jo Anthony E. Backhouse
TABLE 9. (cont.)
Semantic type Examples Comments
QUALIFICATION tadasH correct'; tokubetu (nal
no) 'special, exceptional'; ippaN
(no) 'general, common'
QUANTIFICATION ooi 'large (amount), many'/swfcw-
nai 'small (amount), few' (both
predicative only)
POSITION takai 'highY/iifcwi low'; tooi 'far,
distant'/ tikai 'near'
Inflected and uninflected (nalno,
no). Verbs and adverbs also found
here.
Basic pair inflected. Few adjectives
here; nouns, verbs also found.Basic pairs inflected. 'Left' and 'right'
are nouns.
These are nouns composed of nu-
meral + classifier: ippoN 'one
(ID object)', etc.Overall, it is noticeable that purely no adjectives are few, and are apparently largely
confined to COLOUR, PHYSICAL PROPERTY, and SIMILARITY terms. They are at best
marginal members of Dixon's four core semantic types.
4.3. SUMMARY
The composition of the major adjective types, incorporating the main points re-
viewed in this section, is summarized in Table 10. The table separates inflected and
uninflected adjectives, with the latter represented as comprising a continuum of no.
and no members; characteristic features of phonology, semantics, lexical stratum
membership, and lexical morphology are set out under each type.
Across the table as a whole we may discern a cline of centrality decreasing from
left to right. Inflected items incorporate the core of the adjective class, containing
semantically central, non-derived, native members; they are generally gradable,
and occur in all major semantic types. Next come no. adjectives, which show some
limited overlap with the inflected group (note that such overlap always involves
no. items, some with optional no); these tend to be gradable and occur in most
semantic types, but they include many lexically complex members. Furthest from
the core we find no adjectives (with some overlap with no. items), which by defin-
ition enter into construction with a general adnominal marker; semantically they
tend to be ungradable, some denote states, and they occur in few semantic types;
these likewise include many complex items. There is a concomitant decline across
the table in terms of participation in lexical derivational processes, considered in
§2: in general, inflected items show the fullest participation; no. items tend to be
less productive and lack certain processes such as reduplication, while no items are
largely, if not entirely, absent.^14
(^14) The lack of evidence from word-formation means that no adjectives must be distinguished from
nouns purely on syntactic grounds (excluding, moreover, patterns of adnominal modification, where
NUMBER