146 Nora C. England
In addition to these characteristics that clearly distinguish adjectives from other
classes of words, it should be noted in conclusion that while there are a fairly small
number of adjective roots in Mam, there are a very large number of derived adjec-
tives. Positionals, in particular, but also nouns and verbs and even adjectives, serve
as the sources for adjective derivation. The adjective roots are represented fair-
ly well among terms for DIMENSION, COLOUR, and PHYSICAL PROPERTY, less well
among QUANTIFIERS, POSITION, AGE, VALUE, or HUMAN PROPENSITY, and not at
all among terms for SPEED, DIFFICULTY, SIMILARITY, or QUALIFICATION. NUMBERS
are a separate class, and QUANTIFIERS should probably be grouped with NUMBERS
rather than adjectives. All semantic classes of adjectives are augmented through
derivation.
References
ENGLAND, N. C. 1983. 'Ergativity in Mamean (Mayan) languages', International Journal of
American Linguistics 49.1-19.
KAUFMAN, T. 1974. Idiomas de Mesoamerica. (Seminario de Integration Social, 33). Guate-
mala: Editorial Jose de Pineda Ibarra.
- 'Algunos rasgos estrucurales de los idiomas Mayances con referenda especial al
K'ichee", pp. 59-114 ofLecturas sobre la lingiiistica Maya, edited by N. C. England and
S. R. Elliott. Guatemala: Centre de Investigaciones Regionales de Mesoamerica.
and NORMAN, W. M. 1984. 'An outline of Proto-Cholan phonology, morphology, and
vocabulary', pp. 77-166 of Phoneticism in Mayan Hieroglyphic Writing, edited by J. S.
Justeson and L. Campbell. Albany: Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, State Univer-
sity of New York-Albany.