Adjective Ordering

In typical citation form as well as in clausal context, modifiers follow the noun they modify. (There is one instance of the noun following the verb: ga'am omosu koor "I saw the handsome man". However, this is the only such occurrence, and it may be possible due to some information-structure principles.) That is the only ordering constraint, since in cases with multiple modifiers, there is no ordering rule amongst the modifiers.

<gl id="ex1" fontsize=12> \gll xa degit xa ɗaq xa pelu xa maak xa ʃokolaat xe NC pieces NC two NC good NC big NC chocolate NC \trans two delicious big pieces of chocolate </gl>

<gl id="ex2" fontsize=12> \gll xa degit xa ɗaq xa maak xa pelu xa ʃokolaat xe NC pieces NC two NC big NC good NC chocolate NC \trans two big delicious pieces of chocolate </gl>

The following illustrates not only the free relative ordering of adjectives in the noun phrase, but also the free positioning of the adverb in the clause:

'He quickly ate two delicious sour fruit.'

 1. añofa ñaam [xabiy xapodaxu xadaq]		‘He hurries and eats ’
 2. añofa ñaam [xabii xadaq xapodax oxe]	'He hurries and eats...'
 3. añaama ñofu [xabii xapodaxu xadaq]		‘He eats hurriedly...’
 4. añaama [xabii xadaq xapodaxu] ñofu		‘He eats...hurriedly’

The modification chain may include both -u modifiers and na modifiers, but not intermixed:

<gl id="ex1" fontsize=12> xaɓii xadaq xambel na xa mbodax na \gll xa ɓii xa ɗaq xa mbel na xa mbodax na NC fruit NC two NC good REL-Pro det-prox sour REL-Pro \trans two fruits that are good that are sour. </gl>

Numeral ordering

In the post-nominal ordering of adjectives, numerals can appear in any position in the modifier chain.

 xabiy xadaq xapelu xapodaxoxe		‘the two delicious sour fruits’
 ?xabiy xapelu xapodax xadaqaxe
 ?xabiy xapelu xapodax xadaqaxe
 ?xabiy xadaq xapodax xapelu axe

 xabii xadaq xapeloxe ambodaxa		‘the two delicious fruit are sour’
 ?xabii xapeloxe xadaq ambodaxa
 ?xabii xapel xadaqoxe ambodaxa

 xabii xadaq xapelu xapodax axe/uxe awe tok a tabulale	‘the two delicious sour fruits are on the table’
 ?xabii xapelu xadaq xapodax axe…
 ?xabii xapelu xapodax xadaq axe…

 okoor oxeexexe anaama xabii xadaq xapodu xapodaxu xapeluxe 
 ‘the hungry boy eats two delicious sour fruit’

 the three beautiful women
 rew daduk mosu xocu we
 rew daduk xocu mosu we
 rew mosu xocu daduk we
 rew xocu mosu daduk we
 ?rew xocu daduk mosu we

99.121.58.68 05:57, 10 December 2012 (UTC)