This presentation will present a formal and functional approach for determining adverbs in Warnman. Present linguistic practice recognizes the functional criteria of modifying the verb, and that the syntactic criteria are language specific. However, the application of a formal and functional approach to determining adverbs in Pama-Nyungan languages does not seem to have been given much focus, resulting in some confusion as to assigning part of speech to some words.

This paper will outline the word classes in Warnman. It will assume the categories of nouns and verbs as given. Attention will focus on the non-noun non-verb word leftovers which include adverbs, adjectives, particles, and interjections. Using Warnman examples, specific attention will be given to using a formal and functional approach to identify adverbs from the other ‘leftovers’.

Finally, this paper will look at some examples from neighboring languages to see if this formal and functional approach has wider application.

Having a formal and functional basis for determining adverbs in Warnman will clear up some inconsistencies in part of speech labeling, and it may have application in resolving inconsistencies between grammars of different languages.