The Language of the Modhupur Mandi (Garo), Volume 1

Adverbs

(A)

Adverbs form a very large word class, but the majority of them can quite naturally be regarded as having been derived from verbs. They are closely related to verbs, both in their form and in their meaning. Adverbs, however, take no suffixes at all, and in this respect, they differ as sharply from verbs as from nouns or even numerals. Adverbs often occur immediately before the verb of the clause in which they occur, but they can also occur earlier, with one or more noun phrases separating them fromPage  262the verb. They are distinguished from the noun phrases among which they occur in their lack of a case marker. Semantically they are distinguished by modifying the meaning of the verb rather than acting as one of its arguments. As the examples will show, adverbs can convey a very wide range of meanings.

It may not be obvious why I have labeled some words as "adverbs" since they may be most naturally translated into English by either adjectives or verbs. Jol'-kep-kep , for example, seems to be most naturally translated as 'narrow, especially of agricultural fields' but, unlike the English adjective, it is used to modify a verb rather than a noun. Bi-ni ha'-ba jol'-kep-kep dak-a , can be freely translated as 'his field is narrow' but a more literal translation would be 'his field is done narrowly'. Chau'-kok tim-e-tim-e a-song-ing-a might be translated as 'The thief is sitting and hiding' or even 'The hiding thief is sitting', but the literal construction is more like 'The thief is sitting hidingly, in a hiding fashion'. Tim-e-tim-e 'hiding' is an adverb which modifies a-song-ing-a 'sitting', and it describes the manner in which the sitting is being accomplished. To-ra bing'-chrip-chrip wat-bo , is more literally translated as 'weave the basket tightly' than as 'weave a tight basket' ( to-ra 'basket', bing'-chrip-chrip 'tight, of woven things', wat-a 'weave, of baskets').

Several kinds of adverbs can be distinguished by their form and by the manner in which they are derived from verbs. In particular, the majority of adverbs show some sort of reduplication, and many of these are transparently derived from verbs. The language has comparatively few adverbs that are not reduplicated and that consist of a single morpheme, and even the few words that can be used as simple adverbs can generally be used in some other way as well. The following words that lack any form of reduplication can be used as adverbs. They are a heterogeneous lot.

Skang is occasionally used in an adverb-like way to mean 'in the past'. Skang am'-pang-cha rik-a-ming '(We) formerly built with thatch'. More often, skang is used as a postposition, however: an-dal-na skang 'before dark'. Skang can also be used with a locative suffix, making it a "locative word" (see next section): Ang-a-de skang-o Tu-ra-o dong-a 'I used to be at Tura'.

Teng-re 'early, soon, fast, quickly' can be used as a simple adverb, as in teng-re cha'-gal-gal-bo 'eat quickly, soon'. It is frequently reduplicated to teng-re-teng-re , however, thereby assuming a more conventional adverbial form.

Da'-si 'a little while ago' and da'-an 'in a little while, a little while from now' are clearly related to each other and also clearly related to da'-o 'now', so they are not really monomorphemic. Nevertheless the second syllablesPage  263of da'-si and da'-an have no obvious etymologies and the two words are sufficiently specialized and lexicalized to be candidates for relatively simple adverbs. Like skang , they sometimes take a locative suffix.

Dam-san 'same, together, in one place' seems to be an adverb in na'-ching sak-gin-ing dam-san a-song-eng-a 'The two of us are sitting together', but dam-san is sometimes used with case markers and might be better considered a defective noun:

Teng-gil and a-gre can mean either 'very' or 'excessively': teng-gil ding'-ing-a 'very hot, too hot'. Not all speakers use both teng-gil and a-gre . My impression is that older speakers in Modhupur are more likely to use a-gre while younger speakers more often use teng-gil . A-gre is more common in A'chik. A-gre is also used as a postposition meaning 'in addition to, other than':

In addition to this mixed batch of adverb-like words, Mandi has borrowed a number of others from Bengali that are used more consistently as adverbs: kup 'very', be-si 'much', so-man 'evenly' etc. Much more characteristic of Mandi are the vast number of adverbs that have some overt indication in their form that they are adverbs. Their adverbial nature is sometimes shown by reduplication, sometimes by the suffix -e , and sometimes by both simultaneously.

