Manner of movement in Amharic
Movement is a situation type with a source, a goal, a path,
timeline and a figure. It starts from the source, and heads towards the goal, along
the path, a timeline, and speed, and terminates at the centre of the goal. It
comprises sub-movements that define the main movement in subordinate clauses
predicated of compounds involving the verb ‘to say’. The path could be straight,
sloppy, bumpy, etc., which defines the movement as durative, iterative and
terminative. The speed can be slow, extra slow, fast or extra fast, which
characterizes the figure as sober or edgy, and his stature as awkward or elegant,
depending on the path, age and gender. This paper argues that both the manner of
movement and the behaviour of the figure are expressed in subordinate clauses of
extended verbal stems, derived adjectivals, nominals, and prepositional phrases, all
of which are treated here as manner adverbials necessitated by the lack a productive
category of lexical manner adverbs in the language.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Manner of movement and degrees of speed
- 2.1Slow manner of movement
- 2.2Extra slow manner of movement
- 2.3Fast manner of movement
- 2.3.1Very fast manner of movement
- 2.3.2Extra fast manner of movement
- 3.Manner of movement and behaviour of figure (mover)
- 3.1Sluggish manner of movement, behaviour and stature of figure
- 3.2Extra fast movement and behaviour of figure
- 4.Types of path, manner and behaviour of figure
- 4.1Straight path, manner and behaviour
- 4.2Sloppy path, manner, and behaviour
- 4.3Bumpy path and manner of movement
- 5.Conclusion
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Acknowledgements
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Notes
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Glossary
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References
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Appendix