Editing Converb (section)

==Khalkha Mongolian==
{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|хүн инээж эхэлмэгц зүрх анхандаа хүчтэй цохилж аажмаар цохилтын хэм нэг хэвэнд ордог байна.
|hün '''inee-ž''' '''ehel-megc''' zürh anh-and-aa hüčtej '''cohil-ž''' aažmaar cohilt-yn hem neg hev-end or-dog baj-na.
|human laugh-''ž'' begin-''megc'' heart first-DAT-REFL.POSS strong beat-''ž'' slowly beat-GEN rhythm one form-DAT enter-{{gcl|HAB.PTCP|participle of habit}} be-NPAST
|"As soon as a human begins to laugh, at first his heart beats strong, and slowly the rhythm of the beat assumes one (continuous) form."}}

The converb ''-megc'' denotes that as soon as the first action has been begun/completed, the second action begins. Thus, the subordinate sentence can be understood as a temporal adverbial. There is no context in which the argument structure of another verb or construction would require ''-megc'' to appear, and there is no way (possibly except for afterthought) in which a ''-megc''-clause could come sentence-final. Thus, ''-megc'' qualifies as a converb in the general linguistic sense.

However, from the viewpoint of Mongolian philology (and quite in agreement with Nedjalkov 1995 and Johanson 1995), there is a second converb in this sentence: ''-ž''. At its first occurrence, it is modified by the [[coverb]] ''ehel-'' ‘to begin’ and this coverb determines that the modified verb has to take the suffix. Yet, the same verbal suffix is used after the verb ‘to beat’ which ends an independent non-finite clause that temporally precedes the following clause but without modifying it in any way that would be fit for an adverbial. It would be possible for ''-ž'' to mark an adverbial:

{{fs interlinear|indent=3|
|Би … хүмүүсийн татгалзахыг тэвчиж чадахгүй гэж '''айж''' зарж эхэлсэн.
|Bi … hümüüs-ijn tatgalza-h-yg tevči-ž čada-h-güj gež '''aj-ž''' zar-ž ehel-sen.
|I {} people-GEN hesitate-FUT.PTCP-ACC bear-''ž'' can-FUT.PTCP-NEG that fear-''ž'' sell-''ž'' begin-PAST
|"I started my business, at the very beginning fearing that... I wouldn’t be able to bear the hesitating of the people."}}

Such "polyfunctionality" is common. Japanese and Korean could provide similar examples, and the definition of subordination poses further problems. There are linguists who suggest that a reduction of the domain of the term converb to adverbials does not fit language reality (e.g. Slater 2003: 229).