adjective typology

[Brian O Nualláin]

Dear Brian,

In Nolan 2009, I gave a characterisation of the semantics and syntax of the adjective in Modern Irish that may be of interest to you.

Reference:
Nolan Brian. 2009. The functions, semantics and syntax of the adjective in Irish. In Studies in Role and Reference Grammar. 2009. Lilián Guerrero, Sergio Ibáñez-Cerda, Valeria A. Belloro (editors). México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

The abstract of that paper is: 
In this paper we examine the functions, semantics and syntax of the adjective as found in Modern Irish. Initially, we characterise the adjective in Irish as to its prototypical features as noted cross-linguistically by Dixon (1977), Dixon & Aikhenveld (2004) and Thompson (1990). We then examine the use of the adjective in its referential and attributive functions within Irish and also briefly note its use with the copula. We relate the position of the adjective within the hierarchical structure of the noun phrase as per Rijkhoff (2004: 224) and the layered structure of the clause as found in RRG (Van Valin & LaPolla 1997:53ff, Van Valin 2005: 11ff & 21ff). As the characterisation of internal structure of the nominal within RRG theory leverages Qualia Theory (Pustejovsky 1995, Van Valin & LaPolla 1997, Van Valin 2005) we posit that adjectives in their prototypical functions connect to certain features in the qualia structure of the head nominal with which they are associated. We differentiate between adjectives that are more verbal in nature from those that are not. In Irish, certain nominal compounds may be formed with an adjective+noun combination. In these, the adjective always precedes the noun even though the unmarked adjective occurrence position is post nominal in the word order of Irish. These adjective+noun nominal compounds may, in turn, have adjectives associated with them. The precedence order when several adjectives are used with the noun and the closeness of occurrence of adjectives to the noun is discussed. Adjectives may also be deployed as adverbial constructs within the clause. 

If you are interested in a PDF offprint let me know and can send it to you (and anyone else on Funknet too, of course).

Best regards,
Brian

_______________________________
Dr. Brian Nolan
Head of Department of Informatics
School of Informatics and Engineering
Institute of Technology Blanchardstown
Blanchardstown Road North
Blanchardstown
Dublin 15
Ireland
email: brian.nolan at itb.ie
email: brian.nolan at gmail.com
http://itb-dublin-ireland.academia.edu/BrianNolan
_______________________________
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On 2 Jul 2013, at 18:09, Brian MacWhinney <macw at cmu.edu> wrote:

> Dear Funknet,
>     Has anyone ever produced an adjective classification along the lines of the Levin classification system for verbs?  In other words, one that breaks adjectives into syntactic/semantic groups. Something in digital format would be best, but printed would be okay too.
> 	Many thanks for any suggestions on this.  If anyone locates anything, I will post the result to the list.
> 
> --Brian MacWhinney (macw at cmu.edu)