Adverbs in -e . By using -e as the principal verb suffix, any verb can be put into a form that can act like an adverb and modify another verb. Strictly speaking, this is a construction that subordinates not only a verb, but an entire clause, to another verb. However, single verbs without any arguments are so often subordinated in this way that they need to be noted here as playing the role of adverbs: mik-tal-e chu-a 'sleep on one's back' ( mik-tal-a 'lie on one's back'); cheng-e don-ing-a 'put aside (a basket) before it is finished, when only the base has been woven', from cheng-a 'to weave the base of a basket'; dra-e i'-ba-a 'come on one's own, come against the will of someone else' from dra-a 'to force, act with force'.

The very common verb bang'-a 'to be much, many, a lot' and the equally common derived adverb bang'-e 'in large amounts' illustrate the adverbializing function of -e : man-de bang'-a 'there are a lot of people' (verb); man-de bang'-a i'-ba-jok 'a lot of people came' (nominalized verb); man-de bang'-e i'-ba-jok 'people came in large numbers' (adverb). As a verb base, bang'- can take any of the tense-aspect markers: in'-no bol-pang bang'-no-a 'there will many trees here'. As an adverb, bang'-e can modify a verb such as dong-no-a 'will be at': in'-no bol-pang bang'-e dong-no-a 'here the trees will be many' (adverb).

In the next example, bang'-a is a nominalized verb that modifies the noun man-de . In the example that follows, bang'-e is an adverb and itPage  264modifies the verb ron'-a-ming 'gave'.

Adverbs in -e are sometimes reduplicated, and thereby generally gain the meaning of 'long-lasting' or 'intermittent': dong-e-dong-e 'now and then'; gal-e-gal-e 'in part, omitting parts' ( gal-a 'throw away'); heng'-e-heng'-e 'widely spaced' (of the pieces from which a basket is woven, of rice plants spaced out after transplanting); tim-e-tim-e 'secretly, in hiding', where the implication is that the hiding lasts for some time.

Simple Reduplication . Many adverbs are formed by simple reduplication, sometimes of a single syllable, often of two. Examples of single syllable reduplication include chrap-chrap 'crowded together, as growing fruit'; bang-bang 'empty, of a hole, a building, of land cleared of trees'; dam-dam 'always at the same place', grang-grang 'with open spaces, as an open weave basket'; jring-jring 'always, repeatedly'; bom-bom 'lukewarm'; jem'-jem 'regularly, repeatedly, often'. Some two syllable adverbs have similar but not identical syllables: hang-jang 'without reason, with no purpose, randomly, hurriedly'; jrip-jrang 'soundlessly, silently'.

Perhaps an even larger number of adverbs are formed by reduplicating two syllables: tim-bong-tim-bong 'wide, of fields, built widely'; bi-dil-bi-dil 'growing densely'; dil'-mik-dil'-mik 'smokily'; se'-em-se'-em 'tiny'; re'-em-re'-em 'having a small pattern, such as the creases in one's skin'; rim-a-rim-a 'see or hear partially, unclear, blurred'; dil-ing-dil-ing 'flying about, as dust'; ting-ku-ting-ku 'squeal, of a pig, loud, of a rice pounder, of angry talking'; dim-prong-dim-prong 'swirling with a lot of smoke, dusty'; dip-u dip-u 'very soft'; pu-ta-pu-ta 'in drops, spotted'; tek-sram-tek-sram 'crumbly, brittle'; rik-rak-rik-rak 'reflecting, shining, of a mirror, tin roof, metal, water'. Ka'-sin-e-ka'-sin-e 'slowly' is a three-syllable reduplication of a word that is already shown to be an adverb by its suffixed -e . Three-syllable reduplications are less common that two-syllable reduplications, but clearly they are not impossible.

