The Syntactic analysis of Adverbs in Embɔsi

Abstract

This paper examines the syntactic interpretation and distribution of adverbs in Embɔsi.

Previous works advance that adverbs have the features [+N, +Adj], the novelty of this

paper is that it demonstrates that adverbs have another property notably [+V] in

Embɔsi. Accordingly, adverbs can now be subcategorized in terms of the features [+N,

+Adj, +V]. This paper also signals out that the distribution of adverbs obeys two

criteria based on syntactic parameters and on the syntax-LF interface.

Key words:
Adverbs, Embɔsi, syntactic analysis, syntax-LF interface.

Résumé

Cet article aborde les questions distributionnelles et interprétatives des adverbes en

Embɔsi1. Les travaux antérieurs sur ces questions ont démontré que les adverbes ont

deux traits [+N, +Adj], il résulte de cet article que l’adverbe a un nouveau trait [+V].

Ainsi, les adverbes peuvent être sous catégorisés selon les traits [+N, +Adj, +V]. Il

transparaît également dans ce travail que la distribution des adverbes obéit deux

paramètres basés sur la syntaxe et l’inter LF-syntaxe.

Mots clés : Adverbes, Embɔsi, analyse syntactique, l’interface syntaxe-LF.

1
Embɔsi est une langue Bantu du groupe C parlée dans la partie septentrionale de la République du Congo,
particulièrement dans les départements de la Cuvette et des Plateaux. (Embɔsi is a Bantu language classified in Group
C and spoken in the northern of the Republic of Congo specifically in the Cuvette and Plateaux regions).

1
Introduction

Much in the literature on adverbs argues that adverbs are multi-dimensional sentence

constituents (Selkirk, 1970; Leech and Svartvik, 1975; Quirk et al, 1985; Haegeman

1997(a,b), 2003). For that purpose, I aim to analyse Embɔsi adverbs in order to answer

the following questions:

(i) What is the syntax of adverbs in Embɔsi;

(ii) Can we postulate the multi dimensional property of adverbs as a

universal feature of AdvP?

(iii) Can syntax alone suffice to account for all aspects of adverbs?

To achieve these objectives, a syntactic analysis of AdvP is provided along the

following lines. Yet, it is worth asserting that adverbial clauses are not dealt with for the

sake of the present paper, they constitute the subject matter of a forthcoming paper. This

article consists of two main parts: adverb typology and the distributional analysis of

adverbs.

1- Adverb typology

The literature on adverbs reveals that there are seven types of adverbs, namely place

adverbs, manner adverbs, degree adverbs, time adverbs, quantity adverbs, frequency

adverbs, sentence adverbs. This adverbial typology is based on semantic ground.

However, the main concern of this section is to provide an account of adverbs based on

their semantic properties. As a result, I should not deal with adverb distributions which

are taken up to the second section.

2
 1-1 Place adverbs

Place adverbs indicate the location or direction where any entity is or where it is

going to. The following examples are key illustrations.

(1) a-bánà ba-t44 ó ndzé

Children they-quarrel-PRES at out

‘Children are quarrelling outside’

b- ó póró bàré bá-dzàà à-nyámà

at Europe people they-eat-PRES pl-animal meat

‘People eat meat in Europe’

c- bá à-bwá tsá ndzálé

them they-fell-PAST in river

‘They fell into water’

d- ndà à-dzèmà wáré

grandson he-live-PRES here

‘grandson lives here.’

e- bàsí bá-wùrà málá Ngámb4m4

women they-come-PRES from towards Ngamboma

‘women will come from Ngamboma.’

3
It appears that place adverbs occur at clause final position. However, due to some

discourse purposes, they can be given prominence, hence anteposed as illustrated in

(1b). This also applies to other adverbs. I turn to manner adverbs in the next section.

