Adjectives

Introduction

Adjectives in sodemadu can modify nouns and verbs. They do not inflect. They express dimension and size, age, value, color, and physical properties such as speed, shape, temperature, and texture. They can also express time and distance and manner of movement. Adjectives in the dictionary are tagged as "base" for basic adjectives, "aug" for augmented adjectives, "dim" for diminished adjectives, and "redup" for reduplicated adjectives. The most common are basic adjectives.

Adjectives follow the nouns they modify. Adjectives that act like adverbs in modifying the verb or the whole clause appear at the end of the sentence before the mood marker (if realized).

Basic Adjectives

Basic adjectives can take the full range of adjective modifiers (except no). These include go "as, same as", dan "sort of, kind of", pe "less, little", piye "too little, least, not enough", alam "too, too much", na "more, very", iyɛ "getting more so", and iyɛ iyɛ "getting even more so, more and more". The last two are often used with the iterative forms of the verbs evi and ɛmɛmɛ. With the latter verb, they actually mean "getting less so" and "getting even less so, less and less".

Some examples:

The next five modifiers form a scale, from least to most: piye - pe - dan - na - alam:

iyɛ and iyɛ iyɛ are used to mean "more so" and "more and more so". So, for a verb like ɛmɛmɛ, which denotes implosion and dimunition, "less so" and "less and less so" are more accurate translations.

Augmented Adjectives

Augmented adjectives are adjectives meaning "more" or "very" of a quality. There are two patterns to augmentative adjectives. The first involves reduplication of the first syllable of the adjective, as in taba becoming tataba. The second involves adding the suffix -(e)ya, as in tanda becoming tandeya. Neither pattern is productive, though the second was productive more recently, and some speakers will still apply the process to newer adjectives.

The following adjectives are of the first, partially reduplicated type:

babas

very bad, worse

gagala

very early, very soon

gege

better, very good

ɨdɨde

very late

ɨsɨsa

very small, very little

ibibi

very short, very little, very small

kɛkɛgɛ

very light in weight

liliha

completely filled, full; finished, completely done process

onona

very big, very large

sasata

very thick

tataba

very low, very deep

tɛtɛta

very old

tutumu

very heavy

Note that taba na "very deep" from the previous section and tataba "very deep" are equivalent.

Augmented adjectives can take the following modifiers: dan "sort of, kind of", no "more, very", and iyɛ "more and more".

There are some augmented adjectives that do not have a corresponding basic form. Among these are mɨdeya "careful, cautious", nadeya "important", and podeya "ugly, disgusting".

Diminished Adjectives

Diminished adjectives mean "not very" of a quality and often come to have idiosyncratic meanings or to mean the opposite of the quality. There are only a small number of diminished adjectives. They were formed by adding the suffix -(i)si to the basic adjective, often accompanied by a change in the base vowel. This process is no longer productive, and some of the forms have lost their connection to the basic adjective.

There are fifteen diminished adjectives, thirteen are from the same base forms as the thirteen partially-reduplicated augmented adjectives above, plus two more.

bɛssi

not quite bad, not as bad as it seems

gɛssi

delayed

gisi

not very good, crudely made, roughly drafted; misrepresented as good but turning out not to be

gossi

not very long time

ɨdisi

not very late, earlier or sooner than expected

ɨssi

not very small, regular-sized

ibisi

not very short, not very little, not very small

kɛksi

very light, deceptive in weight; not as easy as expected, difficult; deceptive in appearance, seemingly but not

lɨssi

not completely filled, not full; insufficient, not enough

onisi

not very big

sɛtsi

skinny

tɛpsi

not very deep, shallow

tɛtsi

not very old, mature

tumisi

not very heavy, not as heavy as expected; not very hard, easy

ussi

longer (time) than expected

Diminished adjectives can take only the following modifiers: dan "sort of, kind of", and no "more, very".

Derived Adjectives

Reduplicated Adjectives

Reduplicated adjectives involve the full reduplication of a base. They tend to convey a continuous state over time, and generally act more like adverbs. They can be modified by no "more, very" only. Some are derived from nouns, and some from other adjectives. Some exist only in a reduplicated form. Here are some reduplicated adjectives:

bɛlɛbɛlɛ

rolling, while rolling

busubusu

while pulling or dragging

deyideyi

permitted, allowed, with permission

doŋidoŋi

while looking or watching, in order to look or see or watch

gasigasi

all mixed up, every which way

goɬigoɬi

taking one's time, dilly-dallying

gunugunu

while thundering, during thunder; while making a thundering sound

hontohonto

tied or fastened to something, while tied up, in order to be tied up or fastened

kɛŋɛkɛŋɛ

askingly, wished for; marks a hoped for or wished for event or situation, used with zero evidentiality

loniloni

by day

lutulutu

panicked, while in a panic

ɬalaɬala

slipping, sliding

nolonolo

on fire

noŋinoŋi

dying

ŋakaŋaka

while pushing

siyesiye

by night, under cover of darkness

taɬataɬa

topsy-turvy, while tangled up and struggling, chaotic, confused

tandatanda

quickly, while being quick

taŋitaŋi

scarcely, barely

Deriving from Adjectives

Augmented and diminished adjectives are derived from base adjectives. However, these processes are no longer productive.

Adjectives can be turned into nouns by preceding the adjective with a noun classifier.

Deriving from Nouns

Adjectives can be derived from some nouns by adding the suffix -ili "full of, filled with".

bulili

sandy, full of sand

gadili

wet, soaked, dripping, full of water

kɨdili

stony, rocky, full of rocks

kyohili

salty; of a person, unsociable or anti-social

lɛkili

dirty, full of dirt

luhili

starry, full of stars

mɛdili

thick with trees or plants, overgrown