Download Morphological contrastive analysis of adverbs in English

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ISSN: 2147-6284
European Journal of Research on Education, 2014, Special Issue: Contemporary Studies
in Education, 98-102
European
Journal of
Research on
Education
Morphological contrastive analysis of adverbs in English and
Albanian language
Majlinda Nuhiu a *
a
State University of Tetovo, Ilinden nn, 1200, Tetovo, Republic of Macedonia
Abstract
This research aims to cover the morphological aspects of adverbs (the correspondence between the roots and word elements) in
the English and Albanian languages. The focus of our comparison is the question of diversity. With the method of contrastive
analysis on the morphological level (Ivir, 1968), the analysis could be done according to the subjective technique, by comparing
the surface structures of the languages (suffixes and prefixes). In the morphological aspect we will try to cover the similarities
and differences of morphological features of adverbs in English and Albanian language: classification and structure. This topic is
chosen based on the fact that in many grammar books on the Albanian and English languages, adverbs are classified, structured
and positioned in different ways. This research will help Albanian students who study English as a foreign language to have
theoretical and practical knowledge of English adverbs compared to Albanian adverbs. We will aslo try to see the differences as
well as similarities when it comes to defining adverbs in both of the languages, English and Albanian. In our research we will try
to make an exact, concise and scientific presentation of the adverbs of English compared to those of Albanian language when it
comes to formation processes in English and Albanian.
© 2014 European Journal of Research on Education by IASSR.
Keywords: Morphological contrastive analysis, definition, classification, form;
1. Defining adverbs in English and Albanian language
If we are posing the question, is the definition of adverbs the same in different languages, especially in English and
Albanian? The answer can be found by giving different definitions of adverbs by famous linguists in both of the
languages.
Baskervill and Sewell in “An English Grammar” (1896:18) consider adverbs as words joined to verbs; as the
only words that can be joined to a verb in order to modify it. When in a sentence action is expressed then an adverb
is usually joined to define the action in some way: time, place or manner. Adverbs do not modify only verbs: many
of them express degree and limit adjectives or other adverbs. According to John Eastwood in “Oxford Practice
Grammar” (1999:24) adverbs are words that are formed with an –ly suffix, when the root of the word is a verb or an
adjective depending on the situation. According to Jashar Kabashi in “English Grammar: Morphology” (2000:20),
adverbs are parts of speech that do not change, words that modify the verb, the adjective or another adverb or a
phrase.
Shaban Demiraj an Albanian linguist in “Gramatika e Gjuhës Shqipe: Morfologjia” (2002) defines adverbs as
closed parts of speech that name features of an action or a state, the circumstances in which the action is proved to
take place, or shows the degree of a class or the intensity of an action”. Haredin Xhaferi in “Morfologji e Gjuhës
Shqipe” (2011), defines adverbs as closed parts of speech that don’t change and are usually connected with the verb,
* E-mail address: [email protected]
Majlinda Nuhiu
adjective and another adverb. Very seldom, the adverb is connected with the noun or the pronoun. The adverb is
closely connected with the adjective because semantically it shows a feature or a class, and grammatically it has the
category of degree which is a characteristic only of these two parts of speech.
So, from these definitions we see that adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, phrases or other adverbs,
though each linguist or author in both languages gives different examples and expresses it in different ways
2. Classification of adverbs in English language
As in many other languages, in English, too, the parts of speech are large classes to which the words of many
different languages are supposed to belong. The basic classification of parts of speech consists of eight parts: nouns,
pronouns, verbs, adjectives, numerals, adverbs, prepositions, and interjections. This is not a fixed classification
because the system of parts of speech is not fixed, though it is reliable. Still, there is not a perfect way to classify
words, though the most evident and certain classification is according to form and position. Form means the
morphological characteristics of the class, while position means the syntactical function of a type of word.