1-2 Manner adverbs

This section focuses on some peculiarities of Embɔsi adverbs. In fact, manner adverbs

tell how an action happens as follows:

(2) a-mwánà à-βyémbà òtóótì

Child he/she-walk-PRES slowly

‘Child walks slowly.’

b- wà à-bínà òlámì

Him/her he/she-dance-PRES good

‘He/she dances well.’

c-pàá í-dí ò-β44 òyíí òyíí kò

today I-Aux speak-PRES much much not

‘Today, I shall not talk much.’

d-Ikámá à-bwà βílí mbí mwánà

Ikama he-fell asleep-PRES like kid

‘Ikama sleeps like a kid.’

4
 e- Ngá í-yàmbá là b3m3

Me I-answer-PAST with fear

‘I answered with hesitation/fear.’

f- Mwàsí à-léà òlómì là ànìngà

wife she-mourn-PRES husband with sorrow

‘A wife mourns her husband sadly.’

g- mbwándé à-dzà béà mbángì-mbángì

dog it-eat-PRES food run run

‘A dog eats its food quickly.’

It results that the distribution of adverbs in Embɔsi can surface as a complement of a

preposition (2e). It appears also that adverbs in this language are subcategorized [+N,

+Adj]. This adverbial feature has also been demonstrated by Abney (1987:79) as he

states: “Adjective Phrases, Quantifier Phrases, and Adverb Phrases are identical (…)

they are sub varieties of the same category,[+N, +Adj]”. In this connection, it may be

observed that some of Embɔsi adverbs are identical to nouns/adjectives (òlámì, ànìngà)

whereas others appear as compound nouns/adjectives (mbángì-mbángì, oti-oti). I can

then posit that, in Embɔsi, adverbs that are similar to nouns/adjectives necessitate the

occurrence of a preposition to have adverbial reading, while adverbs that are compound

words do not require prepositions. Putting things slightly in the same way, Embɔsi

speakers have the choice to use ‘preposition + noun’ structure to refer to adverb or

5
prefer to duplicate a noun/adjective for the same purpose. As things stand, the examples

(2b, 2g) can be paraphrased as follows:

(3) a- 1- wà à-bínà òlámì

Him/he he/she-dance-PRES good

‘He/she dances well.’

2- wà à-bínà òlámì- òlámì

Him/he he/she-dance-PRES good good

‘He/she dances well.’

b-1 mbwándé à-dzà béà mbángì-mbángì

dog it-eat food-PRES run run

‘A dog eats its food quickly.’

2- mbwándé à-dzà béà má àmbángì

dog it-eat-PRES food in run

‘A dog eats its food quickly.’

Furthermore, nouns in Embɔsi, can stand on their own as adverbs without a preposition

around and without the doubling of a noun as follows:

6
(4) a-à-léà ànìngà òtó

He/she-cry-PRES worry very

‘He/she cries sadly.’

b-bánà bà-dzwà tsá k3 byá

children they-go-PRES in forest silently

‘Children go to the forest silently.’

In short, manner adverbs are obtained through the combination of a preposition plus a

noun or through the doubling of a noun or an adjective in Embɔsi. The next section

tackles degree adverbs.

1-3 Degree adverbs

Degree adverbs show some degree of heightening or lowering in relation to some part

of the sentence.

(5) a- à-tónì òts4 bónòngò

He/she-refuse-PRES very categorically

‘He/she categorically refused.’

b-nga í-sὲrὲ ò-sὲrὲ 

  Me I-say-PRES say

‘I simply said.’

7
 c- Nέnέ à-bényì kákà òyàà wáré

mother she-accept-PAST simply come here

‘Mother simply accepted to come here.’

d- à-k3ndì òts4 túúlὲ

He/she-fail-PAST very completely

‘He/she completely failed.’

