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 pl-Cl pieces pl-Cl two pl-Cl good pl-Cl big pl-Cl chocolate Det \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 pl-Cl pieces pl-Cl two pl-Cl big pl-Cl good pl-Cl chocolate Det \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 (as is clear in 4):

'He quickly ate two delicious sour fruit.'

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

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

<gl id="ex1" fontsize=12> \gll xa- ɓii xa- ɗaq xa- mbel na xa- mbodax na pl-Cl fruit pl-Cl two pl-Cl good Rel det-prox sour Rel \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, as long as it stays within the noun phrase. The expressions in (1) are noun phrases but in (2) they are clauses. Nevertheless, in (2) the numeral quantifier remains within the noun phrase:

(1)

 xaɓiy xaɗaq xapelu xapodax axe		        ‘the two delicious sour fruits’
 xaɓiy xapelu xapodax xadaq axe
 xaɓiy xadaq xapodax xapelu axe

(2)

 [xaɓiy xaɗaq xapel oxe] ambodaxa		‘the two delicious fruit are sour’
 [xaɓiy xapel oxe xaɗaq] ambodaxa
 [xaɓiy xapel xaɗaq oxe] ambodaxa

 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)