Adverbs in Basque: are they just one word-class or many?

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to offer critical insight into the grammatical category or word-class that is traditionally known as adverb. Common-use grammars of Basque have not been succesful in determining which words belong into this set and what the characteristics of adverbs are. In an attempt to offer some light on this, I have grouped Basque words that are traditionally identified as adverbs in different subsets according to their morphological shape, and I have tried to describe their behaviour, emphasizing the differences and similarities between each subset. To do so, after an introduction of the topic at hand, I review the way grammars of Basque and other languages have dealt with these issues. Next, I try to characterize each of the morphologically different subsets. Finally, the reader is presented with some conclusions this analysis has brought forward about the legitimacy of such a category.