Of particular importance is the fact that Embɔsi instances a case of another feature of

adverb categorization. From (5b), it appears that a verb is used as an adverb. It has been

demonstrated in Ndongo Ibara’s (2009) doctoral thesis that Embɔsi verbs can generate

their own copies which fulfil various grammatical functions. In this respect, the second

verb stands as a lexical item with an adverbial property. Admitting this to be right, I am

going to revise the former subcategorization of adverbs. As such, Embɔsi proves that

adverbs are now subcategorized as [+N, +Adj, +V]. The following examples may serve

to under this assumption.

(6) a- é-yéé bíní βá lé-bùná ló-bùnà

As-come-PRES you here you-fight-PRES fight

‘As you come, you will only fight.’

b- nyóngò à-yéé ò-lámbá o-lámbà, à-dìì ò-yàá ò-dzá kò

mother she-came-PAST cook cook, she-Aux-PAST come eat not

‘Mother just came to cook, she did not come to eat.’

8
 c- lè-táá ò-tàà, ò-β3 kò

you-see see-PRES, speak-PRES not

‘Just look, do not say something!’

d-è-dzwá bíní wó, lé-bónda ló-bóndà, ò-kálisà kò

as-go-PRES you there, you-listen listen-PRES, retort-PRES not

‘As you move there, you will only listen, do not retort.’

It is worth claiming that this verb property of adverbs in Embɔsi is applicable to a great

many verbs. In addition, that fact enriches adverb literature which has only been viewed

as sub varieties of adjectives and noun. I turn to the analysis of time adverbs in the

following section.

1-4 Time adverbs

I am going to deal with time adverbs which can express a period or the frequency that

underpins an action. The following are illustrations.

(7) a- yàá ò-tá bísí bùrà

Come-PRES INF-see us again

‘Come and pay us visit again.’

b-bísí lè-dzàá ó òyóó mbúlà yé-láá

us we-be-PAST in Oyo year that-pass-PAST

‘We were in Oyo last year.’

9
 c- Nyàngà à-dìì ó Abálà à-mbúlà à-bà

Nyanga he-be-PAST in Abala pl-year pl-two

‘Nyanga has been in Abala for two years.’

d- Peter à-dzwàà Amerikà mbàlà mbà tsá mbúlà

Peter he-go-PRES America times two in year

‘Peter goes to America twice a year.’

e- Akwélè à-βódzémáá ware wúrá òlὲngὲ à wà

Akwele he/she-ASP-live-PRES here since youth of him/her

‘Akwele lives here since her/his youth.’

f-òlómì yà n4 à-díí òyíí là ndzórò

husband of you he-Aux-PRES much with illness

‘Your husband is often ill.’

There is a number of remarks worthy of attention. Firstly, the adverb again ‘bura’ is

typical in Embɔsi because it can be expressed through the verbalisation of that word as

illustrated below:

(8) a- ò-búrá ò-yàá ò-tá bísí

You-again--PRES INF-come INF-see us

‘You should come and pay us visit again.’

10
 b- ò-búrù ò-wúrá Tsépìyà?

You-again-PAST INF-come from Tsépiya

‘Did you come from Tchikapika again?’

c- bánà bà-búrá ò-búrá lèk3lì

children they-again-PRES INF-go back school

‘Children would go to school again.’

The examples (8) reinforce the verbal property of Embɔsi adverbs since an adverb is

affixed with clitic pronouns as does any Embɔsi verb. Secondly, it appears that Embɔsi

adverbs have the possibility to depend upon some syntactic processes. In fact, in (7b),

the adverb last is obtained in Embɔsi through the expression that-pass. That is to say,

the time contrast regarding last-next is not syntactically overt in Embɔsi, but it is

recovered through the verb morphology.

(9) a- òkòndzì à-yàà wó swéngé yé-yàà

Chief he-come-PRES there month that-come-PRES

‘The chief will come there next month.’

b- lè-yámbá òbúrú òbú mó-léì

we-welcome-PAST stranger year that-pass-PAST

‘We welcomed a stranger last year.’

