Predicative Adjectives (Feature 74)
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Feature Annotation
This feature is about the presence or absence of a copula in clauses with predicative adjectives. We ask how a situation similar to English Mary is old is expressed. Note that “adjective” is defined purely semantically: a word that denotes a property, such as ‘red’, ‘big’, ‘old’, ‘bad’. The issue whether such words are “really verbs” or belong to a separate word class “adjective” is left aside for the purposes of this feature (see APiCS Glossary, "adjective").
As in Feature 73 (“Predicative Noun Phrases”), a copula is defined as any overt element that obligatorily occurs in such clauses apart from the subject and the predicative adjective (and that is not obligatory in verbal clauses). Again, as for “Predicative Noun Phrases”, only present-tense clauses should be taken into account.
Additional remarks
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Values
| Value | Value Annotation | |
| 1 | Predicative adjectives must occur with a copula | Cape Verdean Bitirába ê burmedju [beetroot cop red] ‘The beetroot is red.’ |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Predicative adjectives cannot occur with a copula | Haitian Elifèt malad. ‘Elifèt is sick.’ |
| 3 | Predicative adjectives can occur with or without a copula | Occurrence is variable depending on factors such as person, negation, TMA particles, main/subordinate clauses etc. Fa d’Ambu Xosolo banku. [dog white] ‘The dog is white.’ vs. Amea meza-sai sa lodonda. [mesure table-demcop round] ‘The form of this table is round.’ |
WALS No.
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