1 Adjective Classes in Typological Perspective 41ula complement and as head of an NP. They are unlike nouns and verbs in being
able directly to modify a noun. In Chapter 5, 'Adjectives in Mam', Nora C. Eng-
land deals with a class which, like those in other Mayan languages, has about fifty
monomorphemic members. All types of words may occur as intransitive predi-
cate (although non-verbs have limited TAM possibilities). Properties of adjectives
which distinguish them from nouns and from verbs include: taking certain deriv-
ational suffixes, forming a comparative, modifying a noun, being used adverbially,
and functioning as complement of an existential predicate.
Previous writers have stated that adjectives cannot be distinguished from
nouns in Totonac. Paulette Levy provides copious argumentation and exemplifi-
cation—in Adjectives in Papantla Totonac' (Chapter 6)—as to why this is untrue.
For example, only adjectives may modify a noun, and may enter into comparative
constructions. There is here a smallish class of thirteen monomorphemic mem-
bers, but—as in Manange, Tariana, and Mam—there are many derived members.
Levy also includes a fascinating discussion of sound symbolism in adjectival
forms. In "The small adjective class in Jarawara' (Chapter 7), R. M. W. Dixon rec-
ognizes fourteen monomorphemic members, augmented by just a few derived
forms. Adjectives are here very similar in their grammar to inalienably possessed
nouns (which includes terms such as 'smell' and 'noise'). The criteria for differen-
tiating adjectives are subtle: position with respect to an augment modifier within
an NP (adjectives can precede, possessed nouns must follow), ability to function
as copula complement without an accompanying free noun, and gender agree-
ment following a first or second person non-singular pronoun. In most Indo-
European languages which retain nominal inflectional morphology, adjectives
have very similar grammatical properties to nouns. Greville G. Corbett, in "The
Russian adjective: a pervasive yet elusive category' (Chapter 8), demonstrates the
unusual character of adjectives in Russian; many have both a long form, which
is morphologically similar to nouns, and a short form, which shows similarities
with verbs. Five criteria for canonical adjectives are proposed, but although Rus-
sian has a very large number of adjectives, relatively few of them meet all five
criteria. Corbett presents a detailed study, including examination of adjectival
occurrence in different genres of text.
Korean and Wolof are like Chinese in that it has often been suggested that adjec-
tives are indistinguishable from verbs. In "The adjective class in Korean (Chapter
9), Ho-Min Sohn demonstrates manifold differences. A member of the (large and
open) adjective class functions as intransitive predicate like a verb but may not
occur with certain moods, has different marking for indicative, may not take cer-
tain conjunctive suffixes, and may take the intensifier -ti. The suffix -elanl-ala has
imperative meaning with a verb, but exclamatory function with an adjective. In
addition, adjectives can form adverbs, and can occur in comparative and superla-
tive, among many other criterial differences. In contrast, Fiona Me Laughlin shows,
in Ts there an adjective class in Wolof? (Atlantic family within Niger-Congo,
Chapter 10), that there appear here to be just two criteria distinguishing adjectives