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In addition, it appears that the occurrence of since-for is partly visible in Embɔsi which

only shows since examples. This suggests that for-preposition which refers to duration

is not used in an Embɔsi sentence. Finally, Embɔsi only instances cases where

prepositions are used when referring to adverbs of frequency. This is because, Embɔsi,

as many other African languages, does not have articles. (Readers can refer to Ndongo

Ibara 2009 dissertation thesis for further detail on Embɔsi specifiers). Adverbs of

quantity are dealt with in the next section.

1-5 Quantity adverbs

The main concern of this section is on the analysis of adverbs of quantity in Embɔsi as

in:

(10) a- Kàngà à-péndì ònέ

Kanga he-exceed-PRES big

‘Kanga is too big.’

b-Wà à-péndì tsàànì

Him/her he/she-exceed-PRES joke

‘He is so funny.’

c- à-βì èpέrì ètì òbwέ

He/she-become-PRES little little good.

‘He is fairly well.’

12
 d- Ngá í-dìngà Vocal Bantu ὲtsέngì ètì

me I-like-PRES Vocal Bantu little little

‘I quite like Vocal Bantu.’

e- Pέ ngá ìl4ì ìtì

give-PRES me wine little

‘Give me little wine.’

f-Pέ ngá èpέrì ìl4ì

give-PRES me little wine

‘Give me little wine.’

g-Pέ ngá ìl4ì ὲtsέngì ìtì

give-PRES me wine little little

‘Give me very little wine.’

The examples in (10) show two particular points on adverbs of quantity. Firstly, it

appears that some adverb phrases are expressed through predication in Embɔsi. In fact,

the adverbs ‘so’ and ‘too’ are expressed through the verb “ipéndà” ‘to exceed, to

overrun’. This verb demonstrates that its external argument can be either bigger or

smaller than the internal argument. In other words, the predicate ‘ipéndà’ expresses

superiority.

Secondly, Embɔsi makes a difference between that least point and the very least

point in connection to quantity expression. In this perspective, to express ‘little’ in

13
Embɔsi, people use the quantifiers “èpέrì”, “ὲtsέngì”, and “ìtì” as illustrated in (10e-g).

The first two adverbs generally occur after the predicate, while the last one occurs at the

end of the sentence. However, Embɔsi has another possibility which permits the co-

occurrence of “èpέrì”, or “ὲtsέngì” and “ìtì” which slightly changes the meaning of the

sentence. In this last case, the combination of two adverbs means that the fact is very

‘least’. Similarly, it should be claimed that when the adverbs are used alone, they may

refer to an indefinite little quantity, while their co-occurrence emphasizes a very little

quantity. Our main interest in the next lines is sentence adverbs.

1-6 Sentence adverbs

This is the class of adverbs that are related to discourse event. They can express a

discourse sequence or a speaker’s intention.

(11) a- βángì n4 4-kyá mbì?

Thus, you you-do-PRES how

‘Thus, what are you going to do?’

b- mbwá-mbwá bá à-dí là nyámà sà mínyá?

Really, them they-be-PRES with animal in fire

‘Have they certainly some meat on the fire?’

14
 c- òbòòbò bá à-dí à-ndá à ngá

Truly, them they-be-PRES pl-grandson of me

‘Truly, they are my grandsons.’

d-kìnà lè-dzá, kìnà lè-dí ò-dzá kò

perhaps we-eat-PRES, perhaps we-Aux-PRES INF-eat not

‘Perhaps we eat or may be we do not eat.’

It should be admitted that Embɔsi has a few adverbs. That is to say, the adverb system is

lexically poor in Embɔsi. The following quotation from Leech and Svartvik (1975: 197)

briefly presents adverb intrinsic meaning:

“Adverbs tell something about the action, happening, or the state described by
the rest of the sentence. For example, the time when it happened, the place
where it happened, or the manner in which it happened”.

