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The word "Christian" can mean different things to different people and can be used in different contexts. After discussing the first biblical instance in which the name was used in Antioch (Acts 13:26), this article examines present-day evangelical parameters of what it means to be a Christian taking into account the broad evangelical consensus. It then compares and contrasts it to some adjectival descriptors such as "nominal" and "anonymous" (e.g. K. Rahner) as they are applied in the wider ecumenical world, finding them defective. As was the case in the New Testament Antioch, being a Christian means having heard, understood and received the gospel even today. In this sense, "nominal" and "anonymous" Christianity is a selfcontradictory definition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I examine certain gradable adjectives in Serbian, whose suppletive comparative forms display unexpected semantic properties. In particular, while these adjectives are ambiguous between intersective and non-intersective readings in the positive form, their suppletive comparative and superlative forms are limited to the non-intersective interpretation. These facts show, I argue, that in a theory like Distributed Morphology either adjectival roots or category-assigning heads they combine with come in semantic subtypes (i.e. are specified for certain semantic properties; Harley 2005, Anagnostopoulou and Samioti 2014). I show how the analysis I propose explains semantic properties of change-of-state verbs derived from these adjectives and why these adjectives are restricted to the intersective interpretation when their positive form takes the long-form (definite) inflection. I also provide an illustration of how Arregi and Nevins's (2014) analysis of the so-called "disuppletive" roots, such worse/badder, can deal with the facts presented in this paper. Finally, I discuss implications of these facts in the context of Bobaljik's (2012) approach to suppletive comparative morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparison is an exception among Indo-European morphological categories due to its considerably limited scope. For example, data gathered from the Czech National Corpus (www.korpus.cz) give that in the highly inflected language of Czech just 6% of adjectives have degree forms, and only 3% have both degrees of comparison. The property of being gradable depends on meaning rather than form: we can only compare scalar adjectives, i.e. adjectives that denote a quality that can be expressed on a scale. Semantics is already manifested at a morphemic level in inflected languages: both roots and affixes are carriers of meaning, and the meaning of a word is established through their combination. Scalarity is sometimes a property of an individual adjective, but sometimes a whole adjectival type is scalar or non-scalar, i.e. the derivative affix itself makes the adjective scalar or non-scalar (e.g. the suffix of appurtenance -ārius, the diminutive -ulus etc.). The present article is concerned with scalarity, and thus gradability, in the specific case of Latin adjectival compounds. The aim is to determine which compounds are gradable, which are not, and why. Compounds are characterized as a combination of at least two meaningful components followed by a suf- fix, and these (i.e. at least three) elements semantically interact. The question therefore is, for a given type of compound, which of these elements serves as a determinant of gradability. To answer this question, it is first necessary to attempt a classification of Latin adjectival compounds. Compounds may be classified according to various criteria: semantic (e.g. the traditional distinction between endo- and exocentric compounds), morphological (based on the form of one of the components), or syntactic (based on the relation between the components). Despite scalarity being a semantic term, for gradability of adjectival compounds it proves most efficient to use a syntactic classification, based on which groups may be defined by a common approach and the analysis of which enables more general conclusions. The language material used for this study was obtained by first excerpting all the adjectival compounds from the Oxford Latin Dictionary (the compounds being adjectives formed through a word-formative process in which the last step is composition, or "derivational composition", i.e. composition and suffixation). For each of these adjectives (and adverbs derived therefrom), an individual search was then carried out in the database Bibliotheca Teubneriana Latina III to establish whether the adjective is attested in synthetic comparative and/or superlative form, and also whether it is attested in periphrastic comparative and/or superlative form (in combination with the adverbs magis or maximē). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the Old English adjectival construction that consists of the copulative verb bēon ‘to be’ and the past participle. Grammaticalization is gauged as to the agreement between the subject noun phrase and the past participle and from the perspective of deflexion, which is considered the final stage of grammaticalization. The highest rates of agreement are found in Ælfrician texts and translations from Latin, while other texts like the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle not only evince remarkably lower figures of agreement, but also show a decrease over time. The conclusion is reached that, although the grammaticalization of the past participle in passive constructions is not complete on the basis of deflexion, the process is well underway in Old English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the conditions under which the temporal expression immer noch ("still") and related phase particles are allowed or excluded in German adjectival passive sentences. A detailed discussion of the phenomenon is provided, and it is argued that not only the semantics of involved linguistic