10 R. M. W. Dixon
languages have an open class of adjectives (although this is always considerably
smaller than the noun class, and generally also much smaller than the verb class),
but others have a small, closed class. The smallest classes may have just three or
four members. Typically, there may be 10-20 monomorphemic adjectives. Other
languages have larger classes—with several score or even several hundred mem-
bers—but they are closed; that is, no new lexemes, in the form of loans, may be
added to them.
Whatever the size of an adjective class (in terms of its monomorphemic mem-
bers), there are generally derivational processes which form adjective stems from
nouns and/or from verbs. Typically, a higher proportion of adjectives than of
nouns and verbs will be derived forms (see Givon 1970: 816).
The second difference relates to functional possibilities. Whereas a noun class
will always relate to the predicate argument slots in clause structure, and a verb
class to the predicate slot, the functional expectations for an adjective class are
both more complex and more varied.
Adjectives typically fill two roles in the grammar of a language:
(a) In a statement that something has a certain property. There are two syntactic
techniques for coding this: (a-i), the adjective functions as intransitive predicate,
as in (4); or (a-ii), the adjective functions as copula complement, as in (3).
(b) As a specification that helps focus on the referent of the head noun in an NP
that relates to a predicate argument. This is shown by the adjective functioning as a
modifier within an NP, as in (7) from English and (8) from Fijian. In each example,
the modifying adjective is underlined.
(7) [the tall man]s [laughed]INTRANSITIVE.PREDICATE
(8) [e aa dredre]INTRANSITIVE.pREDicATE [« tagane balavu]s
3sgS PAST laugh ARTICLE man tall
'the tall man laughed'
However, the ways in which an adjective may be used to modify a noun vary; they
are outlined in §§6.1-2 below.^2
In most languages all adjectives have functions (a) and (b). In some, just a few
adjectives maybe confined to one of these functions. (For examples and discus-
sion of adjectives in English which can occur only as modifier or only as copula
(^2) In some languages a noun may be modified by more than one adjective. There is generally a pre-
ferred order in which the semantic types will occur. In English, where adjectives precede the noun,
the unmarked order is VALUE, DIMENSION, PHYSICAL PROPERTY, SPEED, HUMAN PROPENSITY, AGE,
COLOUR (Dixon 1982: 24-5). In languages where adjectives follow the noun, the ordering is roughly
the reverse of this. That is, a term referring to COLOUR, a fairly fixed property, tends to occur nearest
to the head noun and one referring to VALUE, which is a subjective judgement, tends to appear fur-
thest out. A full cross-linguistic study of adjective ordering lies outside the scope of the present chap-
ter. (There is discussion of adjective order for Qiang in Chapter 13.)