Firstly, we will start this paper with the way adverbs are classified in English and then in Albanian. According to
John Eastwood in “Oxford Practice Grammar” (1999:270-71) adverbs in English are classified only according to
their meaning into four groups: adverbs of time, place, manner and frequency and sentence adverbs. Meanwhile,
Baskervill and Sewell in “An English Grammar” (1896:282-87) when analyzing adverbs have divided them in two
ways: according to the meaning of the words and according to their use in the sentence. According to their meaning
they have classified adverbs into: time, place, manner, degree, number and assertion. According to their use in the
sentence adverbs are classified into: simple and conjunctive adverbs. Two other English grammarians, Randolph
Quirk and Sydney Greenbawm, in “A Students Grammar of English Language” (1990:312-13) present two
characteristics of English adverbs: morphological and syntactical. They distinguish only two types of adverbs
according to the morphological description: closed class: simple and compound and opened class derivational
adverbs. They classify adverbs according to their structure with simple and compound adverbs as closed classes and
derivational as open class adverbs.
Generally, adverbs in the English language are classified morphologically and semantically or in other words
according to their meaning and use in sentence. The sub classification of English adverbs is different depending on
each linguist.
3. Classification of adverbs in Albanian language
When it comes to adverbs in the Albanian language, Shaban Demiraj in “Gramatika e gjuhes shqipe: Morfologjia”,
classifies adverbs according to their structure: frontal adverbs (ndajfolje të parme), derivative adverbs, compound
adverbs, idioms or phrases (lokucione ndajfoljore). Except, according to the structure he classifies adverbs also
according to their function in the sentence: adjuncts and determinants or finite adjectives.
According to Haredin Xhaferi in “Morfologji e Gjuhës Shqipe” (2011) adverbs are classified: according to the
meaning, according to their function, according to their structure and according to their formation. According to
their meaning Albanian adverbs are divided into: authentic and pronominal. Inside this group are identified
interrogative and relative adverbs. According to the way adverbs are formed they are classified into: Frontal
adverbs and non frontal adverbs. Non frontal adverbs can be derivative and compound. According to their function
in the sentence adverbs in Albanian language are classified into two groups as adjuncts and as disjuncts. According
to their structure in Albanian language adverbs are distinguish two types of adverbs: simple and compound adverbs.
Adverbs in the Albanian language are different from the adverbs in the English language, except for the two main
classifications of structure and function. There are two other main classifications in Albanian, and those are meaning
and formation. As a result of different main classifications of adverbs in Albanian the adverbs belonging to this
main classification are sub classified in a totally different way from the adverbs in English language.
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Morphological contrastive analysis of adverbs in English and Albanian language
4. Adverbial formation process in English language
Adverbs in the English language are formulated by adding suffixes and prefixes to nouns, adjectives and other
parts of speech or by the process of agglutination.
A. Adverbs formulated from nouns with suffixation:
The adverbs in English are formulated from suffixes and prefixes which are added to noun stem. The prefixes
which take part in the formulation of derived adverbs are: a- ,as-, and in,- as in the following examples: aboard,
aside, instead . The most common suffix which is added to some nouns, and by which a lot of adverbs are being
formulated, is the suffix –ly as in: firstly, namely etc. The other suffixes that take part in the formulation of adverbs
are: -wise, -ward(s), -way(s), -fold as in the following examples: homeward(s), sideways.
B. Adverbs formulated from adjectives with suffixation / no affixation
The prefixes which take part in the formulation of derived adverbs are: a- as- and in- which are added to adjectives.
According to Andrew Carstairs McCarthy (2002:48) the most common suffix which is added to adjectives is the
suffix –ly as in the following examples: sweetly, dangerously etc. The other suffixes that take part in the formulation
of adverbs by adjectival stems are the suffixes: -wise, -ward(s), -way(s) and –fold as in: likewise etc.
The forms without –s are often homonymous with adjectives which makes it very difficult to distinguish adverbs
from adjectives. Some of the derived adverbs could have double forms as an adjective and an adverb having the
same meaning: cheap-cheaply, rough-roughly etc. Some of them could have totally different meanings: It’s a hot
day; Joe hotly denied the accusation.
The most common adverbs of manner are formulated from adjectives without the adding –ly and they can be
determined syntactically: hard, far, near, straight, east etc.
C. Adverbs formulated from other parts of speech by the compounding process
Except the adverb, which have the same form as an adjectives, there are adverbs which are formulated from some
prepositions combined with verbs and they are called as ‘phrasal verbs’: put up with (tolerate), bring about (cause)
etc. There are some prepositions which can be used as simple adverbs at the same time: through, back, over, across
etc.