expressions and constructions, but also background script knowledge must be taken into account to fully understand the combinatorics. A notion of scripts is developed as a finite sequence of cognitive frames, where one frame precedes and provides an occasion for the next one. The paper determines a new condition for the exclusion of immer noch that up to now went unnoticed. Specifically, it is claimed that adjectival passives denoting the result state of a script-final event cannot be combined with immer noch due to conflicting inferences. The proposed integration of linguistic material with background frame and script knowledge is based on the central assumption that event kinds correspond to frames, which opens up a new perspective on the relation between conceptual structure and compositional semantics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adjectival comparatives like txiki baino txikiago 'smaller than small' in Basque exhibit some striking properties that present a challenge for previous analyses of inequality comparatives. The research on this unstudied type of adjectival comparatives in Basque -- henceforth SMALL comparatives -- is especially interesting due to the rich morphology and freedom of word order that Basque displays. These two properties are vital for the testing of the hypotheses on the structure of these comparatives. First, the examination of the underlying structure of the standard of comparison reveals that these adjectival modifiers are inequality comparatives with a phrasal standard. Second, the study of the extraction constraints of the standard and the particular distribution of SMALL comparatives evidence the fact that the standard marker in these comparatives behaves as a coordinating conjunction, and that these modifiers can appear inside a Determiner Phrase, in contrast with previously analysed adjectival comparatives. These properties are explained by assuming the functional analysis of adjectives and comparative markers (-ago '-er, more'), and proposing a coordination analysis of these phrasal comparatives. The study of SMALL comparatives hence shows that the coordination analysis of comparative structures is necessary not only for clausal comparatives (Napoli & Nespor 1986 for Italian; Sáez 1992 for Spanish; and Lechner 2004 for English and German) but also for phrasal comparatives such as SMALL comparatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article is positioned at the interface between onomastics and word formation. It examines the German adjective-forming suffix-isch, which combines with proper names (Lutherisch 'Lutheran') as well as with common nouns (höllisch 'hellish'). Making use of diachronic corpora of German, the development of -isch is studied with respect to different appellative and onymic base classes. Based on graphematic evidence as well as on their referential properties, these base classes are arranged on a scale of onymicity. The most name-like categories are examined more closely. First, utilizing the distinction qualifying adjectives vs. descriptive adjectives, adjectival derivatives from personal names in German are contrasted with those in English. Furthermore, for family name as well as town name bases, diachronic variation in productivity shifts of -ischderivatives and competing derivational patterns is investigated. Based on the results, it can be hypothesized that the more name-like the words are, the more instability is to be expected in the diachronic derivational patterns, also observable in a high degree of cross-linguistic variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many languages a set of adjectives are characterized by their 'past/passive' participial morphology. Lexicalist and syntactic approaches to word formation converge on the claim that such adjectives can be derived from verbal inputs with no external argument but never from verbal inputs with an external argument. That is, there are 'adjectival passives' but no 'adjectival antipassives' marked with the same morphology. I argue that a sub-class of adjectives marked with the 'past/passive' participial morpheme -do in Spanish, labeled participios activos in descriptive grammars, should be treated as adjectival antipassives in precisely this sense. I propose that Spanish has an Asp head that (i) is spelled out with 'past/passive' participial morphology and (ii) selects an unergative verbal input creating a state/property whose argument corresponds to the external argument of that verbal source. If on the right track, the proposal supports the existence of a typology of adjectivizing heads that are spelled out uniformly with 'past/passive' participial morphology but must be distinguished in terms of selectional and semantic properties (Bruening 2014, Word formation is syntactic: Adjectival passives in English. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 32. 363-422; Embick 2004, On the structure of resultative participles in English. Linguistic Inquiry 35. 355-392). It differs from previous approaches in claiming that such a typology must include root-derived adjectives, as well as 'active (=unergative)' and 'passive' deverbal adjectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article sheds new light on the puzzling phrase structure of complex adjectival phrases which are common in Semitic, specifically in Hebrew, and which are equivalent to Indo-European phrases such as 'swift of foot.' The article draws a clear distinction between these constructions and adjectival compounds such as 'swiftfooted', which are prevalent in major Indo-European languages but are absent from Semitic languages. The Hebrew construction under discussion is a genitival construct consisting of an adjective followed by a modifying noun in genitive status. The adjective is the head of the construction, but agrees in number and gender with a noun outside the construction. This construction has invited controversial analyses by different scholars, most recently in the framework of