28o Catriona Hyslop
are verbs. In other cases, such as SPEED, all words of that semantic type are mem-
bers of a word class other than adjectives, in this case adverbs. Following is an ex-
planation of all semantic types, indicating word class membership for each:
- DIMENSION—All adjectives, e.g. biti 'small', lague 'big, wide', hue 'deep, high tide',
manivinivi 'shallow, low tide, thin, qaravu, 'long, tall', qilodo 'short'. - AGE—All adjectives, e.g. sesea old', qaro 'new, raw, unripe'.
- VALUE—There are only two words belonging to this semantic category and both
are adjectives, i.e. garea good', hasi 'bad'. - COLOUR—All adjectives, e.g. mavute 'white', maeto 'black', memea 'red', angoga
'yellow'. - PHYSICAL PROPERTY—All adjectives, e.g. bibilu 'wet', mamaha 'dry', mava 'heavy',
mamarae 'light', kulo 'round', make.nike.ni 'sharp'. Words referring to corporeal
properties are also adjectives, e.g. mwaso 'alive', sege sick', bao 'dumb (unable to
speak)'. - HUMAN PROPENSITY—Some words in this category are adjectives, such as mai-
mai shy, ashamed', dalo 'stupid', and lenga 'crazy, naughty, silly'. Others are verbs,
such as me.ro 'be angry', hagavi 'feel sorry (for)', havusi 'make happy', and gari
'show off'. Those words which are verbs differ from the adjectives in that they
cannot modify a noun and they are A-type transitive and intransitive verbs. - SPEED—There are three words belonging to this category, all adverbs: rorongo
'slowly', ribi 'slowly, for a long time', and siseri 'quickly'. - DIFFICULTY—There are three forms of this type, all of which are adjectives, siaga
'difficult', the compound mata mwasara easy, clear', and the borrowing isi 'easy'. - SIMILARITY—Dolue 'different' and tatarese 'same' are both adjectives. Tuegi 'other'
is a quantifier and can form the head of an NP or be a nominal modifier. Mwere
'like' can be a transitive verb and an intensifier, modifying the head of a VP. - QUALIFICATION—hogo 'true' can be an adjective, as the head of a VP or modi-
fying a noun. However it can also be an adverb, modifying a verb. Otherwise,
words belonging to this semantic category, used to qualify statements, are veri-
ficationals, which occur as clausal adjuncts, such as bataha 'probably'. - QUANTIFICATION—most members of this semantic type belong to the class of
'quantifiers', which are like adjectives in that they can modify a noun, but they
can also stand as the head of an NP. Generally they cannot function as a predi-
cate, apart from sao 'many', which can be the head of an NP or VP and modify a
noun. - POSITION—words of this type are all members of the sub-class of locational
nouns. Some are absolute (free) nouns, such as aulu 'high, up there' and vine 'low,
down there', while others are relational (bound) nouns, such as mawiri- 'left (of)'
and matue- 'right (of). - CARDINAL NUMBERS—all numbers belong to a separate word class, 'numerals'.
Like adjectives, they can modify a noun or form the head of a VP, but they are
classified as a separate word class rather than as another sub-class of verbs on
the basis that they also share properties with nouns, being able to function as the