5. Adverbial formation process in Albanian language
The adverbs in Albanian language are formulated by adding suffixes to nouns, adjectives, pronouns and other
adverbs. There is only one prefix and that is the prefix për-, which is added to other adverbs and it helps in the
formation of adverbs, which in some cases have intensive meaning, such as: përpara, përkundrejt, përballë.
According to Leonard Newmark (Newmark, 1982: 224) the most common suffixes that take part in the formation
of adverbs in Albanian language are: -isht, - as, -azi , -thi.
A1 . Adverbs formulated from nouns with suffixation/ no affixation
A huge number of adverbs are formulated by adding suffixes or zero derivation to nouns. The suffixes which are
added to nouns in Albanian language to formulate adverbs are: -isht, –as (-azi), -thi. The most common suffix which
is used nowadays in the formation of adverbs in Standard Albanian language is the suffix –isht. This suffix is used
in formation of adverbs only if the derivational stem doesn’t end in –i. With the help of the suffix –isht added to
feminine abstract nouns which end in - (ë)si, – (ë)ri, -i, a huge number of adverbs are being formulated as in the
following examples: imtësisht, tërësisht; trimërisht etc. There are adverbs wich are formulated from masculine
abstract nouns that end in the suffix – im as a stem to which the suffix –isht is added: qëllimisht, detyrimisht etc. The
suffixes –as and -azi are added to simple nouns stems in order to create adverbs as in the following examples: barkbarkas-barkazi, gjunj-gjunazi etc. By adding the unstressed suffix –thi to simple noun stems, derived noun stems
formed with the stressed suffix –im, a limited number of adverbs are formed. The following examples show a clear
picture of the adverbial word formation process with the help of the suffix -thi: fjalor-fjalorthi (simple noun stems);
kalim-kalimthi (derived noun stems).
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Majlinda Nuhiu
There is a group of adverbs of time which are formulated by adverbialization of nouns in accusative and ablative
by which the noun undergoes changes in its meaning, receiving narrow or figurative meaning as in:: vjet-last year
and mot –next year.; Më qiti gisht. (=pa gjë-nothing) Ia thashë copë. (=troç-directly). As examples of the process of
adverbialization of nouns in ablative are the words: fare (from the noun farë), herët (from the noun herë), krejt (from
the noun krye).
A2. Adverbs formulated from nouns with the compounding process:
Another way of forming adverbs is putting together a sequence of words with one lexical sense having their stress in
an individual word and with a distinct orthography which is called adverbial locution. Adverbial locutions could be
formulated in a number of ways: by reduplicating the same noun connected with the conjunction e, as in the
example reth e reth; two closely related nouns conjoined with e, as in ditë e natë;
B1. Adverbs formulated from adjectives with suffixation/ no affixation
Adverbs in Albanian language are also formed from adjectives by adding suffixes to the adjective stem. The most
common suffixes which are added to adjective stems are the suffixes: -isht, - as, -azi, the unstressed suffix -thi.
Except to nouns the suffix –isht is also added to adjectives with foreign origin to create adverbs as in: absolutisht,
artistikisht etc. The suffixes –as and-azi are also added adjective stems in order to create adverbs as in the following
eaxmples: e majtë-majtas-majtazi (adjectival stem). By adding the unstressed suffix –thi to simple noun stems,
derived noun stems formed with the stressed suffix –im, adjectival stems and adverbial stems, a limited number of
averbs are being formulated as in: qor-qorthi (adjectival stems).
There are a number of adverbs in Albanian which are formed from qualitative adjectives which are
articulated.The absence of the article in fron, shows that it is an adverb and not an adjective as in the following
examples: i mirë –mirë; i keq-keq etc.
B2. Adverbs formed from adjectives with the compounding process:
Adverbial locutions could be formulated from adjectives as well, by adding the preposition me to a substantivized
adjective as in the following example: me të mirë; preposition për added to an adjective with the suffix –i (u) with a
preposed article, së: për së largu.
C1. Adverbs formed from numerals with suffixation
Another way of formulating adverbs is by adding the suffix –fish to cardinal numbers: dyfish, trefish.
