128 Nora C. England
(4) adjective: Q'an-0-taq chulal.
ripe-B3sg-iMP sapodilla
"The sapodilla was ripe.'
(5) verb: Oo-taq 0-b'aj waa'-n.
PAST-PERF I>3Sg-DIR eat-AP
'He/she had eaten.'
Nouns can be inflected for the number/person of a possessor, a characteristic they
do not share with adjectives. Numbers are a sub-class of nouns, on the basis of in-
flectional morphology, because the ordinal numbers are formed from the cardin-
al numbers by adding the third person singular set A possessive prefix, as well as a
suffix that is specific to ordinal numbers:
(6) kab' 'two' t-kaab'-an 'second'
A3Sg-tWO-ORD
oox 'three' t-oox-an 'third'
Verbs are inflected for tense/aspect/mood through a series of proclitics and status
suffixes. The suffixes further distinguish between transitive and intransitive verbs.
None of these inflectional affixes can be used on adjectives, even predicate adjec-
tives. Positionals take no inflection whatever, except when they are the heads of
non-verbal predicates.
There are two derivational affixes that define adjectives as a class. With very few
exceptions, adjectives, whether root or derived, take both of these suffixes. One,
-al ~ -iil, forms an abstract noun (usually possessed) from an adjective, while the
other, -ax ~ -iix, forms an intransitive versive ('becomes the quality indicated by
the adjective') verb.^2 Examples:
(7) adjective: abstract noun: versive:
saq t-saq-al ma 0-saq-ax
'white' 'whiteness' 'it became white'
Assg-white-ABST N ASP I>3sg-white-VERS
xititiin t-xititiinal ma xititiinax
'crumbly' 'crumbliness' 'it became crumbly'
jiiqan tjiqaniil ma jiqaniix
'straight' 'straightness' 'it became straight'
ch'ikych'aj tch'ikych'ajiil ma ch'ikych'ajiix
'rough' 'roughness' 'it became rough'While most abstract nouns are obligatorily possessed, as above, some are not. Fur-
thermore, abstract nouns can be derived from a few nouns as well as from almost
(^2) In both morphemes the allomorph with the short vowel occurs after stressed vowels in the pre-
vious syllable, while the allomorph with the long vowel occurs after un unstressed vowel in the previ-
ous syllable. There are also a few irregular instances of -A.