generative grammar. The present study construction is anchored in the framework of Construction Grammar. It nevertheless advances a morphosyntactic and semantic analysis of its inner composition. Functional aspects and the speaker's perspectival choice in construing such attributive phrases are taken into account as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Antiques are undoubtedly objects worthy of aesthetic appreciation, but do they have a distinctive aesthetic value in virtue of being antiques? In this article we give an account of what it is to be an antique that gives the thesis that they do have a distinctive aesthetic value a chance of being true and suggests what that distinctive value consists in. After introducing our topic in Section I, in Section II we develop and defend the Adjectival Thesis: the thesis that the concept of being an antique is an adjectival concept. This provides us with the means to formulate our definition, which we do in Section III. In Section IV we further explicate and defend our definition. In Section V we conclude by briefly saying where we think our definition could be improved, by making a few comments about the aesthetics of antiques and by stating an interesting consequence of our definition: that it is not analytic that antiques are old. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I argue that the debate on the division of labor between grammar and pragmatics, at least as it pertains to pragmatic free enrichment, needs to be better grounded empirically. Often, only a reduced set of facts from English is used to substantiate claims regarding pragmatic free enrichment. But considering a reduced set of facts from a single language can only afford limited (and, sometimes, wrong) results, because we can merely see whatever this one language chooses to express. Two cases studies are presented: adjectival fragments, and implicit indefinite objects. A grammatical analysis is defended for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expletives have been argued to be merged in Spec, TP, Spec, vP, or within DP. This paper argues that this line of thought does not apply to the existential expletive fii of Jordanian Arabic. The arguments presented in this paper rest on the assumption that merge of fii in any of those proposed merge sites cannot be empirically substantiated since it does not account for data from Jordanian Arabic. It is argued instead that, in an existential construction, fii heads its own projection, an expletive phrase, with the associate projected as complement of the expletive. Further, the expletive phrase is argued to merge in the specifier of a predicate phrase, whose head is a null adjectival predicate. Therefore, the view of fii as a syntactic dummy is reconsidered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the secondary grammaticalization of the English adverbial -ly suffix and makes claims about the concept of secondary grammaticalization. Secondary grammaticalization is defined as the development of a new grammatical function in an already grammatical element. It is shown that the development of the -ly suffix involves a number of the processes which are associated with grammaticalization, e.g. paradigmatization, specialization, obligatorification, subjectification, layering and persistence. However, none of these processes seem to be exclusive to secondary grammaticalization, as the process is defined here. It is argued that the concept of grammaticalization should be redefined, and some possible definitions are suggested. It is also suggested that future studies should divide grammaticalization processes into types according to the nature of the target element, as suggested by Kranich (this issue). Such an approach may perhaps uncover categorical differences between different types of grammaticalization processes. Another important claim is that the concept of obligatoriness should include both language internal obligatoriness and communicative obligatoriness, where the latter also includes socially determined obligatoriness. Further, the concept of paradigmaticity should include the opposition of social variants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the morpho-syntactic properties of Spanish verbs formed by - ear affixation (EAV henceforth). These include deadjectival (e.g. amarillear ‘to go yellow’), denominal (e.g. fanfarronear ‘to behave like a boaster’), and deverbal verbs (e.g. bailotear ‘to dance in an irregular manner’), which do not form a natural semantic class. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to develop a unified morpho-syntactic analysis of EAV within Hale and Keyser's (1993) approach to argument structure – as developed in Mateu (2002) and Acedo-Matellán and Mateu (2011, 2013) – and Distributed Morphology; second, to take this proposal as a basis to account for cross-dialectal variation in the productivity of EAV. We group EAV into three basic syntactic classes that share a core structure v + P. We argue that a large subset of unergative verbs must be analyzed as events with a specifier that select for a relational/predicative complement, a type of structure that is shown to underlie verbs with an adverbial argument. - Ear is further checked against unmarked - ar , the default verb-forming suffix in Iberian Spanish. We show that an underspecified analysis of EAV is compatible with cross-dialectal variation in that it accommodates the (non-)predictable range of meanings found across American varieties where - ear has become the default verbalizer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the relationship between fictionalist nominalism and applied mathematics. Topics discussed include an argument based on applied mathematics against nominalism simpliciter and a modification of an argument that is directed specifically against fictionalist nominalism. Also discussed are the rectangular-surface/paint-can numerical requirement principle and the first adjectival-nominal correspondence principle.

