1 Adjective Classes in Typological Perspective 39(i) The transitive verb nyaju-l refers to the act of cooking; its participle nyajuyu
can describe something being cooked a bit or a lot, not enough or too much.
In contrast, the non-cognate adjective nyamu means 'cooked to perfection,
ready to eat'.
(ii) The transitive verb dadi-l refers to any sort of act of covering; its participle
dadiyu can describe a blanket over just half a sleeping person. In contrast, the
adjective yulguny means 'properly covered, covered all over'.
(iii) The transitive verb gulba-l can refer to any kind of blocking; its participle
gulbayu can be used to describe a temporary obstruction across a path. In
contrast, the non-cognate adjective gumun refers to something permanently
blocked; for example, a road that has been closed off for good, or a road that
simply stops at a certain place, never having been constructed any further.
(iv) The transitive verb wanda-l is used to describe hanging something up; the
participle wandayu can be used of a basket or bucket which has been hung
from a hook. The adjective burrgaligan refers to something hanging down; for
example, long hair on a person or bark hanging off a tree (it can also be used
to describe something that has been hung up).
(v) The intransitive verb bayganda-y is used to describe feeling sick or ill (or just
weary); the participle baygandayu refers to someone who is under the weath-
er at present, but it expected to get better. In contrast, the adjective wulmba re-
fers to some one who is truly sick and is expected to die. (Death is believed to
be caused by sorcery, so that using wulmba of a person is saying that a sorcer-
er has done something to them which will result in their death.)
The kind of overlap between these three major word classes in English and in
Dyirbal can be shown diagrammatically (Fig. i).
Type (a) English Type (b) DyirbalIt appears that most of the languages of Europe are basically of type (a), like Eng-
lish. It is interesting to enquire what other languages are of type (b), like Dyirbal.
Data are hard to come by, since very few linguists provide a detailed description
of the semantic characteristics of word classes, let alone investigate the possibility
of semantic overlap between classes. There are just a few hints available. For Zuni
(isolate, spoken in New Mexico), Newman (1968: 66) provides the following ex-
amples of overlapping between the verb class and what should probably be recog-
nized as the adjective class: