Order of Degree Word and Adjective (Feature 8)
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Feature Annotation
This feature is about the position of degree words with respect to the adjective that they modify.
For the present purposes, the term adjective should be interpreted in a purely semantic sense, as a word denoting a property, since in many languages the words in question do not form a separate word class, but are verbs or nouns. This feature looks at both attributiveadjectives (modifying a noun, as in The very large house) and predicative adjectives (where the adjective functions as the predicate, as in English The house is very large).
Degree words are words with meanings like ‘very’, ‘more’, or ‘a little’ that modify the adjective to indicate the degree to which the property denoted by the adjective obtains. Degree words either precede or follow the adjective they modify.
Additional remarks
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Values
| Value | Value Annotation | |
| 1 | Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj) | Vincentian Creole Hi dotish tu bad. [3sg stupid too bad] ’He is very stupid.’ |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg) | West African Pidgin English hot small 'a little hot’; Kinubi kwes za’idi [good=very] ’very good’ |
WALS No.
91 (Total)