Although certain crossing relations between two arguments in verbal constructions have been discussed in previous works, few studies have been conducted on adjectival constructions. Based on a large-scale database of adjectives, this study examines the syntactic constructions of adjectival predicates and classifies diverse types of two-arguments-crossing (TAC) relations in the adjectival constructions. This study has a twofold goal. First, it provides a reliable result obtained from the exhaustive examination of 6600 adjectival predicates, instead of reporting typical complement types or crossing relations between arguments based on a limited number of examples. About 17% of Korean adjectives have been revealed licensing TAC relations. Second, the TAC relations, distinguished from other syntactic alternations, are empirically discerned and classified into four sub-types: IS-SYM, IS-CRT, DS-LOC and DS-PSY types. The first three types of the TAC relations are also observed in verbal constructions, whereas the last type seems exclusive to adjectival constructions. On the ground of the current study on adjectives, a full-scale study on verbal constructions licensing crossing relations between two arguments would be conducted in future works and therefore, a theoretical assumption may be elaborated on the basis of a solid linguistic reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] -Er deverbal Ns are analyzed as derived either from a verbal base or from a root. [•] A typology of -er Ns including episodic/dispositional/instrument Ns is proposed. [•] Internal event properties of -er Ns are demonstrated with adjectival modification. [•] The correlation between event reading and argument structure is retained. [•] (Non)specificity in internal arguments leads to an underlying episodic/generic event. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] Most research on complement realisation has been concerned with verbs. [•] The article investigates the neglected area of adjectival valency. [•] The data consist of 181 polyvalent adjectives occurring in 956 patterns. [•] Predictability and the aspectual- and the causal approaches to complement realisation are assessed. [•] The findings support the view that valency belongs to the idiosyncratic aspects of language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes two experiments linking native-language grammar rules with implications for perception of similarity and recognition memory. In prenominal languages (e.g., English), adjectives usually precede nouns, whereas in postnominal languages (e.g., Portuguese), nouns usually precede adjectives. We explored the influence of such rules upon similarity judgments about, and recognition of, objects with multiple category attributes (one nominal attribute and one adjectival attribute). The results supported the hypothesized primacy effect of native-language word order such that nouns generally carried more weight for Portuguese speakers than for English speakers. This pattern was observed for judgments of similarity (i.e., Portuguese speakers tended to judge objects that shared a noun-designated attribute as more similar than did English speakers), as well as for false alarms in recognition memory (i.e., Portuguese speakers tended to falsely recognize more objects if they possessed a familiar noun attribute, relative to English speakers). The implications of such linguistic effects for the cognition of similarity and memory are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the acquisition of syntax in L2 grammars. We tested adult L2 speakers of Spanish (English L1) on the feature specification of T(ense), which is different in English and Spanish in so-called subject-to-subject raising structures. We present experimental results with the verb parecer “to seem/to appear” in different tenses, with and without experiencers, and with Tense Phrase (TP), verb phrase (vP) and Adjectival Phrase (AP) complements. The results show that advanced L2 learners can perform just like native Spanish speakers regarding grammatical knowledge in this domain, although the subtle differences between both languages are not explicitly taught. We argue that these results support Full Access approaches to Universal Grammar (UG) in L2 acquisition, by providing evidence that uninterpretable syntactic features can be learned in adult L2, even when such features are not directly instantiated in the same grammatical domain in the L1 grammar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The graphic or scriptural environment of Cameroon is experiencing a process of hispanization through Spanish words and expressions. These imported words name spaces, structures and institutions. It seems that the authors of that practice do escape from the heavy socioeconomic reality they are faced with since the decade of ninety. The evasion consists of several ways. It is spatial when foreign toponyms are transposed into Cameroon context and temporal when glorious and idyllic moments of the past are brought into mind. However, escapism can be carried out through rewarding adjectives or the designation of purely positive realities. Consequently, Cameroonians use symbolic concepts like goodness, friendship, divinity, etc. in order to, according to dream or visceral wish, make positive their daily life and get out of the generalized crisis. The aim of this paper consists in analyzing that phenomenon on the basis of collected data from Cameroon towns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on a book review written by Michael McCafferty for Michel Launey's book titled "An Introduction to Classical Nahuatl". Topics discussed include typographical error noted by McCafferty, 2003 revised edition of the book written by J. Richard Andrews, and comments on Launey's grammar. Other topics include objection of McCafferty to adjectival forms and critique of use of reflexive verbs by Launey.

