14.3534, Disc: Re: "Fun" as Adjective

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List:  Vol-14-3534. Sat Dec 20 2003. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 14.3534, Disc: Re: "Fun" as Adjective

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1)
Date:  Fri, 19 Dec 2003 08:39:10 -0000
From:  "David Denison" <d.denison at man.ac.uk>
Subject:  Re: 14.3514 Disc: New: "Fun" as Adjective

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Fri, 19 Dec 2003 08:39:10 -0000
From:  "David Denison" <d.denison at man.ac.uk>
Subject:  Re: 14.3514 Disc: New: "Fun" as Adjective


> "Key" would be another example of a noun used as an adjective that
> somehow does not ring true as predicate adjeective. Although "The game
> was fun" works, "The game was key" does not seem to.

It's not in my (probably rather conservative) idiolect, but fully
adjectival uses of _key_ are quite easy to find, including examples
like the "The game was key".  I listed _key_ among several examples of
gradient conversion from N to A in:

Denison, David (2001) 'Gradience and linguistic change'. In Laurel
J. Brinton (ed.) _Historical linguistics 1999_. John Benjamins,
Amsterdam and Philadelphia PA, pp. 119-144.

Details in the paper, also downloadable as a pdf on my website,
http://www.art.man.ac.uk/english/staff/dd/papers/list.htm

best
David Denison


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