Adjectives and adjective phrases
摘要
The category of adjectives consists of lexical items that characteristically represent properties of entities such as dimension, age, color, speed, etc. A full-fledged adjective phrase is typically composed of an adverb and an adjective. This chapter mainly deals with the modifying function of adjectives and adjective phrases. Defining properties of adjectives The properties that adjectives characteristically represent include the following: Dimension (e.g., 长 chang2 ‘long,’ 宽 kuan1 ‘wide,’ 高 gao1 ‘tall’). Age (e.g., 老 lao3 ‘old,’ 小 xiao3 ‘young/small,’ 年轻 nian2qing1 ‘young’). Color (e.g., 红 hong2 ‘red,’ 白 bai2 ‘white,’ 绿 lü4 ‘green’). Speed (e.g., 快 kuai4 ‘fast, quick,’ 慢 man4 ‘slow’). Quantity (e.g., 多 duo1 ‘many/more,’ 少 shao3 ‘little/less,’ 足够 zu2gou4 ‘enough’). Value/quality (e.g., 好 hao3 ‘good,’ 坏 huai4 ‘bad,’ 真 zhen1 ‘true,’ 假 jia3 ‘false/fake,’ 奇怪 qi2guai4 ‘strange,’ 重要 zhong4yao4 ‘important,’ 困难 kun4nan2 ‘difficult,’ 简单 jian3dan1 ‘simple’). Personality (e.g., 大方 da4fang1 ‘generous,’ 小气 xiao3qi4 ‘miserly,’ 豪爽 hao2shuang3 ‘forthright,’ 阴险 yin1xian3 ‘sinister’). Emotional, mental, psychological, physical, and physiological states (e.g., 高兴 gao1xing4 ‘glad,’ 恐惧 kong3ju4 ‘scared,’ 糊涂 hu2tu0 ‘confused,’ 冷 leng3 ‘cold,’ 热 re4 ‘hot,’ 疲倦 pi2juan4 ‘fatigued,’ 粗糙 cu1cao1 ‘coarse’). The predominant function of adjectives is to serve as a prenominal modifier or as the head of a predicate in clauses. The defining properties of adjectives include the following: Adjectives have no morphological markings for gender, number, case, tense, or any other functional features. The main morphological derivation that adjectives undergo is partial or total reduplication, which results not in new word classes but in more vivid, intensified, and mitigated meanings and different syntactic functions (see section 10.3.2.). When performing a modifying function, adjectives and adjective phrases always appear before nouns. Derived adjectives, namely those formed via derivational processes su