Mirad Grammar/Adjectives
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Adjectives[edit | edit source]
- Adjectives, which are words that modify nouns, can be of the following types and subcategories:
- descriptive
- qualitative, like iva (happy), fia (good), oga (small)
- denominal ( ~ noun-derived), like doma (urban) < dom (city) or teaba (ocular) < teab (eye)
- deverbal ( ~ verb-derived), (participles) like tejea (living) < tejer (to live) or twa (known) < ter (to know)
- preposition-derived, like aba (upper) < ab....on top of or zoa (posterior) < zo (behind)
- determinative
- deictic ( ~ demonstrative, indefinite), like hia (this), huyena (such), haewa (both)
- numeric, like awa (one), ea (second), iona (triple)
- quantitative, like ga (more), glo (few), gra (too much)
- pronominal ( ~ possessive), like ata (my), hota? (whose), hyeta (anyone's)
- Descriptive adjectives are the main focus of this section. Determinative adjectives (determiners) behave differently and are discussed under Determiners. Deverbal adjectives, usually referred to as participles, are treated in the section on Verbs, since they are formed from verbs. Pronominal determiners (i.e. possessive adjectives) are treated under both the section on Determiners and the section on Pronouns.
- All descriptive adjectives end in the adjectival marker vowel a.
- fi- (qualitative root base word) ⇒ fia....good
- pur (noun meaning vehicle) ⇒ pura....vehicular
- dalw- (passive stem of the verb speak) ⇒ dalwa....spoken
- ab (preposition meaning on) ⇒ aba....superior
- Such adjectives precede the noun or noun phrase they modify:
- aga tam....a big house
- ha fia toyb....the good woman
- ata boka twed....my sick father
- fia telsyeb bi vafil.....a good bottle of wine
- yata dooba doof....our national flag
- ata tejea tyedi.....my living relatives
- doba xeut....state agent can also be expressed as the noun compound dobxeut. Dob means a state.
- pata bok....avian illness can be compounded as patbok, literally bird illness.
- Note: Compounded nouns often have an idiomatic meaning not exactly equal to their separate parts. More about this in the later section on vocabulary-building.
Comparison of Adjectives by Degree[edit | edit source]
- As in English, descriptive adjectives can be modified by degree. To do this, a quantitative determiner of degree (ga, ge, etc.) is placed before the adjective, producing positive / negative comparative, equalitative, superlative, and other degree expressions as in the following table. The quantitative determiners themselves that are used in these comparative expressions are discussed in detail in a later section on Quantitative Determiners.
Comparison of Adjectives by Degree QUANTITATIVE DETERMINER COMPARISON ga....more ga fia (vyel)....better (than) ge....as, equally ge fia (vyel)....as good (as) go....less go fia (vyel)....less good (than) gla....very gla fia....very good glay....so glay fia....so good gle....rather/quite gle fia....rather/quite good glo....not very glo fia....not very/slightly good gra....too gra fia....too good gre....enough gre fia....good enough, quite good gro....not enough gro fia....insufficiently good/not good enough gwa....most gwa fia (bi, be)....best (of, in) gwe....average gwe fia....perfectly good gwo....least gwo fia (bi, be)....least good (of, in)
- The relative conjunction vyel is used to translate English as in an equalitative comparison or than in a non-equalitative comparison. Examples:
- Ata tam se ga aga vyel etas.....My house is bigger than yours.
- Hia tam voy se ge aga vyel atas.....This house is not as big as mine.
- His se ha gwa aga tam bi yata yubem.....This is the biggest house in our neighborhood.
- Unlike in English, where comparative forms can be irregular (smaller, more intense, better), there are no exceptions in the comparison of Mirad adjectives and adverbs.
Abstract Quality Nouns Derived from Adjectives[edit | edit source]
- Nouns referring to abstract qualities can be derived from qualitative and often other adjectives by suffixing the letter n. For example:
Deriving Abstract Nouns from Adjectives ADJECTIVE ABSTRACT QUALITY fia....good fian....goodness yeva....just yevan....justice uja....final ujan....finality joga....young jogan....youth teyda....maternal teydan....motherhood, maternity dooba....nation dooban....nationality tojbuwa....lethal tojbuwan....lethality
Reversing the Semantics of Adjectives[edit | edit source]
- Descriptive adjectives can be negated by prefixing o. If the adjective being semantically reversed already begins with the prefix o, then the first semantic reversing prefix becomes ol. This has the effect of English un- or non- in words like unlike, unhappy, and nonessential or the Greek privative prefix a(n)- in words like asymmetric or anomalous.
- Prefixing the syllable ov has an even stronger semantic effect. It denotes the polar opposite of the adjective and can mean "anti-".
- In cases where the o- creates an ambiguous word, lo- or -ol is substituted. Note this in the last two words of the following chart:
Reversing the Semantics of Adjectives NORMAL NEGATED twa....known otwa....unknown ega....normal oega....abnormal eflawa....essential oeflawa....nonessential geyla....similar ogeyla....dissimilar iva....happy oiva....unhappy data....friendly odata....unfriendly data....friendly ovdata....inimical ifwa....loved oifwa....unloved fwa....wanted lofwa....unwanted ofwa....prohibited olofwa....unprohibited
Adjectival Derivational Endings[edit | edit source]
- All descriptive adjectives end in at least the suffix a. Many adjectives are derived from other parts of speech, using one of more of the following derivational endings.
