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AdvN

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AdvN compounds are less frequent than VN, AN and NN compounds. There are only endocentric AdvN compounds, and stress is on the first constituent (however with one striking exception). An example is bûtendoarlampe outside lamp, from the adverb bûtendoar outside and the noun lampe lamp. The adverb denotes a location in this example, but there are also cases with time adverbials.

Nominal compounds with an adverb as first member do exist, although they do not form a productive category. They are all endocentric. Basically, only local and time adverbials are involved in this pattern. Some examples with adverbs denoting a place are listed below:

Table 1

First constituent (Adv)	Second constituent (N)	Compound (AdvN)
del down	goate gutter	delgoate wastepipe
efterôf at the back	doarp village	efterôfdoarp out-of-the-way-village
achterom round the back	paad path	achterompaad path around the back
foaroan in front	man man	foaroanman leader
foarop in front	wurd word	foaropwurd preface
bûtendoar outdoors	lampe lamp	bûtendoarlampe outside lamp
ôf down	dak roof	ôfdak lean-to
mids in the middle	ieuwen ages	midsieuwen Middle Ages

In older Frisian there were compounds with the nouns moarn morning, middei afternoon and jûn evening as their first constituent. These compounds now have an adverb as their first constituent: moarns in the morning, middeis in the afternoon and jûns in the evening; these adverbs as such have been derived from a noun with the help of the adverbial suffix -s. While the Frisian Dictionary of Dijkstra (1900-1911) includes forms like moarndamp morning mist, middeisliepke afternoon nap and jûnmiel dinner, without final -s, recent dictionaries give moarnsdamp, middeissliepke and jûnsmiel. This is in contrast with Dutch, where the cognate compounds have a noun as first member. Compare Dutch ochtendwandeling morning walk (ochtend morning + wandeling walk) with Frisian moarnskuier and Dutch avondblad evening paper (avond evening + blad paper) with Frisian jûnskrante. The noun is only replaced by an adverb if the adverbial interpretation stands to reason. If not, the first constituent remains a noun, for example in moarntiid morning and jûntiid evening. It seems more plausible to analyse those compounds that have /s/ as representing the pattern AdvN rather than the alternative option that they are NN compounds consisting of two nouns with a linking element -s.

Finally, Frisian has some combinations of head nouns with time-indications as their first constituent. Examples are listed below:

Table 2

First constituent (time indication)	Second constituent (N)	Compound
healwei tolven half past eleven	trein train	healwei-tolventrein the half-past eleven train
kertier oer fjouweren a quarter past four	bus bus	kertier-oer-fjouwerenbus the quarter past-four bus
seis oere six o'clock	boat boat	seis-oereboat the six o'clock boat

It is difficult to say what the exact status of these combinations is. It may be best to analyze them as compounds, although the left-hand member can be relatively complex. Moreover, in contrast to the AdvN compounds dealt with above, the stress is on the right, which might point at a phrasal status. In that case, the most reasonable analysis would be that the time indication is a (converted?) adjective. There are reasons to question such a standpoint, though, since there is no trace of adjectival inflection here. Moreover, the putative adjective can not be followed by another adjective: *de healwei tolven, reade trein the half-way twelve, red train the red train departing at half past eleven.

extra

Literature

This topic is mainly based on Hoekstra (1998:47-48).

References

Dijkstra, Waling1900-1911Friesch Woordenboek (Lexicon Frisicum)Meijer & Schaafsma
Hoekstra, Jarich1998Fryske wurdfoarmingLjouwertFryske Akademy

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About this article

Author(s): Siebren Dyk, Gerbrich de Jong

Category: Frisian Morphology

Keywords: compoundadverbendocentric

Version: 1.0, December 2023

Version history:

version	editor(s)	date	remarks
1.0	Siebren Dyk	December 2023

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