10 Is there an Adjective Class in Wolof? 255(60) Dafa daw japp ko door ko ba mu daanu
3Sg:s v:run v:catch 3Sg:o v:hit 3Sg:o until 3Sg:s v:fall
'He/she; ran and caught him/her;; and hit him/her;; until he/she;; fell'
(61) Dafa-yseqat di waccu rek
3s:iMP v:cough IMP v:vomit just
'He/she is just coughing and vomiting'
When an adjective is used in conjunction with a non-adjectival verb in a relative
construction, the adjective occurs closest to the noun being modified, as in (62).
Moreover, adjectives and non-adjectival verbs cannot co-occur in the same defin-
ite relative clause, but must belong to sequential clauses:
(62) (a) xaji bu huul bi{ lekk yappi{ bii{
dog REL ADj:black REL:DEF v:eat meat DBF
'the black dog that ate the meat'
(b) xaj bu huul te lekk yapp hi
(c) xaj hi huul te lekk yapp
Clearly, the relationship between a noun and an adjective that modifies the noun in
a relative clause is somewhat different from the relationship between a noun and a
non-adjectival verb in a relative construction. The adjective is more closely associ-
ated with the noun since they occur adjacent to one another. Similarly, the position
of the definite article in a relative clause delineates the noun and relativized adjec-
tive as a constituent NP within a larger clause structure so that in (62) the defin-
ite article-cum-relativizer, hi, delineates the NP xaj bu nuul hi 'the black dog' as the
subject of the relative clause. Taken together, these facts about the behaviour of ad-
jectival verbs serve to support the reality of an adjective class in Wolof.
4 Adjectival verbs
Based uniquely on the relative clause test, it is possible to posit a class of adjectives
in Wolof that turns out to be a relatively large one, consisting of several score of
underived members and at least that many derived ones. It is also an open class,
evidenced by the frequency with which French loans from several word classes
are incorporated into the class of adjectives. The class as a whole conforms by and
large to the semantic typology of adjectives laid out by Dixon in Chapter i. This
section will take a closer look at the class of adjectives and discuss their semantics,
the verb-like way in which they behave in comparative constructions, adverbs, or
adverbial phrases with which they can occur, compounding, and finally loanword
behaviour. Adjectives are much more likely than other verbs to take coverbal ideo-
phones which are mentioned throughout this section, so the preliminary discus-
sion in §4.1 provides a very brief introduction to Wolof ideophones.