Mirad Grammar/Adjectives

Adjective Types

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), duhota? (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.

Descriptive Adjectives

All descriptive adjectives end in the adjectival marker vowel a.

Adjective-marking suffix
STEM	MEANING	ADJECTIVE
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 ilzyebi bi vafil.....good bottles of wine
yata dooba doof....our national flag

Adjectives do not agree in number or gender with the noun they modify.

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.

Comparing Adjectives by Degree

As in English, descriptive adjectives can be compared 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.

Modification of Adjectives by Degree
QUANTITATIVE DETERMINER	MODIFICATION BY DEGREE
ga....more	ga fia (vyel)....better (than)
ge....as, equally	ge fia (vyel)....as good (as)
go....less	go fia (vyel)....less good (than)
gao....more or less	gao fia....good more or less
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/barely good
gra....too	gra fia....too good
gre....enough	gre fia....good enough
gro....not enough	gro fia....not good enough
gwa....most	gwa fia (bi, be)....best (of, in)
gwe....just, merely	gwe fia....merely 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.

Deriving Substantives from Adjectives

Adjectives can be suffixed to derive various noun substantives:

Abstract quality noun: -n
Thing having a quality: -s
Person having a quality: -t

Deriving Substantives from Adjectives
ADJECTIVE	QUALITY	PERSON	THING
fia....good	fian....goodness	fiat....a good person	fias....a good thing
yeva....just	yevan....justice	yevat....a fair person	yevas....a fair thing
joga....young	jogan....youth	jogat....a youth	jogas....something new

The substantives ending in -s and -t can be referred to as deadjectival pronouns, because they act like pronouns but are derived from adjectives.

Reversing the Semantics of Adjectives

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 lyo or 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, depending on whether the base adjective begins with a consonant or a vowel, respectively. 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 lyodata....inimical ovdata....hostile
dota....social	odota....unsocial lyodota....barbarian ovdota....antisocial
ifwa....loved	oifwa....unloved
fwa....wanted	lofwa....unwanted
ofwa....prohibited	olofwa....unprohibited

Polarization of Base Word Adjectives

Base word adjectives are polarized adjectives that fall into the following pattern categories:

[iu]Ca (such as ifa, uja, ika, uka, etc.)
C[iu]a (such as fia, fua, via, vua, etc.)
[aeu]Ca (such as aja, eja, uja, yava, yeva, yova, etc.)
C[aeu]a (such as vaa, vea, vua, etc.)

In the case of the i/u vowel adjectives, those adjectives with i are positive and are contrasted with those with u, which are negative, eg.:

I/U Polarized Adjectives
Positive	Negative
fia....good	fua....bad
iva....happy	uva....sad
via....beautiful	vua....ugly

In the case of the a/e/u vowel adjectives, those adjectives with a are positive; those with e are intermediate, and those with o are negative, eg.:

A/E/U-Polarized Adjectives
Positive	Intermediate	Negative
yava....innocent	yeva....fair	yova....guilty
aja....past	eja....present	oja....future
aga....big	ega....normal	oga....small

Deintensifying the Sense of Adjectives

The semantic strength of qualitative adjectives can often be deintensified by following the ordinal vowel or stem vowel with the glide y. Examples follow:

Mitigated Adjectives
NORMAL	DEINTENSIFIED
oma....cold	oyma....cool
ama....hot	ayma....warm
yufa....afraid	yuyfa....shy
yiva....free	yiyva....loose
via....beautiful	viya....pretty
ifwa....loved	iyfwa....liked
yefwa....obligatory	yeyfwa....due
ufwa....hated	uyfwa....disliked

