THE ADJECTIVAL GROUP.
SEMANTIC CLASSES OF ADJECTIVES.
Two basic grupos: descriptors and classifiers.
•DESCRIPTORS (expressing)
•An inherent quality:
•Size, weight, extent: big/Little, large/small, heavy/light, long/
short, wide/narrow.
•Colour: black, White, red, blue.
•Meanings related to time: Young, old, new, recent.
•General qualities: hot, cold, full, empty, sweet, sour, soft.
•An emotion or evaluation: owful, dreadful, shocking, good, bad.
•An active/passive process: frightening, surprising, tired, exhausted.
•A temporary state: asleep, alone, awake, ajar (only predicative function).
•CLASSIFIERS (expressing)
•Restriction/ Specification: an only child, the standard size, the main
reason.
•Empathic evaluation: sheer nonsense, mere repetition.
•Relation to groups (nationalities, religions): greek sculpture, african
music.
•Category-specific meanings (culture, technology): a nuclear plant, a
medical student.
STRUCTURE OF THE ADJECTIVAL GROUP.
Adjective: always the head (h) of the AdjG (and may be the AdjG in itself).
AdjG composed potentially of 3 elements: head (h), modifier (m) and post-head
element (either a modifier (m) or a qualifier (q) – the last one being controlled by the
head - :
•H: good.
•Hq: good at chess
•Mh: very good.
•Mhq: very good at chess
•Mhmq: very good indeed at chess.
ADJECTIVAL HEAD: FORMAL FEATURES.
•Different types of adjectives may be found:
