Difference between revisions of "Modifying with Nouns"
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'the beautiful Jola girl' |
'the beautiful Jola girl' |
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| − | In (1) and (2), the adjective is 'be tasting like' |
+ | In (1) and (2), the adjective is 'be tasting like' and the nouns are suukar 'sugar' and kaane 'hot pepper'. In the third and fourth examples, the noun is Jola person, which is used to describe the origins of the girl. |
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| + | Arguably, as discussed in the section on [[Special Adjectives]], adjectives like ran 'white' and ɓaal 'black' are in fact nouns. For this reason, they cannot themselves be used with the -u adjective suffix, but must be derived with a causative suffix to (i.e., caused whiteness, caused blackness). |
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| + | *ofiid oranu le |
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| + | ofiid orangu le |
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| + | 'the white butterfly' |
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Revision as of 13:42, 9 December 2012
Nouns can themselves modify nouns in syntactic patterns similar to those observed by certain adjectives.
oɓii o safu suukar 'sweet fruit (lit. sugar-tasting fruit)'
ndawal safu kaane spicy meat (lit. hot-pepper-tasting meat)'
xa degit xadaq xa ʃokolaat xa degit ʃokolaat xadaq 'two pieces of chocolate / two chocolate pieces'
otew oʄoola omosu oxe 'the beautiful Jola girl'
In (1) and (2), the adjective is 'be tasting like' and the nouns are suukar 'sugar' and kaane 'hot pepper'. In the third and fourth examples, the noun is Jola person, which is used to describe the origins of the girl.
Arguably, as discussed in the section on Special Adjectives, adjectives like ran 'white' and ɓaal 'black' are in fact nouns. For this reason, they cannot themselves be used with the -u adjective suffix, but must be derived with a causative suffix to (i.e., caused whiteness, caused blackness).
*ofiid oranu le ofiid orangu le 'the white butterfly'
