Sizing up adjectives

Abstract

Adjectives are often identified via notional or even translational criteria in sign language research, which reflects a lack of formal criteria for identifying this part of speech in the field. This paper presents the results of a guided production task investigating the conservative hypothesis that ASL has a small, closed adjective class consisting only of terms for dimension, age, value, and color. Evidence from the syntactic distribution of these core properties compared to non-core properties will be presented to refute the initial hypothesis and show that ASL has an open adjective class. Its members are characterized by their ability to occur as prenominal modifiers without function-indicating morphosyntax. The semantic distinction between core and peripheral adjectives is nonetheless reflected in a significant preference for core adjectives to be used as modifiers rather than as sentential predicates. Postnominal property signs are analyzed as (in most cases) reduced relative clauses. I further suggest that prototypically verbal signs can be used as prenominal modifiers when they are embedded in reduced relative clauses.

Adjective position and referential efficiency in American Sign Language: Effects of adjective semantics, sign type and age of sign exposure

“…Unlike many spoken languages, ASL has relatively flexible adjective position, allowing both prenominal and postnominal modification, with certain restrictions (see Bernath, 2010 ; Loos, 2022 ; Valli & Lucas, 2000 ). ASL therefore offers a natural test of the relative efficiency of adjective position for referential communication, which until now had only been tested in spoken languages with prenominal or postnominal modification ( Rubio-Fernandez, 2016 , 2019 , 2021 ; Rubio-Fernandez & Jara-Ettinger, 2020 ; Rubio-Fernandez et al, 2020 ; Wu & Gibson, 2021 ; Kachakeche et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Other adjectives can only occur in postnominal position, including certain human propensity terms (e.g., FUNNY, HEALTHY, CONFUSED, UPSET) (Bernath, 2010;Padden, 1998;Valli & Lucas, 2000). Loos (2022) suggests that adjective position may vary systematically by semantic class, such that core properties (e.g., color, dimension) and physical properties (e.g., consistency, temperature) may occur prenominally, while human propensities (i.e., physical and mental states) may occur postnominally. Loos provided ASL signers with signs (presented as still pictures) and instructed them to arrange them into as many grammatical ASL sentences as possible.…”

“…MacLaughlin (1997) studied determiner phrases in ASL constructions. In her analysis of adjective position, she proposes that pre- and postnominal adjectives should be analyzed differently with respect to syntactic function ( Loos, 2022 ). For example, prenominal adjectives in ASL are subject to ordering restrictions (e.g., BIG RED BALL is acceptable while RED BIG BALL is not), while postnominal adjectives are not.…”