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Transcategorization phenomena with other pos-values

The major peculiarity (and ``crux" for the tagging) is that adjectives can have the function of adverbs: andare forte, parlare veloce. This causes a lot of confusion phenomena (see below).

The following are the features in common between adjectives and adverbs:

- adjectives modify nouns, uomo forte; adverbs modify verbs, correre forte.
- adjectives have the degree, buono/migliore/ottimo; adverbs have the degree, bene/meglio/benissimo.
- both undergo alteration: bene/benino/benone, buono, buonetto.

The other significant transcategorizations are among adverb/conjunction/preposition (see below). The differences among these PoS are linked to syntactic structures:
- adposition (preposition): the argument is an NP;
- conjunction: the sentence introduced is in dependency relation with the governing predicate;
- adverb: it semantically modifies the whole sentence and the predicate in particular.

Conjunction: Ti sentirai tranquillo, dopo aver sostenuto l'esame
Preposition: Ti sentirai tranquillo dopo l'esame
Adverb: Sostenuto l'esame, dopo ti sentirai tranquillo

In some recent linguistic theories, all these elements go into the wider class of ``connettivi" (connectives), which link various parts of text (Berretta 1984).

Confusions can be made between the values adverb and noun,
adverb and adjective,
adverb and pronoun,
adverb and determiner,
adverb and conjunction,
adverb and adposition.

pos=noun pos=adv
D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e
weekdays used as nounsIl sabato/noun   e' il giorno miglioreweekdays used adverbiallysabato/adv  
degree adverbs inserted in NPil troppo/noun   stroppiaadverbsho dormito troppo/adv  
il meno/noun   che tu possa farespendi meno/adv   che puoi
place adverbs inserted in NPnon chiedermi il dove/noun   e il quandoadverbsdove/adv   vai?
nounfare il bene/noun   degli altriadverbfai bene/adv   i tuoi conti

pos=adj pos=adv
D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e
adjectiveuna macchina veloce/adj  adverbla macchina correva veloce/adv  
un uomo solo/adj  solo/adv   un uomo lo sa
una donna forte/adj  quella donna parla forte/adv  

pos=pron, type=indf pos=adv
D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e
pronounniente/pron, type=indf   mi fara' cambiareadverbnon vale niente/adv  
pochi/pron   sanno la verita'ho mangiato poco/adv  

pos=pron, type=int pos=adv
D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e
pronounquanto/pron, type=int   ne vuoi?adverbstrillava quanto/adv   poteva

pos=pron, type=excl pos=adv
D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e
pronounquanto/pron, type=excl   pretendi!adverbstrillava quanto/adv   poteva

pos=det, type=int pos=adv
D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e
determinerquanto/det, type=int   denaro vuoi?adverbstrillava quanto/adv   poteva

pos=det, type=indf pos=adv
D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e
det indfpoca/det, type=indf   gente sa la verita'adverbho dormito poco/adv  

pos=det, type=excl pos=adv
D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e
det exclquanto/det, type=excl   sgomento sul tuo volto!adverbstrillava quanto/adv   poteva

pos=adv pos=conj
D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e
adverbsostenuto l'esame, dopo/adv   ti sentirai tranquilloconjunctiondopo/conj   aver dato l'esame, ti sentirai meglio

pos=adv pos=adpos
D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e
adverbsostenuto l'esame, dopo/adv   ti sentirai tranquilloadpositiondopo/adpos   l'esame, ti sentirai meglio



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Next: Adposition Up: pos-value adverb Previous: Central semantics of value