1 Adjective Classes in Typological Perspective 33- H(ead-marking), where the syntactic functions of core constituents are shown
mainly by obligatory pronominal marking in the predicate. - D(ependent-marking), where the syntactic functions of core constituents are
shown mainly by case marking and/or adpositions/particles associated with
core NPs. - Mixed H/D, where there is both pronominal marking within the predicate, and
marking on core NPs. - Neither H nor D; here syntactic function may basically be shown by the order of
phrase constituents within a clause.
The primary types of adjective classes can be repeated from §6:
(I) Adjectives can function as intransitive predicate; these are called 'verb-like'.
(II) Adjectives can function as copula complement; these are called 'non-verb-
like'.
This is a broad, general classification. It was mentioned in §6 that in a small number
of languages adjectives can function both as intransitive predicate and as copula
complement. We also mentioned a correlation (not a coincidence) between being
'non-verb-like' and being 'noun-like' (taking some or all of the grammatical pro-
cesses that may apply to a noun).
Surveying the languages of the world, there is a striking quantitative correla-
tion:^5
(33) Adjective classes of type II (non-verb-like) tend to be found in languages
of type D (dependency-marking at clause level).
Adjective classes of type I (verb-like) tend to be found in languages of type
H (head-marking), and in languages with neither H nor D marking.
Tentative examples of this correlation include:
II and basically D:
- Most of the languages of Europe, north Africa, north and west Asia, and north
India (Indo-European, Basque, Uralic, Turkic, North-east Caucasian, Afroasiatic,
Burushaski). - Most of the languages of Australia.
- Most of the languages of the Philippines.
- Some languages from North America (including Yokuts, Sahaptin, Sierra Miwok,
Tarascan). - Some languages from South America (including Quechua).
(^5) Locker (1951), working in terms of a speculative scheme of historical development, appears to
suggest a correlation which is almost the reverse of that reported here: 'in languages which do not
mark the category of person on verbs, adjectivals form part of the verb class' (quote from Wetzer
1996: 272; and see Wetzer's discussion of Locker's ideas on pp. 63-8,272-3).