Re: Languages without adjectives

On Tue, 21 Mar 2000, Fredrik Ekman wrote:

> Some time ago I read an article about languages which mentioned in passing
> that some languages have no or few adjectives, using (if I understood the
> article correctly) nouns and verbs(?) for the same purposes.
>
> Has anyone ever used this in a constructed language? How does it work?
Tepa has just this feature. Typically adjectival functions are
filled by intransitive verbs. So for example, the Tepa verb
/teni/ means 'to be straight'. So one could say

        [teni kaZi]
        0- teni     kati
        3- straight stick
        'The stick is straight.'

which corresponds to an adjective used predicatively. The
attributive function of adjectives is expressed in Tepa by means
of subordinate clauses:

        [pari eDeni kaZi]
        0- pali  e=  0- teni     kati
        3- float SS= 3- straight stick
        'The straight stick is floating.'

The clitic _e=_ serves to indicate that the subject of the
subordinate clause is identical in reference with the subject of
the main clause (that is, the thing that floats is the same
thing that is straight).

So that's how it works in Tepa.

Dirk

--
Dirk Elzinga
dirk.elzinga@m.cc.utah.edu