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An adjective can be the nucleus of an adjective phrase consisting of an adjective and one or more intensifiers, as in

chilo kt `too much’
yFono yFono qhemay `very very tall’ etc.

An adjective can be formally defined as that sub-class of indeclinable which at the syntagmatic level functions as an attributive of a noun and is capable of functioning as the nucleus of an adjective phrase and is also capable of occurring in NP2 position in a NP1 NP2 type of sentence. When occurring in the NP2 position of a NP1 NP2 sentence, it is capable of taking the past tense marker kč.
Adverbs
An adverb can occur either as an attribute as a verb or as a nucleus of an adverb phrase consisting of itself and one or more intensifiers. When an adverb occurs as an attribute it invariably precedes the verb concerned and when it occurs as a nucleus of an adverb phrase, it follows the intensifier, as in :

anuye papasi po `the child ran quickly’
1 2 3 1 3 2
anuye hile anģ `the child is here’
1 2 3 1 3 2
anuye isi tile papasi po `today the child ran there quickly’
1 2 3 4 5 (lit. the child today, there quickly ran
  1 2 3 4 5
yFono papasi `very quickly etc.
1 2 1 2

Intensifiers
Intensifiers are a closed class of indeclinable that are capable of occurring in attributive construction with both the adjectives and the adverbs. They always precede the adverb and may follow or precede the adjective with which it is in construction with, as in :

anuye yFono papasi po `the child ran very quickly
  (lit. child the very quickly ran)
asbo yFono kize lakhi `a very big tree’
  (lit. tree very big one)
anu kutomo kt `too many children’
  (lit. child many too)

An intensifier may be formally defined as that sub-class of indeclinable which is capable of forming an immediate constituent of both an adjective and an adverb and modify the adjective/adverb with which it is in construction with.
Postpositions
The postpositions are a small closed sub-class of indeclinable which occur after a noun/demonstrative/adjective as in :

yekube saw `on the table’
alono `from the tree’
yekubeqaw `below the table’
paye kaku hupaw pe hé `he was hit with that book’
1 2 3 4 5 6 (lit. he(specific) book that with hit)
  1 2 3 4 5 6

A post position as well as an adjective/particle can follow a noun. However, when a postposition follows a noun, the combined form, viz., the noun plus the postposition, functions as an adverb. Thus at the functional level, the combined form ceases to be a noun, as in :

kakuhu yekube qaw anģ `the book is below the table’
kakuhu tile anģ `the book is there’

In the pair of sentences given above, tile `there’ substitutes yekube qaw `on the table’, hence the phrase is a functional adverb whereas when an adjective, plural marker or an article follows a noun by forming an i/c of the noun concerned, the grammatical class of the noun is not affected, as in :

kaku Fi hile anģ `the book is also here’
1 2 3 4 (lit. book also here is)
    1 2 3 4
kakuqó hile anģ `the books are here’
kaku kusuoqó hile anģ `the big books are here’ etc.

 

 

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