Degree adverbs in Mauritian

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21248/hpsg.2014.14

Abstract

In Mauritian, degree words exhibit an extreme syntactic polymorphism in combining with all major categories. When two forms coexist, *mari* ('very') and *boukou* ('a lot'), they select the predicate they modify on semantic more than syntactic criteria. We analyse degree words as adverbs with a double syntactic function: as complements in postverbal position (since they can by themselves trigger the short verbal form) and as adjuncts otherwise. We extend our analysis to inequality comparatives, *pli / plis* ('more') and *mwin / mwins* ('less') which are also polymorphic, with a double life as adjunct and complement.

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Published

2014-10-15

How to Cite

Hassamal, Shrita & Abeillé, Anne. 2014. Degree adverbs in Mauritian. Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar 259–279. (doi:10.21248/hpsg.2014.14) (https://proceedings.hpsg.xyz/article/view/822) (Accessed March 28, 2024.)