4 The Adjective Class in Tariana 117stative verbs. They do not then take any noun class marker, as in (22) and (23). Ad-
jectives used as stative verbs are underlined in the following examples.
(22) mafa-nha phia
gOod-INTER.PRES.VIS you
'Are you fine?' (a greeting)
(23) yawiwari hipisi-ka-naka nuha
type.of.jaguar be.bitter-DECL-pRES.vis I
'(Being) Yawiwari (mythical jaguar), I am bitter' (so don't bite me) (from
the Origin myth)
These adjectival roots can be used as components of adverbial serial verbs, as in
(24) and (25).
(24) matfa pi-ni
be.proper 2sg-do
'Be careful, obey the rules, behave properly'
(25) ma:tfi-pu nu-rena-mha nuha
bad-AUG isg-feel(physically)-pRES.NONVis I
T feel physically bad, I am in a bad way'
These constructions can be analysed as manner serial verbs, where the stative verb
(which contains the same root as the adjective) modifies the main verb. This is
shown in (26): here the adjectival root hamia 'be heavy' is used as a stative verb.
(26) diha nawiki-ne hamia-kha di-ruku di-a-pidana
ART man-FOC.A/s be.heavy-AWAY 3sgnf-go.down 3sgnf-go-REM.p.REP
"The man went down heavily (as a heavy object) (into a trap pre-arranged
by the beetle)'
Adjectival roots denoting value and physical properties can thus be considered a
sub-type of stative verbs. However, they take less verbal morphology than stative
verbs of other kinds. Properties for which they differ from other stative verbs are
summarized in Table 8; these, and additional properties are discussed below.A-B. Combining with habitual-impersonal -kana and with causative -ita
Stative verbs without a corresponding adjectival root can combine with the mark-
er -kana (see Aikhenvald 2oooc) 'habitual-impersonal', e.g. leka-kana (break-HAB/TABLE 8. Some morphological properties of adjectives compared to stative verbsPropertyi. Combines with habitual-impersonal -kana- Combines with causative -ita
- Used in prohibitive constructions
AdjectiveNo
No
NoStative verbYes
Yes (some)
Yes