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    Modification of AP
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    When an adjectival adverb modifies another adjective, the adjectival adverb is almost always used as an evaluative adjective.

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    When an adjectival adverb modifies another adjective, the adjectival adverb is almost always used as an evaluative adjective. Consider the following contrast:

    1
    a. Pabe is swier
    Pabe is heavy
    Pabe is a heavy person
    b. Pabe is swier siik
    Pabe is heavily ill
    Pabe is seriously ill

    Apparently, the adjective's meaning consists of two parts, [HIGH DEGREE] and [WEIGHT]. In its adverbial function, the adjective has lost its literal meaning involving [WEIGHT], but it has retained its high degree meaning. As an adjective, swier heavy would be non-subjective, but in its adverbial use it became into an evaluative adjective, belonging to the same class as ferdomd damned and tige very. These all involve a high degree reading. Hence, if the idiomatic restrictions on the collocation allow it, evaluative adverbs can regularly replace one another without significant change of meaning. So, alongside swier siik seriously ill, we may also have the following:

    2
    a. Pabe is tige siik
    Pabe is very ill
    Pabe is very ill
    b. Pabe is ferdomd siik
    Pabe is damned ill
    Pabe is damned ill

    The evaluative adverb often forms an idiomatic collocation with the adjective which it modifies. For example, the evaluative adverb glûpende sneakingly is mainly used in combination with the adjective kâld cold. Some more idiomatic combinations are given in the table below, where the adverbs have lost their literal meaning, merely causing a high degree reading on the adjective which they modify:

    Table 1
    stjerrende wier dyingly true absolutely true
    stomme graach stupidly eager very eagerly, very much
    rare smoarch weirdly dirty very dirty
    glêd ferkeard slipperly wrong very wrong
    From the list above it can be inferred that high degree adverbs end in schwa. In fact, some evaluative adjectives not ending in schwa may be marked with a schwa in case they are used as adverbs:

    3
    a. Dat is ôfgryslik
    that is terrible
    That is terrible
    b. Dat is ôfgryslik-e stom
    that is terrible.EMPH stupid
    That is terribly stupid

    Most evaluative adverbs mark a high degree, but they can also mark a low degree. Consider the minimal pair below:

    4
    a. Swier handikapt
    Seriously handicapped
    b. Licht handikapt
    Lightly handicapped

    In the examples above, the adverbs have lost their literal meaning. An adjective or adverb causing a high degree reading is also referred to as an amplifier, and one causing a low degree reading is also referred to as a downtoner or a downtoning intensifier. However, loss of literal meaning is not due to the conversion to adverb in these cases, since they can also be used as high degree adjectives without being adverbial:

    5
    In lichte / swiere handikap
    a light / heavy handicap
    A light / serious handicap

    Anyway, there are also cases where the adverb marks a high degree while retaining its literal meaning. Consider the following examples:

    6
    a. It sop is lekker sâlt
    the soup is tasty salt
    The soup is nicely salty
    b. De blom is moai giel
    the flower is nice yellow
    The flower has a nice yellow color
    References
      About this article
      Author(s): Eric Hoekstra
      Category: Frisian Syntax
      Keywords: adjectival adverbevaluative adjective
      Version: 1.0, December 2015
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Eric Hoekstra December 2015
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