Adjective Classes - A Cross-Linguistic Typology

190 R. M. W. Dixon

Table 5 surveys for Jarawara the semantic types typically associated with an
adjective class. Note that no lexemes are attested for 'difficult', 'easy', 'probable', or
'possible'. There is a peripheral clause type which carries the meaning 'be similar to,
be the same as'. For some concepts, periphrastic means are employed. For example,

TABLE 5. Coding of adjectival' concepts

Adjectives Verbs Possessed nouns

DIMENSION

AGE

VALUE

PHYSICAL
PROPERTY

HUMAN
PROPENSITY

SIMILARITY one/owa
'another'

QUANTIFICATION 2

-neme- 'be tall, high',

-jabo- 'be long, far',

-kowi- 'be deep',

etc.

-amosa- 'be good',

-hija-ra- 'be bad, broken',

siba -ra- 'be acceptable'.

all are verbs, including:

-soki- 'be black, dark',

tefo -na- 'be blue/green'.

-siri- 'be cold',

-hoko- 'be dry',

-kanaha- 'be heavy',

tafo (to-)ha- 'be soft',

-kita' 'be strong',

and many more.

-jaha- 'be kind, generous',

-jawa- 'be angry, jealous',

ja.jai -na- 'be happy', etc.

only verbs, including:

kerewe-ra- 'be fast'.

-jabo- 'be far, long'

all are verbs, including:

-fama- 'be two, be a pair',

-ohari- 'be one, be alone',

-tama- 'be many';

and loans such as:

terei-na- 'be three'.

boteri/boteri 'oldness'

sokirine/sokirine 'blackness'

siririne/siririne 'coldness',

kanahari/kanahari 'heavi-

ness',

kori/korone 'nakedness',

and a few more.

habi/habo courage',

kamoniri/kamoniri 'lone-

liness',

jawari/jawari 'being angry'.

nan/nan 'all',

boni/bono 'whole thing'.

many dealing with orienta-

tion; see §3.2

4

2

3

2

POSITION

NUMBERS

colour

speed