C2. Adverbs formulated from numerals with the compounding process:
Adverbial locutions can be formulated by putting together two parts of speech as the basic numerals together with
the noun herë: një herë, dy herë, tri herë. The prepositional particle për, më (followed by ablative) together with
cardinal numbers formulate adverbial locutions like: për dy, për tre; me njësh, me dysh, me tresh etc. The adverbial
locutions could be formulated by repeating the same cardinal number and in the middle the prepositional particle,
nga: një nga një, dy nga dy, tre nga tre etc.
D. Adverbs formulated from pronouns with suffixation/ no affixation
The other forms of agglutinated adverbs have as a second element the form –kund or -kundi added to pronouns as
first elements: askund, askurrkund, askurrkundi.
Some of the pronouns can formulate adverbs but only with the process of zero derivation. In Albanian language
there are some adverbs which are formulated from pronouns vetëm, vec, which come from the pronoun, vetë.
Furthermore, there is a group of other adverbs with pronoun origin, like ku, kah, nga (prej n+kaha), si, ashtu, kështu,
tej, andej, (nga a+tej), këtu etc. These adverbs the same as pronouns have abstract and a very general meaning.
E1. Adverbs formulated from verbs with suffixation
In Albanian there are some adverbs which are formulated from the unmitigated forms of verbs generally from
participle. The suffixes–as and -azi are added to verb stems in order to create adverbs: rëshqit-rëshqitas-rëshqitazi
(verb); fshehur-fshehuras-fshehurazi (participial stem). The agglutinated adverbs are formulated in this way where
the first part is the verb di- added to pronominal adverbs as in the examples: dikur, dikund, disi etc. From the
participle with the suffix të, a lot of adverbs are being formulated: ratë, thatë etc.
E2. Adverbs formulated from verbs with the compounding process
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Morphological contrastive analysis of adverbs in English and Albanian language
In Albanian language some particles are used in denial sequence as, pa, together with the verb formulate adverbs as
in the following cases: pa pritmas, pa pritur, pa rreshtur etc.
F1. Adverbs formulated from other adverbs with suffixation
There is a prefix për -,which is added to other adverbs with intensive meaning, such as: përpara, përkundrejt,
përballë, përgjithmonë. The suffix –isht is also added to other adverbs to create adverbs as in the examples: shkurtshkurtimisht, bashkë-bashkarisht. The suffies –as and -azi are also added to other adverbial stems to create adverbs
like: lartë-lartas-lartazi (adverbial stem); rëshqit-rëshqitas-rëshqitazi (verb); fshehur-fshehuras-fshehurazi
(participial stem). By adding the unstressed suffix –thi to adverbial stems a limited number of adverbs are formed.
The following examples present a clear picture of the adverbial word formation process with the help of the suffix thi: (përsëprapa-përsëprapthi (adverbial stems).
F2. Adverbs formed from other adverbs with the compounding process and irregular formation process
Some adverbs are formed by putting together two adverbs without any conjunction or with the conjunction e, as in
the following examples: andej këndej, aty e këtu. Adverbial locutions are also formulated with reduplication of an
adverb with a preposition më, për, nga, which formulate manner adverbials: aty për aty etc.
There is a subgroup which could be called irregular agglutinating adverbs formulated from various parts of
speech and whose structure does not fit into preceding categories: sakaq, sidokudo, dosido etc.
6. Conclusion
Our main task in this research was to do a contrastive, comparative, morphological analysis of adverbs in English
and Albanian language. According to all definitions, adverbs in both of the languages modify verbs, adjectives or
other adverbs, though each linguist gives different examples and expresses it in different ways. Adverbs in English
and Albanian language belong to major parts of speech. When it comes to classification of adverbs, they are
classified the same according to their structure and function but the sub classification are different in both of the
languages. According to morphological structure, adverbs are different in both of the languages. English language
has a poor morphological structure of adverbs in comparison to Albanian language. In English adverbs are
formulated from nouns and adjectives. While, in Albanian they are formulated from: nouns, pronouns, verbs,
adjectives, numerals, other adverbs. The adverbs in English language are formulated by adding the suffixes -wise, ward(s), -way(s), -fold and the prefixes a- ,as-, and in- to nouns and adjectives. In Albanian language the prefix
për- takes part in adverbial formulation together with the suffixes: -isht, –as (-azi), -thi, -të.
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