Having outlined the different kinds of adverbs, I turn now to the syntactic

distribution of adverbs so as to know whether adverbs are multi-distributional

constituents or if they have fixed position in a sentence.

2- The distributional analysis of adverbs

In this section, a word will be firstly said on the syntactic difference between adverbs,

adjectives and nouns. Then, an analysis of the syntactic distribution of adverbs in the

language under debate will be provided. Finally, I shall touch upon the syntactic

functions that an adverb plays in a sentence.

15
(12) a- bánà à-dí à-bé

Children they-be-PRES pl-bad

‘Children are bad.’

b- bánà à-β3 òbé

children they-speak-PRES bad

‘Children speak badly.’

c- ngáduà à-pwé òng4ng4

driver he-come-PAST last

‘A driver came late.’

d- wà à-dí ngáduà yà òng4ng4

him he-be-PRES driver of last

‘He is the last driver.’

e- bá à-dí là ὲsὲ 

them they-be-PRES with happiness

‘They are happy.’

f- bá à-β3 là ὲsὲ 

them they-speak-PAST with happiness

‘They spoke happily.’

16
 g- ὲsὲ yὲ-pέ ngá pósá yà ò-β3

happiness that-give-PRES me envy of INF-speak

‘The happiness makes me talk.’

h- bá à-dí bàrì bá ìsὲ

them they-be-PRES people of happiness

‘They are rich/happy people.’

The examples in (12) confirm the assertion according to which adverbs, adjectives, and

nouns share the same morphological base form in spite of their distributional

occurrences. In fact, agreement is a key point that differentiates adverbs from adjectives

in Embɔsi. That is to say, adjectives agree in number with the noun it modifies whereas

adverbs are always invariable. To further confirm this point, let us consider the

following:

(13) a- à-dí là òwóló òbé.

He/she-be-PRES with speech bad

‘He/she has a bad tongue.’

b- à-wólì òbé.

He/she-speak-PRES bad

‘He/she speaks badly.’

17
 c- bá à-dì bánà à-bé.

Them they-be-PRES pl-child pl-bad

‘They are bad children.’

In (13a,c) obe is used as adjective since it stands as a modifier of the nouns « òwóló»

and «bánà», while in (13b) obe is an adverb which modifies the predicate «àwólì».

By the same token, adverbs are so typically fertile that they can occur in front,

mid and final sentence position.

(14) a- mbwá-mbwá n4 ò-dí táì yà ngá?

Really, you you-be-PRES father of me

‘Really, are you my father?’

b- n4 ò-dí mbwá-mbwá táì yà ngá?

You you-be-PRES really father of me

‘Are you really my father?’

c- n4 ò-dí táì yà ngá mbwá-mbwá?

You you-be-PRES father of me really

‘Are you my father, really?’

On a purely syntactic ground, adverbs can be classified into two basic groups:

(i) Peripheral adverbs, i.e., adverbs that modify the whole sentence. They

can stand as connective devices in a discourse context or linking words.

18
 These features can explain why they occur either in front, mid or final

sentence position as in (11a);

(ii) Integrated adverbs, i.e., adverbs that either modify the verbs or occur in

the sentence internal position as in (15).

One of the questions that we purport to answer in the following is whether

syntactic conditions can be the only rudiments to account for the different positions or if

we should need to broaden the explanation as to consider the syntax-semantic interplay.

To achieve this task, I am going to consider the minimalism condition based on feature

checking to explain grammaticality and the effect of the syntax-LF interface to justify

and clarify some syntactic assets.

(15) a- ngàndé à-dzá òyíí àswé

Cayman it-eat-PRES often fish

‘Cayman often eats fish.’

b- táì ìmbyéngì à-yàà wó

father tomorrow he-come-PRES there

‘Father, tomorrow, will come there.’

c- wà à-kwéì ndáì ètsímbísà

him/her he/she-enter-PAST house suddenly

‘He/she suddenly came into the house.’

