38 R. M. W. Dixon
There are very few instances, in English, of verb and adjective with similar
meanings (where the forms are not related through a productive derivation). One
example consists of fear and afraid,6 as in:
(36) (a) I fear having to enter the lion's cage
(b) I was afraid when I entered the lions cage
The adjective afraid is generally used to refer to the feeling one gets when one is
actually in contact with something scary, while the verb fear tends to be used for a
general feeling in connection with something that might happen.
In fact, this particular verb/adjective overlap recurs in a number of languages.
For instance, the Australian language Yidin has a transitive verb yaryga-n and an
adjective munu with very similar meanings to fear and afraid in English (Dixon
i99ib: 240, 272). However, not all languages have such an overlap. Describing the
Oceanic language Mokilese, Harrison (1976: 150) mentions that there is just one
lexeme, mijik, corresponding to both 'fear' and 'afraid' in English. (Following the
Oceanic tradition—see §5—Harrison says that this belongs to the class of stative
verbs; however, applying the criteria set forth in the present study, the label 'adjec-
tive' is appropriate.)
English thus has considerable semantic overlap between the verb and noun
classes, and between the adjective and noun classes, but very little between verb
and adjective classes. Turning now to Dyirbal, we find exactly the opposite situ-
ation. There is here no overlap at all between verb and noun classes, or between
adjective and noun classes. Basically, Dyirbal does not have abstract nouns such
as 'journey', 'event', 'thought', 'size', 'happiness', or 'colour'. One simply has to use the
appropriate verb or adjective.
However, Dyirbal does have considerable semantic overlap between the classes
of verb and adjective. A sample of these is set out in (37).
(37) Verb Adjective
(i) nyaju-l 'cook' nyamu cooked'
(ii) dadi-l 'cover' qulguny 'covered'
(iii) gulba-l 'block' gumun 'blocked'
(iv) wanda-l 'hang' burrgaligan 'hanging'
(v) bar/ganda-y 'be sick' wulmba 'sick'
There is in fact a clear difference of meaning in each case, with the verb referring
to an action, or getting into a state, or being in a state that varies with time, and the
non-cognate adjective referring to either a state that is the result of an activity, or a
state that is semi-permanent. There is a slightly different semantic contrast for each
verb/adjective pair. Taking them one at a time:
(^6) Interestingly, the best example I can find of semantic overlap between the verb and adjective
class in English involves afraid, one of the set of adjectives that can only occur in copula complement
function (not as a modifier).