168 Paulette Levy
(b) De verbal
cha'la:-wa greasy' cha'la Vintr 'it secretes grease'
chi't-wa 'damp' chi'ta Vtr 's/he squeezes it'
chu'ntaj-wa 'that can be bent' chu'nta Vtr 's/he bends it'
pa'qlh-wa 'breakable, fragile' pa'qlha Vtr 's/he breaks it'
(c) Deadverbial
lu:t-wa 'viscous' lu:t ADV 'hanging'
Ihpipaq-wa 'nervous' Ihpipaq ADV 'nervously'
(d) Deadjectival
smukukuj-wa 'yellowish' smukuku ADJ 'yellow'
palha':-wa 'hardish' palha' ADJ 'hard'
Ihkakaj-wa 'spicyish' Ihkaka ADJ 'spicy'
akchi:naj-wa 'with wavy hair' (Sp. chino 'curly', aq- 'head')3.8. SIZE OF THE CLASS
I have identified only about thirteen monomorphemic adjectives. However, count-
ing the items that have 'adjectival shape' would raise the number to about fifty. But
since DIMENSION adjectives are quite productively composed, since many adjectives
of other semantic types enter in composition with body parts to yield more specif-
ic meanings, since there is a productive '-ish' derivation and, moreover, the class ac-
cepts loans from Spanish, one should consider the class an open class, in principle.
However, a sense in which PT can be considered an 'adjective poor' language is
in the absolute poverty of the Adjectival Phrase. It can consist of only one adjec-
tive at a time plus an intensifies There is no stacking of adjectives and no adjectives
take complements. Moreover, stylistically, whenever something can be expressed
with a verb it is preferred over either a nominal or adjectival CC.
4 Deadjectival derivations
4.1. VERB FORMATION: INCHOATIVE INTRANSITIVES
AND CAUSATIVE TRANSITIVES
4.1.1. Inchoative intransitive verbs
The semantics of PT also gives evidence for the category 'adjective'. This is seen in
the processes for forming inchoative intransitive verbs. In PT there are no labile
verbs, so any changes in valency have to be formally marked. While the prefix fa-
is used both to form active intransitive verbs from stative verbs, as in (42), and in-
transitives from transitives in the anticausative derivation, as in (43), a different
morpheme, the suffix -«, is used to form intransitives from forms that we are call-
ing adjectives, as in (44).
(42) wi: sit, exist, Vst' ta-wila 's/he sits'
ma: 'lie, Vst' 'ta-ma: 's/he lies down
-nu: 'inside, horizontal, Vst' ta-mi: 's/he enters'
-xtu 'outside, horizontal, Vst' ta-xtii 's/he exits'