In this article, I discuss Ancient Greek constructions consisting of a form of the verb eimi 'I am' and a present, perfect or aorist participle. In particular, I focus on those uses where the participle is said to have an "adjectival" function. My main goal is to provide a unified semantic description of this phenomenon, adopting a cognitive framework. I show that adjectival periphrasis typically involves the predication of properties, which can be characterized in terms of low transitivity (Hopper & Thompson, 1980). I furthermore argue that a so-called "property reading" involves a particular kind of conceptual integration, whereby only one component state of the verb eimi is elaborated by the participle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to describe the differences between à la mode de (SN) 'in the fashion of ' and à la mode 'fashionable'. These two constructions are characterised by the fact that in the first one, the noun mode must be modified by a prepositional phrase, an adjective or a relative clause, whereas in the second one, modification is impossible. In contemporary French, these constructions appear in different syntactic contexts : à la mode de (SN) works both as an adjectival or a verbal modifier, whereas à la mode behaves as an adjectival modifier only. Though à la mode first appears as an ellipsis of à la mode de (SN), the noun mode has different meanings in these two constructions : it must be understood with its ancient meaning of 'manner' in the first case, but with a more recent meaning of 'fashion' in the second one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent article, Harold Noonan argues that application conditions and criteria of identity are not distinct from one another. This seems to threaten the standard approach to distinguishing sortals from adjectival terms. I propose that his observation, while correct, does not have this consequence. I present a simple scheme for distinguishing sortals from adjectival terms. I also propose an amended version of the standard canonical form of criteria of identity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Greek polydefinites are cases of adjectival modification where the adjective features its own definite determiner. We propose an account of the phenomenon that treats it as an instance of close apposition. Like close appositives, polydefinites in Greek instantiate multiple definite determiners, display a freedom in word order, and involve a restrictive interpretation. We propose that close apposition in Greek forms a complex DP out of two DPs which are in a sisterhood relationship through identification of the Referential roles within the DPs. This operation, semantically tantamount to set intersection, is constrained to apply only when the resulting set is not co-extensive with either initial set. This ensures the restrictive interpretation of one DP over the other. The fact that in polydefinites, it is always the DP containing the adjective that obligatorily satisfies the constraint has to do with the presence of noun ellipsis within that DP: (noun) ellipsis is known to come with a disanaphora requirement. We show that noun ellipsis is also responsible for the distribution of adjectives and adjective interpretations, as well as those discourse effects of polydefinites that have been thought of as the result of a DP-internal Focus projection. Finally, we make a proposal for the encoding of definiteness in Greek, consonant both with the existence of polydefinites in the language and with the prerequisite for set intersection among DPs: the overtly realized Greek definite determiner does not itself contribute an iota operator but preserves the denotation at the DP level. Our proposal thus deals not only with the multiple occurrence of definite determiners in a construction that picks out a single discourse referent, but also with the compositionality problem that such a situation gives rise to. In the final part we tie the cross-linguistic (un)availability of expletive determiners of the Greek type to the (un)availability of morphologically realized case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within minimalism, we may assume derivations to involve subderivations, connected by the interface components dealing with sound and meaning (layered derivations). If so, complex adjectival constructions involving predicates like tough/easy (as in John is easy to please) receive a natural account in terms of re- analysis taking place at these interface components, turning a complex adjectival construction into a simplex adjective which can be merged in predicative or attributive position in the next derivation layer. Arguments against reanalysis address earlier, more complicated conceptions of reanalysis, and fail to distinguish plain and expanded tough-constructions, the latter not showing any reanalysis characteristics. In a layered-derivation cum reanalysis approach, the arguments for empty operator movement in the embedded infinitival clause disappear, and the reanalysed construction shows the properties of an adjectival passive instead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the article is to present the use of the comma with the incidental clauses which in Spanish are distinguished by their function in explicativas and especificativas. Considering syntactic constructions such as nominal appositions or adjectival subordinate clauses, the basic rules of punctuation established for these structures in both languages have been set out. Besides of the analogues uses of the comma, the oppositeor different uses of the comma have been also distinguished and they can be a source of incorrect spelling, due to the negative interference by the Polish language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's insights on the terminology change that encountered from the politically correct (PC) protagonists. The author mentions that one must avoid negative attitudes through language manipulation, improve expectancies and attitudes, and must follow politically correct rules of terms for certains human conditions. He discusses several rules in combining terms for an impaired person including the use of adjectival phrase, devalued for reasons, and diagnosis-related terms.

