Though
uninflected, the adjectives in Sema are capable of showing degrees of
comparison1 as in : |
|
hatoliy ilimì azukiwi lakhì |
`Hatoli
is a beautiful girl’ |
|
hatoliye ekili nuno azukiwiú |
`Hatoli
is more beautiful than Ekili’ |
hatoliye azukiwi k tú
|
`Hatoli
is the most beautiful girl’ |
|
|
|
The adjectives in Sema can in the first instance be sub-classified into
two, viz., adjectives proper and the functional adjectives. The adjectives
proper are differentiated from the functional adjectives by virtue of
the fact that the latter either beong to, or are derived from another
grammatical class but can function, like any of the adjectives proper,
as a determiner in a determiner-determined2 construction, as in: |
ilimi kiwi
|
`good
dame’ (adj-proper) |
ilimi kini
|
`two
dames (numeral) |
ilimi nuyakew
|
`smiling
dame’ (participial) |
ilim ìkì
|
`dame’s
house’ (genitive) |
pa ilimì
|
`his
dame’ (genitive) |
ilimì hipaw
|
`this
dame’ (demonstrative) etc. |
|
|
The
adjectives proper can also be differentiated from the functional adjectives,
on the basis of their ability/inability to form constructions with the
intensifiers i.e., whereas adjectives proper can form endocentric constructions
with intensifiers, the functional adjectives cannot, as in : |
y ono
akc
|
`very black’ |
yono
kiwi
|
`very
good’ |
kutumo kt
|
`too much’ etc. |
|
|
(a)
Adjectives proper : |
The adjectives proper can be broadly sub-grouped into three viz. qualitative
adjective, quantitative adjective and colour adjectives. On the syntagmatic
axis, it is possible to define the three sub-classes of adjectives, for
instance, both the quantitatives and |
|
1
The morphological construction of the degrees of comparison is discussed
at the end of this section.
2
The terms determiner-determined construction is used in the same sense
as that of modifier-modified construction where the determined /modified
item is the head or the nucleus of the construction and the determiner/modifier
is the satelllite of the nucleus. In this section, the determiner/modifier/satellite
is an adjective including a functional adjective and the determined/modified/nucleus
is the noun head. qualitative adjectives are usually post-posed to the
noun head whereas the colour adjectives are never post-posed to the noun
head as in : |
| ilimì
kutumo |
`many
girls’ |
|
ilimì kiwi |
`good
girl’ |
|
akc
ilimì |
`black
girl’ etc. |
|
|
Whereas
a qualitative adjective selects, yöFono `very’ as an intensifier
a quantitative adjective selects kötö `very’ as an intensifier,
as in : |
|
yono
kiwi |
`very
good’ |
|
kutumo kt |
`very much’ etc. |
|
|
On
the basis of these information, these three sub-groups of adjectives can
now be formally defined. |
Quantitative
adjectives.- Thequantitative adjectives form that sub-group of adjectives
which are usually post-posed to the noun head and selects the intensifier
kötö `very’. Structurally, when a quantitative adjective
is in construction with a noun, the noun usually does not take the plural
marker, i.e., the plural marker is optionally deleted as the plurality
is indicated by the quantitative adjective, as in : |
akì `house’
|
`akìqò
`houses’ |
akì kutumo
|
`many
houses’ |
apu kutumo
|
`many
fathers’ |
ilimì kutumo
|
`many
dames’ etc. |
|
|
Qualitative
adjectives.- The qualitative adjectives form a subgroup
of adjectives proper that refer to the quality of the noun head. Structurally
when a noun is in construction with a qualitative adjective, the adjective
is usually post-posed to the noun head and if the noun head is in the
plural, the qualitative adjective, rather than the noun takes the plural
marker. While a qualitative adjective is also capable of showing different
degrees of comparison, a quantitative adjective is incapable of showing
degrees of comparison. If a noun is in construction with both the qualitative
and quantitative adjectives, the qualitative adjective precedes the quantitative
adjectives as in : |
|
ilimì kiwi |
`good
dame’ |
ilimì kiwiqó
|
`good dames’ |
apu kiwiqó
|
`good
fathers’ |
|
ilimì kiwi kutumo |
`many good dames’ |
|
|
