Re: more on adjectives

Brad Coon wrote:

> He is a stupid, old, black and white hunting dog.
> So a couple of questions, do other native speakers of English also
> find this THE acceptable order or do other orders feel equally valid?
I think that would necessarily be the least marked phrasing only if you also
delete the final consonant in "old", and reduce "old" to a hesitation phenomenon,
and therefore make it virtually meaningless.

> Secondly, have any of you given any thought to ordering adjectives in
> your languages?
Since almost all Phaleran "adjectives" are really verbs, the question doesn't
literally apply, except in the case of the few adjective-like particles.
In these cases, the adjective-like particle always precedes the verb
form:

    Denti    auknagwanta              hlântrawo    aðneiristi
    brown  be-big.REL.3SgPfRe house.DAT sit.INTR.1SgProgRe.S
    I know for a fact that I am sitting in a big brown house.

(That's really overtranslating it, but it's fun to do.)  These particles are
for the most part color terms, numerals and a few terms for judging aesthetics,
like _mesu_ "good" and _gel_ "bad".  When two adjectival verb phrases are
juxtaposed, the first one will be the most salient aspect being described:

    K'olugwanta             auknagwanta             wahwirra
    be-fat.REL.3SgPfRe be-big.REL.3SgPfRe 1Sg.wife
    "My big, fat wife"  (i.e., the wife is really fat)

    Auknagwanna             k'olugwanna              xâfen
    be-big.REL.3SgPfRe be-fat.REL.3SgPfRe PL.old-man
    "the big, fat old men" (i.e. the old men are more big than fat)

Here, the English uses a fixed idiom, while the Phaleran is a little more flexible
about placement. Note also that some descriptions can be part of the basic
meaning of a word:  English uses an adjective "old" plus the noun "man", while
in Phaleran this is one word.  As might be expected, this case entails special social
roles for the elderly.

(Incidentally, "wife" is an inherently possessed noun, the  Phalerans being a
deeply cynical lot.)

===================================
Thomas Wier | AIM: trwier

"Aspidi men Saiôn tis agalletai, hên para thamnôi
  entos amômêton kallipon ouk ethelôn;
autos d' exephugon thanatou telos: aspis ekeinê
  erretô; exautês ktêsomai ou kakiô" - Arkhilokhos