Adjective Classes - A Cross-Linguistic Typology

5 Adjectives in Mam 129

all adjectives. Finally, there are several examples of the double application of the
abstract noun suffix, realized as -liil or -laal. Examples:

(8) nim 'many' (a) nimaal great, important'

bee 'road' (n) tb'eeyal guide, line, part in hair, road to a specific

point'

jb'aal 'rain' (n) jb'aalil 'rainy season

q'iij 'sun' (n) q'ijliil 'dog days (dry spell in the rainy season)'

-iib' 'reflexive' tib'laal 'form, appearance'

Nouns have no characteristic derivations that apply to the whole class. While they
share the abstract noun derivation that adjectives take, it is quite restricted in ap-
plication to noun roots or stems. Verbs take a great many derivations, including
participials (both transitive and intransitive), an instrumental (for all verbs), and
for transitive verbs only, a syntactic passive and the antipassive. These derivations
apply to verbs only. Positionals are a bound root class that is defined by its most
characteristic derivational morphology. From these roots a positional adjective, an
intransitive verb, and a transitive verb are derived through morphemes that are re-
stricted to the positional root class.
Other derivations that adjectives take include:
-saa: causative. Derives transitive verbs from a few adjectives or intransitive roots.
Examples:

(9) nim 'a lot' -nimsaa 'make big'

tx'e'l 'toasted' -tx'elsa 'toast'

-ab'iil:^3 abstract noun. This is similar to the -al suffix, and productive. Some adjec-
tives take both; some take only one. Examples:

(10) la'j 'lying' tlajab'iil 'lies, falsehoods'
look 'crazy' tlokab'iil craziness'

-/en:^4 abstract noun. This suffix derives nouns from a variety of other roots and
stems to indicate a state specified by the root or stem. Example:

(11) tiij 'big, old' tijle'n 'old age'
sik 'tired' sikle'n 'tiredness'

• b'ji'b'il:^5 nominalizer. This is a fused form of the adjective derivational suffix - b'aajal
  and something else (perhaps -i'b'il or -i'b', but neither is convincingly a single mor-
  pheme). Examples:

(12) kib'b'aajal 'visible' kib'ji'b'il 'ease of seeing'
b'eeyb'il 'poor' b'eyb'ji'b'il 'poverty'

This suffix shortens preceding long vowels.receding long vowels are shortened.

Preceding long vowels are shortened.