Adjective Classes - A Cross-Linguistic Typology

1 Adjective Classes in Typological Perspective 37

However, there are a number of small semantic fields for which Dyirbal has

adjectives while English has verbs. Some of these are exemplified in (34).

Adjective

in Dyirbal

balmbu gathered

together'

gurruny 'heaped up'

guwurr 'mustered'

yulgarm 'leaning'

julbun 'married'

(34) Verb in Adjective Verb in
English in Dyirbal English
(a) divide nyarri 'divided (b) gather
U.P><
split yagi 'split' heap
crack gajala 'cracked' muster
smash munyi smashed up' (c) lean
tear gini 'torn' (d) marry
fold wujun 'folded'
It will be seen that the terms in (a) deal with related concepts, to do with changing
the form of an object; those in (b) have to do with getting together several things.
Note that, just as adjectives can be derived from verbs in English (cracked, torn,
leaning, etc.), so can verbs be derived from adjectives in Dyirbal—adding -bi-l to
form an intransitive and -ma-l to form a transitive stem (for example, yagi-bi-l 'be
split', balmbu-ma-l gather together').
There are thus some differences in the ways in which languages divide up
semantic space into word classes. Corresponding to adjectives happy, clever, and
jealous in English, Fijian has verbs maarau(-ta'ina) 'be happy (about)', vu'u(-ta'ina)
'be clever (at)', and vuuvuu(-ta'ina) 'be jealous (of)'. Corresponding to verbs divide
and marry in English, Dyirbal has adjectives nyarri 'divided up' and julbun 'mar-
ried'.
It is now relevant to ask whether there is any semantic overlap between word
classes in individual languages, and—if so—whether different languages show
similar or different overlaps. That is, we can enquire whether a given concept may
be coded (i) by both verb and noun; (2) by both adjective and noun; and (3) by
both verb and adjective.
Looking at English, there are many instances of (i) and (2), but few of (3). Some
examples of verb/noun and of adjective/noun overlap are given in (35).

(35) Verb

hit

g°

happen

arrive

think

announce

Noun

blow

journey

event

arrival

thought

announcement

Adjective

big, small

new, young, old

fast, slow

long, short

accurate

happy

Noun

size

age

speed

length

accuracy

happiness

(a)

(b)

The pairs in (a) are non-cognate between word classes. Those in (b) are some of the

many examples of nouns derived from verbs and from adjectives (a different form

of derivation appears in each example).