19
 d- ngá í-lémbìsì mb3ng3 òtὲ βá

me I-lose-PAST money soon here

‘I recently lost money.’

e- nέnέ mbálá p33 a-dzàá βá

mother times one she-be-PAST here

‘Mother was here once.’

f- òkòndzì ìndé míná à-léà málá dí

There are a number of observations in order here. Since Embɔsi is a language with a

purely oral tradition, it is clear that there is no much restriction to constrain adverb

positioning. In this respect, it is not ungrammatical to have an adverb of frequency

between a verb and its internal argument (as in case of French le chef passé parfois par

ici) or to place the same adverb in the end of the sentence.

It has been advanced that the poor or the rich verb flexion can or cannot trigger

the movement of the verb onto T position to check its phi-features (Edmonds 1976,

Pollock 1997, Vikner 1997, Haegeman 1997 (a, b), 2003, Roberts 1998). In this

connection, it has been proved that, in French, phi-features are so strong that the verb is

compelled to undergo a movement to T position so as to stand very close to its subject.

The following tree represents the initial state of the sentence before the application of

Attract Closest Principle.

20
(16) CP

C TP

ø DP T'

T VP
D NP +AGR
AdvP V'

V PP

Le chef quelque fois passe par ici

Okondzi indé mina aléà mala di

Through the application of the Attract Closest Principle which aim at fulfilling the need

for a lexical category to check its potential features, the diagram in (16) will have the

verb under T position where its Agr and TNS features are checked properly.

(17) CP

C TP

ø DP T'

T VP
D NP
AdvP V'

V PP
Le chef passe quelque fois passe par ici
Okondzi aléà indé mina aléà mala di

In English, by contrast, phi-features are not so strong that they fail to trigger the

movement of the verb onto T position; hence, the tree appears as in (18).

21
(18) CP

C TP

ø DP T'

T VP
D NP +AGR
AdvP V'

V PP
The chief sometimes passe+s by here
Okondzi indé mina aléà mala di

Admitting both arguments based on French and English, I assume that the two

occurrences of adverbs are also possible in Embɔsi. In fact, Embɔsi AGR features are

stronger than TNS features. Yet, the arguments put forward for the justification of the

positions of adverbs in relation to the verb morphology cannot account for the final

position of adverbs. Laenzlinger (2006:67) advocates another argument to account for

the different distributions of adverbs. He asserts that adverbs have fixed position in a

sentence while verbs and arguments have floating position. He writes:

‘‘Les adverbes ont des positions fixes au sein de la phrase, alors que ce

sont les arguments et le verbe qui ont des positions flottantes autour des

arguments. Ce système remet en question le système de déclenchement

des mouvements d’arguments et de verbe. Les traits de cas et d’accord ne

peuvent expliquer à eux seuls les structures alternatives’’.

This quotation discredits the uniqueness of the Attract Closest Principle and

feature checking to expound the grammaticality. Laenzlinger assumes that all

movements are not compelled for a need to check features because the different

22
positions of adverbs may be the reflection of the syntax-LF interface. Admitting

Laenzlinger to be right, it will be obvious that basing adverb distributions on syntactic

ground will partly explain the matter. For example, the adverb ‘kindly’ in the following

has different readings pragmatically.

(19) a- Ngòò à-β4 là mwánà òtòòtì

Mother she-talk-PRES to child slowly

‘Mother talks to her child slowly’.

b- Ngòò à-β4 òtòòtì là mwánà.

Mother she-talk-PRES slowly to child

‘Mother talks slowly to her child’.

c- Ngòò òtòòtì à-β4 là mwánà.

Mother slowly she-talk-PRES to child

‘Mother slowly talks to her child’.

d- Òtòòtì, ngòò à-β4 là mwánà.

Slowly mother she-talk-PRES to child

‘Slowly, mother talks to her child’.

