304 Nicole Kruspe
database include DIMENSION, COLOUR, PHYSICAL PROPERTY, DISTANCE, SPEED, and
QUANTITY, e.g. the quantity expressive fek/iek 'be many (children)'. As with many
adjectives in Semelai, expressives also tend to be specific to a narrow set of refer-
ents, or in the case of adverbials, a specific activity. The lexeme jsmsrsmpet, which
includes the meaning 'be many', is used specifically for people climbing, so 'many
people climbing together'. The speaker defined it as, ramay yvr (be.many ascend)
'many are climbing', or b3
The majority of expressives convey properties from more than one semantic
type, e.g. COLOUR and DISTANCE, csmsrsyefeyek 'a red object seen from a distance',
like a fire, or red fruit up in the forest canopy. DIMENSION and PHYSICAL PROP-
ERTY are combined in jsmsroykoh 'the appearance of something big and round',
e.g. a boulder.
Intensification or gradation may also be included in the meaning, e.g. physical
property, pdlfit 'very big-bellied', which was given the folk definition thayjio2 hpdc
(be.big very belly) 'the belly is very big', and ksbbxop 'filthy'. The COLOUR term
rar/ofi means 'deep yellow', like the colour of roasted cassava. The onset of the final
syllable is reduplicated to derive rs
This is not a productive derivation.
Finally, expressives can also convey an action with adverbial modification:
rskoykoy and ksntdrt 'walk slowly' (like a tortoise, or an old person), glossed as
suwak fayon, mvcvm yoh (walk be.slow like tortoise) 'to walk slowly like a tortoise'.
Another example is bsrspsip grow shorter', defined as psh dspe-dspes (become
iNTNS-be.short) 'become really short'.
7 The ordering of adjectives
It is rare to have more than one adjective modifying a noun. When two adjectives
are present, they tend to come from the same semantic sub-class; see (6i)-(63). In
(61), the juxtaposed COLOUR adjectives describe one entity:
(61) co putih hitam
dog be.white be.black
'a white dog (with) black (markings)'
(62) kdnaf th3y jalay svn, ksh hn sumt
happen be.big be.tall PART 3 want circumcise
'When (he grew) big and tall see, he wanted to be circumcised.'
Two antonymic adjectives receive a coordinated reading as in (62), or alternant
reading as in (63). There is a tendency for the positive term to come first:
(63) dol raf-th3y, raf-ket fihk,
house coMP-be.big coMP-be.small be.good be.old
'(Whether) the house was big (or) small, in good (condition) (or) bad ...'