Sometimes each syllable of a two syllable word is reduplicated separately: ding'-ding-dal'-dal 'just cooked, ready to eat'; rau'-rau-tau'-tau 'speaking loudly and rapidly'; rik-rik-rak-rak 'restlessly'; so'-so-jeng-jeng 'going from this to that without finishing anything'. Notice that when aPage  265single syllable with a raka (glottal stop) is reduplicated the raka is not repeated in the second syllable, but if another syllable intervenes, the raka is reduplicated along with the rest of the syllable. Thus se'-em-se'-em has rakas in both the first and third syllable, while so'-so-jeng-jeng has the raka only on the first syllable. This follows the regular pattern of raka deletion in second, but not third, syllables.

Final Syllable Reduplication . Many adverbs have a reduplicated final syllable while earlier syllables remain without reduplication: jol'-kep-kep 'in a narrow manner, especially of fields, very thin, of a person'; bing'-chrip-chrip 'woven tightly, without gaps, of baskets'; sim-dim-dim 'having a dark color, as mountains when seen from away'; gong'-rak-sak-sak 'quickly, while running quickly'. Most adverbs of this type are derived from verbs which lack the reduplication: chong'-pong-pong 'growing out from a clump at the base' ( chong'-pong-a 'to grow out from a clump at the base, like bananas or bamboo'); mik-chok-chok 'having a long pointed face' ( mik-chok-a 'to have a long pointed face').

Incomplete Syllable Reduplication . Some adverbs have only partial reduplication of one or more syllables: rin-ek-sin-ek 'messy, knocked down, of growing plants'; bu'-rin-eng-bu'-sin-eng 'messily, of hair', pil-eng-pil-ung 'rocking back and forth, like a boat'; gu-rung-ga-rang 'aimlessly, of roaming about'.

Second and Fourth Syllable pairs . A considerable number of adverbs have identical second and fourth syllables, while their first and third syllables differ. In these adverbs, the third syllable is only a place holder, contributing no meaning of its own, but filling a phonological gap. The favorite third syllable is -ga- : ru-ra-ga-ra 'inconsistent'; ding-dang-ga-dang 'doing things in different ways'; dil-dek-ga-dek 'swing, wobble, move back and forth, of a bamboo bridge or a loose post'. Other third syllables occur, but less frequently: rit-dang-ban-dang 'separately, doing things in different ways'; geng'-gang-bak-gang 'disorderly, as of branches piled around'; re-wa-se-wa 'spoiled, filthy'. In some cases, alternate form of reduplication can be performed on a single underlying verb. Ring-reng-ring-reng and ring-reng-ga-reng 'swinging back and forth' are both derived from ring-reng-a 'to swing back and forth.

Finally, I have had heard two words that can only be described as having undergone double reduplication: dang'-dang-dang'-dang 'spaced out, as growing fruit' and sim-sim-sim-sim 'starting to get dark, starting to turn rotten'. Even though the Garo language came to this writer as a late second language, it feels natural to him that a syllable might be repeated four times. To imagine a syllable that had been repeated exactly three times is much more difficult.

It is not clear to me just how productively adverbs can be formed by reduplication from verbs. Speakers do not accept all of the reduplications that I have proposed, even when I follow common patterns, so there is no full productivity. On the other hand, I have heard many hundreds of reduplicated adverbs that conform to one of the patterns that I have described. The patterns seem quite varied, but of course an unlimited number of other patterns of reduplication might have been used instead. The patterns that are found in the language must come to seem very natural to its speakers, and it must not take much time or repetition for a new adverb to become established. My impression is that a considerable amount of both dialect and individual variation is found in the range of adverbs used. Speakers have denied the possibility of an adverb that I have heard someone else using. From this, I infer that new adverbs are coined fairly regularly, and that they become easily accepted as individual favorites, or established in one or another dialect. At the same time, large numbers of reduplicated adverbs are used in the same way by speakers from widely separated dialects, so they are by no means all idiosyncratic or local.