Abstract: This study analyses the semantics of English deontic adjectives like essential and appropriate, and uses this to refine traditional definitions of deontic modality, which are mainly based on the study of modal verbs. In a first step, it is shown that the set of meanings associated with deontic adjectives is quite different from the set of meanings identified in the literature on modal verbs. Adjectives lack the directive meanings of obligation or permission, which are traditionally regarded as the core deontic categories, and they have semantic extensions towards non-modal meanings in the evaluative domain. In a second step, the analysis of adjectives is used to propose an alternative definition of deontic modality, which covers both the meanings of verbs and adjectives, and which can deal with the different extensions towards modal and non-modal categories. This is integrated into a conceptual map, which works both in diachrony – defining pathways of change – and in synchrony – accommodating refinements within each set of meanings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In multiple property models of lexical categories, the assignment of a word to a lexical category is determined by a set of properties associated with that category. Specifically, if a word displays a sufficient number of properties associated with a given category, it will be assigned to that category. The current article critically evaluates multiple property models of lexical categories. In particular, it focuses on a multiple property model recently developed by Aarts (Syntactic gradience: The nature of grammatical indeterminacy, Oxford University Press, 2007b) and a variety of other such models. It is argued that multiple property models encounter problems in four key areas. Firstly, they struggle to determine an appropriate set of lexical categories and to provide coherent accounts of the nature and function of such categories. Secondly, they encounter difficulties in determining the properties that define categories and in determining features of properties such as whether they should be weighted or not. Thirdly, a variety of problems arise when multiple property models combine words, properties and categories together. Finally, multiple property models fail to account for crosslinguistic data. It is concluded that multiple property models do not provide viable accounts of lexical categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper reports on the discovery of a new type of exocentric word structure in Japanese which consists of two “dependent” (rather than “head”) elements and whose category is determined by the collaboration of the category features of the two dependents in conjunction with their internal semantic relationship. A representative example is huto-ppara lit. ‘fat stomach/big heart’, which semantically denotes the subject''s property of being big-hearted or generous rather than the physical entity ‘stomach, heart’, and which bears the lexical category of Adjectival Noun [AN], corresponding neither to the Adjective category of huto- ‘fat, big’ nor to the Noun category of -ppara [variant of hara] ‘stomach, heart’. This is entirely distinct from the familiar types of metaphor- and metonymy-based exocentric compounds like redhead and pickpocket, which are always nouns. In analyzing the novel type of Japanese compound, a mechanism called “bilateral category projection” is proposed, which fuses together the category features of the two dependent constituents by invoking their semantic structure. The assignment of a category to the new type of exocentric compound thus requires simultaneous reference to both morphological and semantic structure. This analysis lends support to the “parallel-representation” model of grammar in which form and meaning are represented separately but work in tandem with each other to determine the grammaticality of a given expression (). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

According to traditional descriptive grammars, Spanish medio ('half') is a variable category. It can be a noun (medio de vida), a numeral adjective (quantifier) (media docena), or an unstressed adverb (estaba medio cansado). However, medio takes an invariable form as an adverb in standard Spanish (estaba medio cansada). Making the adverb medio agree with the adjective it modifies (estaba *media cansada) is considered nonstandard. Numerous cases are attested where the adverb medio agrees, as though it were an adjective, with the noun or the adjective which it modifies. This process, known as 'recategorization' implies that an element is interpreted as belonging to one category (i.e. adjective) in some varieties and as part of another (here, adverb) in other varieties. The 'adjectivization' of medio is widely considered to be characteristic of Latin American Spanish varieties, but it is believed to be rare in Iberian Spanish. In this study I use unpublished dialect data from the ALPI (Atlas Lingüístico de la Península Ibérica) to examine the precise geographical area of the phenomenon in Peninsular Spanish. These data clearly show that the distribution of this phenomenon is much wider than previously claimed, since it is attested not only in the Galician area but also in Leonese and in Andalusian, the latter being the probable source for the transfer of the phenomenon to Latin American Spanish. We also use historical and contemporary data from both Peninsular and Latin American texts (Corpus del español) to analyse some specific cases of adverbial medio with and without agreement (medio/media tonta), and to study the semantic interpretations associated with each variant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Chinese has a positive morpheme that has two allomorphs: a covert one and an overt one (i.e., the degree word hen). The former, behaving like a polarity item, only occurs in a predicate-accessible operator[-wh] domain with a structure like , where the head X0, carrying the predicate-accessible operator[-wh] feature, not only introduces a predicate-accessible operator[-wh] but also licenses the occurrence of a degree phrase headed by the covert positive morpheme (i.e., Deg0), while the latter in other contexts. Having this as basis, I propose a condition on saturating Chinese gradable adjectives through which the bifurcated use of the ‘unmarked’ form of Chinese gradable adjectives can be well captured. Besides, the obligatory overt realization of a covert positive morpheme occurring in a predicate-accessible operator[-wh] domain, when the predicative adjective is substituted for by a pro-form, further implies that Chinese has an adjectival structure simpler than English. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines adjectival reduplication in Chinese which is contrasted with determiner doubling in Germanic. It shows that two superficially different phenomena in two genetically unrelated languages are sensitive to similar properties. Both environments support an analysis of adjectives in terms of restrictive relative clauses and strengthen the case for decomposing the adjective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Reanalysis, as understood in traditional historical linguistics, lacks explanatory force as a mechanism of language change, because the assumption that reanalysis works through ambiguity is logically flawed, and because reanalysis postulates a shift from an old to a new representation without specifying the source of the new representation. Therefore, two cases of syntactic reanalysis are examined to produce a more convincing picture of how reanalysis operates. One is the development of the English adjectives worth and worthwhile when used with gerund clauses. The other is the emergence of the English for…to-infinitive. On the basis of these case-studies it is shown that reanalysis can be decomposed into more basic mechanisms of change. These mechanisms involve ‘category-internal change’ resulting from semantic change, ‘categorial incursion’ through analogy, and ‘automation’. Each of these underlying mechanisms obtain additional plausibility from the fact that they are firmly based in synchronic language use as understood in current usage-based models. One consequence is that reanalysis itself becomes to some extent epiphenomenal to the more basic mechanisms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The two participles referred to in the title (one a perfective, the other aspectually unmarked) occur as complements of finite verbs, as if they were nominals. At the same time, they still betray their verbal origin by having nominal complements themselves. Also, they are used as modifiers within the Carib noun phrase, as if they were adjectives. Because these two nonfinite verbs thus share parts of their systems with nouns, with verbs, and with adjectives. [ prefer to call them by the traditional name of "participle" and to eschew the term "nominalization"--even though the latter is widely accepted (see Carlin 2004:351, Derbyshire 1985:38, Gildea 1998:123. and Meira 1999:565). This paper has a double purpose, One is purely descriptive. Cariban linguistics needs careful and detailed descriptions of the complex sentence in all of the family's languages, and I considered it my duty to do my part for Carib (Gildea [forthcoming:sec. 5]). Second, close attention to descriptive detail unavoidably forced me into a modicum of theoretical discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Albanian, class-2 adjectives are always preceded by an adjectival article, which agrees in gender, number, case and definiteness with the noun they modify. I will argue that the complex system of Albanian adjectival articles can be easily accounted for if we assume that there are two types of adjectival articles: those that have a full set of agreement features and those that do not. I will show that those that do not have a full set of features require adjacency to a noun inflected with the definite article, resorting to the last resort form “të” when this adjacency requirement fails. Adjacency will be shown to be a result of a cliticization process, necessary for the adjectival article to acquire a full set of agreement features. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Nominalization has been noted as one of the fundamental properties of scientific English. It allows the dense packing of complex ideas into elements of clause structure, the addition of modifiers and qualifiers, and the backgrounding and foregrounding of information in the discourse. The device of nominalization in scientific prose is said to originate with Newton's writings in the seventeenth century. This paper presents the results of an examination of a 1.7 million-word corpus of Early Modern English medical texts with the aim of determining whether a significant increase can be observed in the frequency of nominalizations between 1500 and 1700. The identification of nominalizations in the corpus is operationalized using a defined set of nominal suffixes. Our results suggest that nominalizations do not first emerge during the period of Empiricism in the second part of the sixteenth century, but that, at least in medical writing, a quantitative increase in nominalizations is observable even earlier: our data shows an increase in the frequency of nominalizations throughout the period under investigation. However, there is also a great deal of variation between individual texts throughout the 200-year period: many texts from the sixteenth century are entirely comparable to seventeenth-century texts in terms of nominalization density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper describes attribution in Old Babylonian. The principles drawn upon are the traditional view of Akkadian syntax, modern Semitic syntax, and the principles of European structuralism. Bringing all these together, while exemplifying and proving previous unexplained statements by using Old Babylonian material, renders the whole issue tangible for every linguistically-oriented reader. ?asyntagms are described, each component separately, as a pronominal construct nucleus with an attribute; this attribute is either a nominal or a clause. ?asyntagms, being appositive to a referent substantive (when occurring), are in the same paradigm with adjectives, which are shown to have the same components as ?asyntagms: a pronominal nucleus, an attribute and the attributive link between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the unified account of the cross-linguistic variation in the encoding of adjectives in prediative and attributive constructions using a unified optimality theoretic account. Accordingly, languages might be dissimilar in the encoding strategy of adjectives in the predicative domain, and there are instances that the strategy could be changed in the attributive domain. The interaction on faithfulness to the semantic class of a lexical root, and the faithfulness to discourse functions is also discussed in details.

Many adverbs in -mente are used to intensify the adjective. In this article we study those which mark evaluation, statement or absolute quantity. From a good number of examples, Te make the inventory of them, and carry out the study of their discoursive function. This shows how different pragmatic categories (modality, statement and quantification) work together to enhance the quality of the adjective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two recent hypotheses which support the theory of full access to Universal Grammar have been proposed in order to account for variant data supplied by L2 learners. The Prosodic Transfer Hypothesis (Goad, White & Steele 2003) suggests that non-target-like behaviour by L2 learners is partially due to the differences in prosody between the L1 and L2 and the ensuing prosodic constraints; whilst the Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis (Prévost & White 2000) proposes that problems are due to the learners’ variability in mapping abstract syntactic features onto morphological forms. This paper discusses a study of Japanese native speakers acquiring L3 German adjectival inflection in light of these two hypotheses. Data are provided from a written gap-filling task and from two oral production tasks. The results indicate stronger support for the MSIH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper I address two main issues in the semantics of deadjectival verbs. First, I review alternative accounts of the nature of the telos associated with a deadjectival verb on a telic interpretation. Traditional accounts gloss the telic sense of a deadjectival verb as ‘become A’: for example, the telic interpretation of The sky cleared is ‘The sky became clear’. On this account, the telos of the event denoted by telic clear is the onset of the state denoted by The sky is clear. An alternative account by Hay et al. (1999) is based on the property scale associated with an adjective and its derived verb. Property scales may be open, with no maximal degree of the property (i.e. no upper bound), or closed, in which case the property has a maximal possible degree beyond which no higher degrees of the property exist, and the maximal degree of the property constitutes the upper bound of the scale. Hay et al. argue that a telic interpretation arises where a deadjectival verb is interpreted with reference to a closed property scale. In the event denoted by a telic deadjectival verb, the theme of change traverses the property scale to the upper bound, the maximal possible degree of the property. For example, in The sky cleared on a telic interpretation, the sky is understood to traverse the scale of increasing degrees of clearness until the maximum possible degree of clearness is reached. On this account, the telos is the onset of the state in which the sky is maximally clear, such that it could not be clearer. I argue in favour of the traditional view that a telic deadjectival verb denotes ‘become A’, and against the alternative account that a telic deadjectival verb denotes ‘become maximally A’. By way of clarification preparatory to the main discussion, I show that deadjectival verbs have two types of telic sense, an achievement sense and an accomplishment sense. The telic sense at issue in the traditional telic/atelic contrast is the accomplishment sense. I also argue that the availability of telic and atelic senses of deadjectival verbs is generally predictable from characteristics of the state denoted by x is A. The telic (accomplishment) sense of a deadjectival verb is available only if the property region that counts as ‘A’ has a lower bound (i.e. the least degree that counts as ‘A’) which is accessible to modification. The telic (accomplishment) sense is the strong default reading where x is A entails that x bears the maximal possible degree of the relevant property. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this article, I study the way property concepts such as 'big', 'red', 'high', etc., are lexically treated in Otomi, an Otomanguean language from Central Mexico. I show in detail that such concepts are not encoded as adjectives but rather as verbs and nouns.Lexemes denoting such concepts also occur in an interesting type of nominal compound.The present analysis is based on the dialect of San Ildefonso Tultepec Otomi,but the claims made can be extended to other Otomi variants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper considers several accounts of crosslinguistic variation regarding left branch extraction (LBE), focusing on adjectival LBE, and explores consequences of a proper analysis of LBE for the internal structure of NP. Two lines of research are pursued, both of which are based on the claim that languages that allow adjectival LBE do not have DP. One is based on the phase-based locality system, extending the phase system from clauses to NPs, and the other one is based on the existence of crosslinguistic variation regarding the position of adjectives in the traditional NP, with some languages having the traditional NP-over-AP structure, others having Abney's AP-over-NP structure. Which structure a language has is argued to depend on the presence/absence of DP in the language, the lack of DP leading to the NP-over-AP structure. Under this analysis, the ban on AP LBE in English-type languages follows from the ban on movement of non-constituents, a problem that does not arise in languages that allow AP LBE. The impossibility of LBE of AP in the presence of another AP in languages that in principle allow such extraction is argued to provide evidence that adjectives are located in multiple specifiers of the same head. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the use of complex adjectival constructions in various registers and modes of communication in Bulgaria. Findings of an examination of relative clause use in Bulgarian data in written versus oral communication and in more formal versus less formal contexts; Special types of relative clauses; Percentages of relative clauses with dual topics.

Adjectives modifying singular human nouns in the Ganja dialect of Balanta bear one of two prefixes: u- and a-. It is argued that these prefixes represent two different types of inflection, agreement (u-) and adverbial marking (a-). Alternative analyses based on stage-level vs. individual-level interpretations of adjectives and the individual-event distinction are shown to be insufficient. Finally, the set of adjectival agreement prefixes occurring in other Balanta dialects is considered, and a diachronic explanation based on Kuryl̵owicz's laws of analogical change and Lass’ theory of linguistic exaptation is proposed [J Linguistics 26 (1990) 79–102]. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The category membership of words expressing adjectival meanings (Descriptives) in Macro-Jê languages has been a topic of recent interest and dispute among researchers. While there is agreement about the absence of Adjective as a word class, there is disagreement on whether Descriptives should be analyzed as a subclass of Nouns or Verbs, since Descriptives share features with both. This study devises a set of internal criteria for establishing the category membership of Descriptives in Apinajé (Jé family). Morphosyntactic properties common to Nouns, Verbs, and Descriptives are explored first, showing that valid arguments can be made in favor of alternative analyses of Descriptives, or against a categorical distinction between Nouns and Verbs. Against this background, further syntactic constructions, such as relativization and imperatives, are introduced; these support a categorical distinction between Nouns and Verbs, and lead to the conclusion that Descriptives do constitute a subclass of Verbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]