Basically, and according to the primary semantics, examples (19) have the same

significance; their difference is captured at pragmatic level. As a result, the different

positions of the adverbs highlight specific senses according to the context of the

23
discourse event. The sequence of discourse may syntactically be expressed through

topicalisation (19d) or focalisation (19a) whereby adverb is given prominence.

Adverbs merger is then dependent upon the syntax-LF interface. That is to say,

adverbs merge with semantic functional categories which obey a hierarchical position

labelled as MoodP (epistemic adverbs), ModeP (modal adverbs), TP (time adverbs),

AspP (adverbs of frequency and quantifiers), and VoiceP (manner adverbs). This

canonical order of adverbs shows adverbs between the TP and VP.

(20) CP

C TP

ø DP T'

T MoodP
NP D +AGR
Adv AspP

adv VoiceP

adv V'
ìbàà dí kìnà òyìì má 4mb4nd4 àβ4 là Màré
man this (probably) (sometimes) (kindly) talks to Mary
This man (probably) (sometimes) (kindly) talks to Mary

In the light of Laenzlinger’s (2006) work, it will be stated that the spellout of

adverbs within a sentence obeys the form-sense interplay. In this respect, the tree

diagram in (20) illustrates the neutral and natural position of the adverbs in a sentence.

To further consider the matter, the following are given.

24
(21) a- Kàngà à-dìì à-β4 là bá má àmbángì.

Kàngà he-be-PAST he-talk-PAST to them in a hurry

‘Kanga was talking to them in a hurry’.

b- Kàngà à-dìì à-β4 má àmbángì là bá.

Kàngà he-be-PAST he-talk-PAST in a hurry to them

‘Kanga was talking in a hurry with them’.

c- Kàngà à-dìì má àmbángì à-β4 là bá.

Kàngà he-be-PAST in a hurry he-talk-PAST to them

‘Kanga was in a hurry talking to them’.

d- Kàngà má àmbángì à-dìì à-β4 là bá.

Kàngà in a hurry he-be-PAST he-talk-PAST to them

‘Kanga in a hurry was talking to them’.

e- Má àmbángì, Kàngà à-dìì à-β4 là bá.

in a hurry Kanga he-be-PAST he-talk-PAST to them

‘In a hurry, Kanga was talking to them’.

It is obvious that the different positions of the adverb ‘má àmbángì’ obey discourse

properties which meet specific needs of the context. Otherwise, it is not the syntax that

is totally responsible for these different distributions, but rather pragmatics. That is to

say, the information curve varies according to the expectations of the participants and

the speech event. When there is no expectation or strong intention from the participants,

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the information curve is flat because all the sentence constituents are equally important.

In case that the participants want to point out a specific fact on the discourse event, the

information curve changes because all constituents have not the same information

weight. This difference may be labelled level 1, level 2, level 3, and level 0. Referring

to (21a) and following Cinque (1993) stress rule, the last constituent is accentuated, that

is, emphasized. This is also true of (21e) where the adverb has been fronted for

topicalisation purpose. In these two cases, the adverb stands as a higher level, the

predicate and its arguments level 1. In (21b), the last two words bear emphasis, hence

the sentence prosody is raising. Consequently, the adverb is taken as level 3 whereas the

indirect object “là bá” ‘to them’ is level 2 and finally the other items are level1. In this

connection, it appears that the adverb is the focal point which shows the information

curve in a sentence.

Returning to (15) examples, it should be said that some languages have set up

some conditions that constrain the occurrence of some adverbs. In this respect, it sounds

odd, in some languages to insert an adverb between the predicate and its internal or

external argument as illustrated below.

(22) a- *I love very much you

Idíngá òyíí n4

‘I love you very much.’

b- *He speaks well English

wà àβ3 òlámì Angìlὲ

‘He speaks English very well.’

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c- *I in a hurry do not eat.

Ngá má àmbángì òdzá y4.

‘I do not eat in a hurry.’

