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.
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)
