Adjective Classes - A Cross-Linguistic Typology

4 The Adjective Class in Tariana m

of astative verb 'be straight', mayakani-kema (be.straight-THEM:CL.siDE) 'right', lit.
'straight side' (this is a caique of Tucano diakthi straight, right').
CARDINAL NUMERALS are a special word class (numerals one to three are
underived, while number 'four' is a deverbal nominalization). There are no ordin-
al numbers. The lexeme 'first' is an active (Sa) verb -ipeya; to be used as a modifier
it has to be relativized (ka-peya (REL-be.first) 'first (one)'). The lexeme 'last' is a

SPEED

DIFFICULTY —

SIMILARITY —

QUALIFICATION —

QUANTIFICA-
TION

POSITION

kenani 'be quick, adept

at something', menani

'be slow', sewi 'be quick

(at moving)'

mahyuna (Santa Rosa

and Periquitos) 'be dif-

ficult', manhina 'be dif-

ficult' (Periquitos),

kanhina 'be easy, be

possible'

hiku 'be/look like, ap-

pear' as a modifier

pawali 'be true, cor-

rect', mayakani 'be right,

straight', pa:me 'be just

right (with respect to

measure), pathida 'be

equal', etc.

yenu 'be high', wyaka 'be

far', etc.

NUMBERS —

OTHER 2

postpositional

phrase with kayu

like'

manner adverbs, e.g.

hapea 'be true', ka:

pu 'be in vain', and

pa:pe 'be probable'

quantifiers are a

closed class: hanu-pe

(big-PL) 'many'; ha-

nipa (big:CL.LARGE.

OPEN.SPACE) 'much;

a lot', mhaida 'lit-

tle, few'

postpositions, e.g.

dalipa 'near', yeda

'downstream', and

serial verb construc-

tions involving mo-

tion verbs (Aikhen-

vald i999c)

special word class