144 Nora C. England
for other derived adjectives (about forty and twenty, respectively, plus other pos-
sibilities from unknown sources).
The positionals provide a great many adjectives in the DIMENSION or PHYSICAL
PROPERTY classes. The specificity and variety of the meanings is a source of con-
siderable lexical richness. Some examples are:
(77) DIMENSION:
Adjective: Positional:
(xh)liix 'thin' lixl 'standing, thin person'
po'x 'big rear' poxl 'position of rear upwards'
(x)tz'uub' 'reduced, opening' tz'ub'l 'be placed, with narrow opening'
(78) PHYSICAL PROPERTY:
Adjective: Positional:
(ch)jeetz' 'lame' jetz'l 'be lame'
(x)ka'ch 'popped: popcorn, grains' kachl 'placed on four feet'
mooj 'double, thread' mojl 'be together; married'
The positional adjectives are semantically different from other adjectives derived
from positionals, in that they retain the idea of being in a position, as well as the
ideas of DIMENSION or PHYSICAL PROPERTY, while the adjectives only retain the
DIMENSION or PHYSICAL PROPERTY characteristics.
The majority of the adjectives derived from verbs, in addition to the participles,
are those that indicate that something is doable, or easily doable. These adjectives
are quite similar in meaning to English adjectives in -able. Examples:
(79) Adjective: Verb:
ch'ololoon 'easy to peel' -ch'ool 'peel; undress'
luukan 'easy to dig' -luk 'dig'
Adjectives derived from other adjectives and nouns express some shift in mean-
ing, or application of the meaning more specifically or analogously. There are also a
number of adjectives that indicate that something is made of the noun from which
the adjective is derived. Examples:
(80) Adjective: Source adjective or noun:
k'akj 'bitter, burnt food' k'aa 'bitter' (a)
chi'aan 'tasteless' chi' 'sweet' (a)
b'eechaj 'budded' b'ech 'flower' (n)
ch'iman straw roof ch'im 'straw' (n)
tx'otx'an 'wattle and daub house' tx'otx' 'earth' (n)
Finally, there are also a number of compound adjectives. Besides a miscellanea of
unrelated and unpredictable compounds, several of them are formed from a col-
our and some other root of unknown source: