208 Chapter 7 Nominals and noun phrases
(123) Ina melle bengko se anyar.
Ina AV.buy house REL new
‘Ina bought a new house.’
There is a preference for the relative clause construction for adjectival modifica-
tion, though both methods are fully acceptable.
When more than one adjective modifies the same noun, the preferred
structure is for the adjectives to be coordinately conjoined using ban, as in (124)
and (125).
(124) Bengko mera ban raja rowa ancor.
house red and big that collapse
‘That big and red house collapsed.’
(125) Embi' koros ban lapar rowa ngekke' Ale'.
goat thin and hungry that AV.bite yngr.sibling
‘That skinny hungry goat bit Little Brother.’
Multiple adjectival modifiers can also occur as coordinately conjoined predi-
cates in relative clauses, as in (126) and (127).
(126) Ika ban Adi maca buku se tebbel ban mera.
Ika and Adi AV.read book REL thick and red
‘Ika and Adi read the book that is thick and red.’
(127) Siti a-caca bi' mored se penter ban gantheng.
Siti AV-talk with student REL smart and handsome
‘Siti talked to the student who is smart and handsome.’
Additionally, some speakers allow the adjectives to be stacked, one right after
the other, immediately following the noun, although it is rare and not a pre-
ferred structure.
(128) Ika ban Adi maca buku tebbel mera rowa.
Ika and Adi AV.read book thick red that
‘Ika and Adi read that thick red book.’
(129) Koceng celleng koros juwa lo' tedhung.
cat black thin that not sleep
‘The skinny black cat is not asleep.’
For the most part, modified adjectives are used predicatively rather than