Adjectival Derivational Endings

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	tot....god tob....man dom....city	tota....divine toba....human doma....urban
-aya	N->ADJ	full of, -ful, -ous	mil....water yazmel....mountain tes....meaning	milaya....watery, aquaous yazmelaya....mountainous tesaya....meaningful
--ika	N->ADJ	full of, -ful, -ous	mil....water yazmel....mountain tes....meaning	milika....watery, aquaous yazmelika....mountainous tesika....meaningful
-oya	N->ADJ	empty of, -less, -free	teb....head level....sugar tes....meaning	teboya....headless leveloya....sugar-free tesoya....meaningless
-uka	N->ADJ	empty of, -less, -free	teb....head level....sugar tes....meaning	tebuka....headless leveluka....sugar-free tesuka....meaningless
-yena	N->ADJ	like, -ish, -y	tot....god tob....man dom....city	totyena....godly, godlike tobyena....manly, virile domyena....urbane
-ea	V->ADJ	-ing, -ent, -ant	ags-....grow tej-....live kyas-....change	agsea....growing, crescent tejea....living, alive kyasea....changing, variant
-yea	V->ADJ	-ive, tending to	dal-....talk tox-....forget vad-....affirm	dalyea....talkative toxyea....forgetful vadyea....affirmative
-wa	V->ADJ	-ed	dal-....talk tox-....forget vad-....affirm	dalwa....spoken toxwa....forgotten vadwa....affirmed
-oa	V->ADJ	-about to, apt to	toj-....die kyes-....happen tajb-....give birth	tojoa....moribund kyesoa....imminent tajboa....about to deliver
-ua	V->ADJ	-able, potentially V	tojb-....kill bukx-....harm akuj-....succeed	tojbua....lethal bukxua....dangerous akujua....potentially successful
-yafa	V->ADJ	-able	test-....understand	testyafa....able to understand
-yafwa	V-ADJ	-able, possible to X	test-....understand	testyafwa....understandable
-yofa	V->ADJ	unable to	teat-....see	teatyofa....blind
-yofwa	V->ADJ	impossible to, un-X-able	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....book	tifa....curious dyesifa....bibliophilic
-ifwa	V->ADJ	loved by	tyod-....people	tyodifwa....popular
-ufa	V->ADJ	X-hating, -phobic, averse	tob-....man yex....work	toybufa....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
-yeyfa	V->ADJ	liable to X	fyuzi-....get punished	fyuziyeyfa....liable to be punished
-yefwa	V->ADJ	X-worthy	fid-....praise	fidyefa....praiseworthy
-yakwa	V->ADJ	expected to X	mamil-....rain	mamilyakwa....likely to rain
-valka	N->ADJ	-safe, -proof	mil....water	milvalka....waterproof
-ava	N->ADJ	pro-X	tej....life	tejava....pro-life
-eva	N->ADJ	-neutral	toob....gender	toobeva....gender-neutral
-ova	N->ADJ	anti-X	dropek....war	dropekova....anti-war
-yiva	N->ADJ	-free	yef....debt	yefyiva....debt-free
-yuva	N->ADJ	-bound	yef....duty vya-....truth dofin....moral	yefyuva....duty-bound vyayuva....loyal dofinyuva....scrupulous
-aza	N->ADJ	strong-Xed	fon....will tip....temperament	fonaza....strong-willed tipaza....stern
-oza	N->ADJ	weak-Xed	tip....temperament	tipoza....weak-hearted
-iza	N->ADJ	straight-Xed	tep....mind dal....speech	tepiza....logical daliza....frank
-uza	N->ADJ	crooked-Xed	tep....mind dal....speech	tepuza....illogical daluza....devious
-okya	N->ADJ	absent-Xed	tad....spouse ted....parent	tadokya....widowed tedokya....orphaned
-iga	N->ADJ	fast-Xed	tuyub....finger	tuyubiga....nimble
-uga	N->ADJ	slow-Xed	tep....mind	tepuga....slow-witted, dull
-aga	N->ADJ	big-Xed	tiib....heart	tiibaga....big-hearted, generous
-oga	N->ADJ	small-Xed	tep....mind	tepoga....small-minded
-yiga	N->ADJ	hard-Xed	tip....temperament	tipyiga....stern, strict
-yuga	N->ADJ	soft-Xed	tip....temperament	tipyuga....lax, lenient

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