15 What can we conclude? 349noun and verb classes is not in doubt in any of the thirteen languages described in
this volume. However, a number of authors choose not to recognize the existence of
an independent adjective class in their language. As we shall see, in each such case,
adjectives are assigned to the verb class, as a result of shared verb-like predicative
behaviour (with associated TAM marking). It remains true, nevertheless, that in
all cases authors are able to identify criteria, sometimes very subtle, that allow for
adjectives and verbs (and nouns) to be distinguished, as Dixon predicts. The same
authors do not always, however, feel that such differences have sufficient weight to
establish independent status for adjectives, or even sub-class status specifically as
adjectives within a larger class. The reasons for this will be addressed below.
In the sections that follow I consider the cross-linguistic patterning of a number
of different grammatical criteria with respect to the behaviour of potential adjec-
tives, and assess how useful each is in allowing us to distinguish adjectives from both
nouns and verbs. I also make a number of typological observations about the sys-
tems described, and discuss other issues such as the weight of descriptive traditions,
and the possible relationship between head- vs. dependent-marking and the behav-
iour of adjectives. The chapter ends with a discussion of adjective-like elements
which are restricted to attributive function only, and which may plausibly form an
independent adjective class in some of the languages described in this volume.
- Eurocentrism, and descriptive tradition
in the Asia-Pacific region
The frequent hesitation amongst linguists in recognizing the existence of a sep-
arate adjective class in languages they are describing appears to be strongly reflec-
tive both of the specific descriptive traditions of different language areas, and of
a wider, long-standing tendency to deny independent status to adjectives across
languages. Within the European grammatical tradition, adjectives were subsumed
for centuries within the category of noun, given the frequently shared features
of number, gender, and case marking. Recognition of a separate adjective class
is a relatively recent phenomenon that has taken centuries to develop in Europe,
and often in the face of considerable resistance. Whilst the first (partial) separa-
tion of nouns and adjectives only occurred in the fourteenth century when Tho-
mas of Erfurt established a separate nominal sub-class of adjectives (nominem
adiectivum) alongside normal nouns (nominem substantivum), the first reference
to adjective as an independent class in European languages is relatively recent. It
occurred only in the eighteenth century for French (Girard 1747), and almost a
century later (Vanzon 1834) for Italian, with full acceptance only achieved in the
twentieth century in each case (Scarano 1999).
Where adjectives in a language are not noun-like, as they usually are in Euro-
pean languages, Dixon notes in Chapter i that they tend to be assigned to the verb
class, especially when they show any kind of verb-like behaviour. This observation
finds support in the geolinguistic distribution of adjective systems described in