*d- Je ne vite mange pas

Ngá má àmbángì òdzá y4

In (22a-b) the mid occurrence of the adverbs is accepted in Embɔsi. This

acceptability is certainly due to the fact this language is still oral and there has not been

any written grammar. In addition, it is also suitable to use adverb phrase made of two or

more words in mid position as demonstrated in (22c). Yet, it should be claimed that

there is not a total liberalism concerning Embɔsi adverbs.

(23) a- Tómí à-β3 sὲbέ

Elder brother he/she-speak-PRES calmly

‘My elder brother speaks calmly.’

?b- Tómí sὲbέ à-β3

Elder brother calmly he/she speak-PRES

‘My elder brother speaks calmly.’

The last point on which I discuss on this paper concerns the syntactic functions

of an adverb. The following examples show the different functions of an adverb in a

sentence in the language under discussion.

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(24) a- í-kyέmbì lékásì má àmbángì

I-write-PAST letter in run

‘I wrote this paper in a hurry.’

b- béà tí ìbé

food enough bad

‘Food is enough bad.’

c- n4 ò-dzá tí má àmbángì

you you-eat-PRES quite in run

‘You are eating quite rapidly.’

d-òsíná má mbóà

journey of home

‘The journey home.’

e-òyírí tí òlá

girl so tall

‘What a tall girl!’

f- é-péndì òts3 tswέ là dìsí

it-pass-PAST right near to eyes

‘It passed right near eyes.’

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It appears that adverbs have two distinct grammatical functions namely complement and

modifier. In (24a), the adverb is the complement of a preposition. That is to say, the

wellformedness of this adverb phrase is closely related to the occurrence of the

preposition that c-commands it. Yet, as has been claimed so far, Embɔsi has the

possibility to choose doubling the noun/adjective or make use of a preposition.

In (24b), an adverb modifies an adjective, an adverb in (24c), a preposition in

(24f), and a noun in (24d).

To conclude, what has been said on adverbs in the literature concerns syntax on

the one hand and the syntax LF interface on the other hand. Referring to the former,

Haegeman (2003:15) writes: «Contrairement aux autres constituants de la phrase qui

semble occuper une position relativement fixe, les adverbiaux peuvent occuper

plusieurs positions». That is, syntactically, adverbs stand as a grammatical category that

has various positions in a sentence. These different positions are also based on their

lexical diversities. In fact, it has been demonstrated in this paper that adverbs are multi

distributional grammatical constituents.

However, Laenzlinger (2006) assumes and I agree with him that adverbs have a

fixed position in a sentence whereas the predicate and the arguments have floating

positions. This can explain, to some extent, the alternative positions an adverb occupies

in a sentence. Yet, syntax alone cannot account for all the distributions of adverbs in

sentence because the adverb is an index of information curve in a grammatical unit. In

this perspective, the different occurrences of adverbs are pragmatically based. Thus,

owing to topicalisation, focalisation or speakers’ specific expectations, an adverb may

change a position to meet that discourse issue.

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 In addition, it results from the following paper that adverbs do not have the same

inherent properties. Adverbs are subcategorized as [+N, +Adj, +V] in Embɔsi. As has

been argued in Ndongo Ibara (2007:70) “Embɔsi is a particular language in which

classical linguistic standards can be furthered and extended”. It is clear that Embɔsi has

not such rigid conditions that constrain adverbs syntax.

The sentential interpretation of adverbs is then attributed to two parameters:

syntactic parameters (feature checking) and the interface parameters which show the

correlation between syntax and pragmatics through the syntax-LF interface.

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List of abbreviations

Adj: Adjective
Adv: Adverb
Agr: Agreement
AspP: Aspect Phrase
CP: Complementiser phrase
INF:Infintive
LF : Logical Form
MoodP: Mood phrase
N: noun
PAST : Past tense
Pl : plural
Pres: Present tense
V: verb
VoiceP: Voice phrase
VP: verb phrase
Sg : singular

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