Adjective Classes - A Cross-Linguistic Typology

2 Inflected and Uninflected Adjectives in Japanese 69

Table 9 (examples are inflected unless otherwise indicated); in addition to repre-
sentative adjectives, prominent items which are non-adjectives are also mentioned
where relevant.

TABLE 9.

Semantic type Examples Comments

DIMENSION ookii 'big'/tiisai 'small'; hiroi
'big'/semai 'small' (in area);
hutoi 'thick'Ihosoi 'thin' (of ID
objects)

AGE hurui 'old'/atarasii 'new'; wakai
'young'

VALUE ii-yoi good, okay'/warwi 'bad';
daizyoobu (no) 'okay' I dame
(nalno) 'no good'; kekkoo (no)
good, okay'; subarasii 'wonder-
ful'; sugoi 'amazing'; heN (no)
'strange'; okasii 'strange, funny'

COLOUR siroi 'white', kuroi 'black', akai
'red', aoi 'blue, green'; midori
(no) green'

PHYSICAL atui 'hot'/tumetai 'cold; omoi
PROPERTY 'heavy'/fcarwi light'; kirei (no)
'beautiful, deari/kitanai 'dirty';
ippai (no) 'full'/fcara (nalno)
empty'

HUMAN umai, zyoozu (no) 'skilful, good
PROPENSITY (aty/heta (no) 'unskilful'; yasas-
ii 'gentle, kind'/kibisii 'strict';
samui 'feel cold'/atwi 'feel hot';
kowai 'feel afraid'; hosii 'want
(sth), (find) desirable'; ZUNHCN
(nalno) '(find) regrettable'; iya
(no) '(find) unpleasant'

SPEED hayai 'quick, early'/osoi 'slow,
late'

DIFFICULTY yasasH, kaNtaN(na) 'easy'/mwzw-
kasii, koNnaN (nalno) 'difficult'

SIMILARITY onazi 'same'; betu (nalno) 'sep-
arate, different'; hoka (no) 'other'
(adnominal only)

Basic pairs all inflected. Ookii/tii-

sai have adnominal alternants ooki

(na)ltiisa (no).

Basic pair inflected. 'Old' (of

humans, etc.) is a lexical N + V

phrase.

Basic pair inflected, but many un-

inflected (mainly na, some nalno).

Okasii has adnominal alternant

okasi (na).

Basic colour terms inflected. (Also

nouns siro, kuro, aka, ao.) Some un-

inflected (no).

Mainly inflected, but some unin-

flected (na, nalno, no). Also verbs,

e.g. for 'wet/damp/dry', 'bald', 'tired',

'dead'.

Both inflected and uninflected (na,

nalno). Also lexical N + Adj phrases.

'Hungry', 'thirsty' are lexical N + V

phrases.

Basic pair inflected.

Basic pair inflected, with uninflect-

ed (na, nalno) near-synonyms.

Hybrid and uninflected (nalno, no),

no inflected. The usual opposite of

onazi is a verb.