140 Nora C. England
At least one adverb, ojtxa 'a long time ago', can function like an attributive adjective
(it lacks any of the characteristic derivations of adjectives, however):
(74) aa-jun kastiiwa o tz-iky' ky ojtxa xjaal
DEM-one punishment PAST I>3sg-pass A3pl-RN:PATiENT old person
'Several punishments happened to the old people.'
3 Semantics
3.1. ROOTS
Mam has under fifty adjective roots that fall into the following semantic classes:
DIMENSION, COLOUR, PHYSICAL PROPERTY, QUANTIFICATION, POSITION, and VALUE.
The following list gives all of the root adjectives in the sample, and a selection of
other adjectives that are probably not roots, although their sources are not clear:
DIMENSION
Roots Non-roots
matiij/ma'/tiij 'big' chlaak' 'thin'
nee' 'small' xhk'a'l 'thin'
nii 'small'
nuch/nuxh 'small'
tal 'small'
(ch)mitz' 'small'
kok' 'small, short (distance)'
piim 'thick'
COLOUR
Roots Non-roots
cha'x 'blue' xhk'a'l 'thin
kyaq 'red' (xh)nu'l 'very white'
q'aq 'black' sq'oo'n 'very white'
saq 'white' sk'o'j grey'
yooxh 'red' swi'ky grey'
xko'j 'brown
PHYSICAL PROPERTY
Roots Non-roots
aal 'heavy' ak'naj 'wet'
che'w 'cold'
chi' 'sweet'
chiixh 'dirty'
ch'ul 'watery, juicy'