Adjective Classes - A Cross-Linguistic Typology

186 R. M. W. Dixon

TABLE 4. Gender on PNs in an NP with two or more PNs

Gender of Gender of

NP head

m free noun

f free noun

isgo-

2Sgti-

insg.inc ee

insg.exc otaa

2nsg tee

3nsg mee

first PN

m

f

m

m

f

later PNs

m

f

f

m

f

Example

Okomobi mano bako

Jane mani baki

o-mano baki

ti-mano baki

ee mano bako

otaa mano bako

tee mano bako

mee mani baki

Gloss

Okomobi's inside arm

Janes inside arm

my inside arm

your (sg) inside arm

our (inc) inside arms

our (exc) inside arms

your (nsg) inside arms

their inside arms

'people'. If the free noun had had f gender, this could explain why today the 3nsg

pronoun mee requires f agreement on following PNs. The reasons for the gender of

PNs following ist and 2nd person pronouns are not at present understood.

5 The adjective class

Like other Arawa languages and dialects, Jarawara has a small closed class of ad-
jectives. We have identified fourteen members, just two of which have distinct f/m
forms. Adjectives are most similar in their grammatical properties to PNs, but they
can be distinguished from them. §5.1 details the adjectives, §5.2 lists their gram-
matical properties, §5.3 presents criteria for distinguishing adjectives from PNs,
and then §5.4 shows how adjectives differ from the nominalized forms of verbs.

5.1. MEMBERSHIP

Adjectives in Jarawara fall into a number of semantic types:

A. DIMENSION

Ai. ehebotee (or webote) 'big, large' A2. bite/biti Tittle, small'

A3. howe 'large type' A4. biri 'small type'

We find howe and biri used for large/small varieties of some animal or thing. Thus,

a picture of elephants drew the response bani howe 'a large type of animal'. Batter-

ies (called bija, from Portuguese pilha) are especially important in a village with no

electricity, and they come in various sizes. D-cells are called bija howe 'large type of

battery' and AA-cells are bija biri 'small type of battery'.

In one text the narrator saw some large specimens of pirarucu (which is the

largest freshwater fish in the world) and said: