9.2.1 Adjectives

Use this domain to list all adjectives. If there are many adjectives in your language, you should not try to list them all here. If you want to find all the adjectives, most dictionary programs can sort your dictionary by part of speech. However if your language only has a few adjectives, you can list them all in this domain. In the book, "Where Have All the Adjectives Gone?" R. M. W. Dixon [Dixon, R. M. W. 1982. Where have all the adjectives gone? Berlin: Mouton.] identifies seven universal semantic types that are often expressed by adjectives. They are: Age (new, young, old), Dimension (big, little, long, short, wide, narrow, thick, fat, thin), Value (good, bad, proper, perfect, excellent, fine, delicious, atrocious, poor), Color (black, white, red), Human propensity (jealous, happy, kind, clever, generous, cruel, rude, proud, wicked), Physical property (hard, soft, heavy, light, rough, smooth, hot, cold, sweet, sour), Speed (fast, slow). Words in the Human propensity class may be nouns. Words in the Physical property and Speed classes may be verbs.

  • What are the adjectives in your language?
    young, big, good, black, kind, hot, fast,