Daily Archives: June 13, 2020

Grammatical categories by position: the case of adverbs and verb modulators placed before the verb

Let us look again at the case of adverbs and try to define them by their position in relation to other grammatical categories. We are now splitting the adverbs into several different categories. Now let’s look at the adverbs that may be placed before the conjugated verb:

  • aussitôt, jamais, longtemps, parfois, quelquefois, rarement, souvent, toujours, etc.
  • subitu subitu, mai, à longu, ogni tantu, qualchì volta, raramente, à spessu, sempre, etc.
  • immediately, never, long, sometimes, rarely, often, always, etc.

Here is an example: “Michel parfois buvait.” (Michel sometimes drank.): Michele qualchì volta beìa .

Let’s call these categories modulators (of verbs). The fact of being placed before the verb is linked to the fact that the modulator modifies the meaning of the verb. Moreover, if we reason in terms of two-sided grammar, a verb preceded by a (verb) modulator remains a verb: MODV-V = V.

Grammatical categories by position: the case of adverbs and verb modulators

If we look again at the case of adverbs and try to define them by their position in relation to other grammatical categories, it follows that we need to split the adverbs into several different categories. To begin with, some adverbs are placed after a verb:

  • bien, doucement, lentement, mal, vite, volontiers, fort, trop, quelquefois, souvent, peu, rarement, tard, tôt, toujours, déjà, bientôt, beaucoup, etc.
  • bè, pianamenti, pianu, mali, in freccia, vulinteri, forti, troppu, calchì volta, à spessu, pocu, raramenti, tardi, in freccia, sempri, dighjà, prestu, mori, etc.
  • well, gently, slowly, badly, quickly, willingly, strongly, too much, sometimes, often, little, rarely, late, early, always, already, soon, a lot, etc.

Here are some examples: “il mange beaucoup; tu fumes trop” (he eats a lot; you smoke too much): manghja mori ; fumi troppu

Let’s call these categories verb modulators. The fact of being placed after the verb is linked to the fact that the modulator modifies the meaning of the verb. Moreover, if we reason in terms of two-sided grammar, a verb followed by a modulator remains a verb: V-MODV = V.