5 Adjectives in Mam 131(20) joch'- 'sitting, idle' jooch' 'lazy'
mok'- 'crouched' mook' curved'
-Cflj: nonproductively derives adjectives from roots of several classes.
(21) lin- (p) 'laid out' linlaj 'laid out'
wak- (p) 'thrown, clod of earth' wakwaj 'clumped up, earth'
meeq' (n) 'temperature' meq'maj 'hot'
poq'(n) 'yellow flower' spoq'paj 'yellowy white'
? chapchaj 'tasteless'
? kankaj 'rare'
Three other derivations modify adjectives by attenuating, emphasizing, or intensi-
fying their meanings:
-ka: attenuates the meanings of adjectives and nouns.
(22) spiiky'an 'clear' spiiky'anka 'somewhat clear'
chib'aj (n) 'meat' noqax chib'ajka 'meat that's so-so'
-may. added to transitive participles to add emphasis.^9 It can only be used with at-
tributive or stative participles, and not with participles in an adverbial function.
(23) tx'ee'man 'cut' tx'ee'manmaj 'cut'
aq'na'n 'worked' aq'na'nmaj 'worked'
-xax: an intensifier that is used with adjectives, adverbs, verbs, and nouns.
(24) naach <ugly' naachxax 'very ugly'
cheeb'a (adv) 'slow' cheeb'axax 'very slow'
aq'naan (v) 'he worked' aq'naanxax 'he worked a lot'
k'um (n) 'squash' k'umxax 'pure squash, really squash, all
squash'
There are a large number of adjectives that are clearly derived because they include
a suffix, but for which no other underived related form now exists. The most com-
mon suffixes that are encountered with these derived adjectives are: -an, -na, -naj,
-C^aj, -CJ, -V^C^V-y^n. All of these have already been discussed except -naj, which
is a nonproductive participle suffix, and -CJ, which is an allomorph of-Qo/.^10 Ex-
amples:
(25) jaapan 'exact'
kuuman 'smooth'
k'amna 'discoloured'
(^9) It has never been entirely clear to me what this sort of emphasis really does. However, speakers
describe the difference in meaning as one of emphasis, and use added loudness on the correspond-
ing word in translation into Spanish.
(^10) It occurs after a long vowel or vowel + glottal stop. Interestingly, none of the adjectives that I
have with this form of the suffix have roots that are attested in other underived forms.