Adjectival Derivative Endings ENDING TRANSITION TYPE MEANING BASE WORD DERIVED ADJECTIVE -a N->ADJ relating to, of fyaat....god
tob....man
dom....cityfyaata....divine
toba....human
doma....urban-aya / -ika N->ADJ full of, -ful, -ous mil....water
meb....mountain
tes....meaningmilaya....watery, aquaous
mebika....mountainous
tesaya....meaningful-oya / -uka N->ADJ empty of, -less, -free teb....head
level....sugar
tes....meaningteboya....headless
leveluka....sugar-free
tesoya....meaningless-yena N->ADJ like, -ish, -y fyaat....god
tob....man
dom....cityfyaatyena....godly, godlike
tobyena....manly, virile
domyena....urbane-ea V->ADJ -ing, -ent, -ant ags-....grow
tej-....live
kyas-....changeagsea....growing, crescent
tejea....living, alive
kyasea....changing, variant-yea V->ADJ -ive, tending to dal-....talk
tox-....forget
vad-....affirmdalyea....talkative
toxyea....forgetful
vadyea....affirmative-wa V->ADJ -ed dal-....talk
tox-....forget
vad-....affirmdalwa....spoken
toxwa....forgotten
vadwa....affirmed-oa V->ADJ -about to, apt to toj-....die
kyes-....happen
tajb-....give birthtojoa....moribund
kyesoa....imminent
tajboa....about to deliver-ua V->ADJ -able, potentially V tojb-....kill
bukx-....harm
akuj-....succeedtojbua....lethal
bukxua....dangerous
akujua....potentially successful-yafa V->ADJ -able test-....understand testyafa....able to understand -yafwa V-ADJ -able test-....understand testyafwa....understandable -yofa V-ADJ unable to teat-....see teatyofa....blind -yofwa V-ADJ impossible to teat-....see teatyofwa....invisible -yuka V-ADJ comfortable Xing pes-....wait pesyuka....patient -yukwa V-ADJ easy to X test-....understand testyukwa....clear -yika V-ADJ hard of Xing teet-....hear teetyika....hard of hearing -yikwa V-ADJ hard to X teet-....hear teetyikwa....hard to hear -ifa V-ADJ fond of Xing, -phile/-ic t-....know
dyes....booktifa....curious
dyesifa....bibliophilic-ifwa V-ADJ loved by tyod-....people tyodifwa....popular -ufa V-ADJ X-hating, -phobic, averse tob-....man
yex....worktoybufa....anthrophobic
yexufa....lazy, work-averse-ufwa V-ADJ hated by hyat....everyone hyatufwa....universally hated -yifa V-ADJ brave toj....death tojyifa....brave in the face of death -yufa V-ADJ afraid of X tot....god totyufa....god-fearing -yufwa V-ADJ feared by X gla....much glayufwa....much-feared -yefa V-ADJ due to X dud-....answer dudyefa....answerable, responsible -yakwa V-ADJ expected to X mamil-....rain mamilyakwa....likely to rain -valka V-ADJ -safe, -proof mil....water milvalka....waterproof -ava V-ADJ pro-X tej....life tejava....pro-life -eva V-ADJ -neutral toob....gender toobeva....gender-neutral -ova V-ADJ anti-X dropek....war dropekova....anti-war -yiva V-ADJ -free yef....debt yefyiva....debt-free -yuva V-ADJ -bound yef....duty
vya-....truth
dofin....moralyefyuva....duty-bound
vyayuva....loyal
dofinyuva....scrupulous-aza V-ADJ strong-Xed fon....will
tip....temperamentfonaza....strong-willed
tipaza....stern-oza V-ADJ weak-Xed tip....temperament tipoza....weak-hearted -iza V-ADJ straight-Xed tep....mind
dal....speechtepiza....logical
daliza....frank-uza V-ADJ crooked-Xed tep....mind
dal....speechtepuza....illogical
daluza....devious-oka V-ADJ absent-Xed tad....spouse
ted....parenttadoka....widowed
tedoka....orphaned
Pronominalization of Adjectives[edit | edit source]
- Adjectives can be pronominalized (converted to a pronoun) by adding s for things and t for persons. These, in turn, can be pluralized by suffixing the plural marker i.
Pronominalization of Adjectives ADJECTIVE INANIMATE PRONOUN
(THING)ANIMATE PRONOUN
(PERSON)fia....good fias....a good thing
fiasi....good thingsfiat....a good person
fiati....good personsaga....big agas....something big
agasi....big onesagat....a big person
agati....big personsjoga....young, new jogas....something new, novelty
jogasi....new onesyogat....young person, youth
yogati....youngstersjaga....old jagas....antique
jagasi....old onesjagat....elderly person
jagati....oldstersawa....one
ewa....twoawas....one (of them)
ewasi....two (of them)awat....one (of them)
ewati....two of themhia....this hias....this one
hiasi....these (things)hiat....this one
hiati....thesegla....much, many glas....a lot (of stuff)
glasi....many (things)
glati....many (people)
- Examples:
- Hia tyoyaf se gro aga. At fu ga agas.....This shoe is not big enough. I'd like a bigger one.
- Yat fu daler bay ha gwa jogati.....We would like to speak with the youngest ones.
- At fe teaxer ha jogas, voy ha jagas.....I want to look at the new one, not the old one.
- Ha ujnati so ha ijnati.....The last shall be the first.