyeditor »

I feel like Indonesian might have some of the rarer ones (especially the complementizer), but I am yet to find concrete examples.
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Re: Parts-of-Speech: Several Questions

Post by eldin raigmore »

Creyeditor wrote:I feel like Indonesian might have some of the rarer ones (especially the complementizer), but I am yet to find concrete examples.
Thanks bunches! If you (or anyone) thinks of or finds any, let me know, please?
BTW I don't even know how to start looking up the answers to these questions!
Any suggestions? Creyeditor or anyone else?
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Re: Parts-of-Speech: Several Questions

Post by Creyeditor »

For Q2-Q14, I would look at the translations for words/morphemes that seem to fullfill one of the functions you listed in English. Then you could try to check if they are multimorphemic. Productive derivation is often a sign for open-word classes.

Indonesian has an open class of words that form subordinate, adjunct clauses. The are often derived from adverbs by the circumfix se- -nya.

belum - not yet
se-belum-nya - before
telah - already
se-telah-nya - after
This might just be cases of your Q3, so maybe not as interesting as I thought.
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Re: Parts-of-Speech: Several Questions

Post by eldin raigmore »

Creyeditor wrote:For Q2-Q14, I would look at the translations for words/morphemes that seem to fullfill one of the functions you listed in English. Then you could try to check if they are multimorphemic. Productive derivation is often a sign for open-word classes.

Not really sure I can think of such words or morphemes in English or other languages I know a bit of; or rather, at least, not sure for all 13 of those questions.
In some cases, though, I can think of morphemes, but not of words.
This is helpful advice, I think; thanks.


Creyeditor wrote:Indonesian has an open class of words that form subordinate, adjunct clauses. The are often derived from adverbs by the circumfix se- -nya.
belum - not yet
se-belum-nya - before
telah - already
se-telah-nya - after
This might just be cases of your Q3, so maybe not as interesting as I thought.

I don't know how interesting you thought it was; but I thought it was pretty interesting!
Thanks!
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