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Above and Beyond the Segments: Experimental linguistics and phonetics
Edited by Johanneke Caspers, Yiya Chen, Willemijn Heeren, Jos Pacilly, Niels O. Schiller and Ellen van Zanten
[Not in series 189] 2014
► pp. 42–59

The problems of adverbs in Zulu

| Universiteit Leiden
Adverbs in Durban Zulu appear to have contradictory properties. On the one hand, when they appear with intransitive verbs, they phrase prosodically with the verb, just like direct objects. On the other hand, adverbs which appear with transitive verbs are like typical adjuncts, which are adjoined above νP, and they are prosodically phrased separately from the rest of the sentence. We suggest that due to the nominal character of adverbs in Zulu, they can be selected by the verb. Selected materials (including selected adverbs) are merged at the time of main structure building, while non-selected adverbs and other adjuncts are merged late. The timing of the merger of adverbs reflects their prosodic phrasing properties.
Published online: 10 December 2014
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https://doi.org/10.1075/z.189.04che
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