Abstract
This study is an investigation of the various ways in which the notion of manner predication can be formally realised across languages; these ways constitute the various options languages may choose in the formal encoding of manner (types). A manner construction can be seen as a second predication ascribing properties to the event of the first predication, often realised as one of the two clauses of a complex sentence. Cross-linguistically, there seem to be three linguistic factors that influence the encoding of manner: 1a. Both clauses of the complex sentence (event predication and manner predication) are coordinate (balanced) clauses, or 1b. one of the two clauses of the complex sentence is a subordinate (deranked) clause. 2a. The manner item is encoded either by an adjective/noun, or 2b. by a stative verb. 3a. The second predication ascribes properties to the event of the first predication, or 3b. to the subject of the first predication. The combination of these six possibilities results in eight construction types that are used to express manner in the 160 languages of the sample under study. Two more types have been found, which are not directly driven by the three parameters: the construction with an adverbial affix and the construction in which the event verb has been nominalised and the second predication has become the main predication. Conclusions: 1. From an universal point of view, the encoding of manner expressions must be seen as a special case of the encoding of temporal sequences. 2. From a formal point of view, the manner encoding(s) of a language can generally predicted from the settings on the three parameters. 3. From a semantic point of view, manner encoding must be seen as one of the regions in the conceptual space of secondary property predication.
