ABSTRACT
The aim of this paper is to discuss criteria for identifying adjectives in natural languages using the language Karitiana (Arikén, Tupi) as an example. Firstly, the most traditional syntactic criteria used in the literature by descriptivists and typologists are discussed (DIXON, 1991DIXON, R. M. W. A new approach to English grammar, on semantic principles. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991. 2004)DIXON, R. M. W. Adjective classes in typological perspective. In: DIXON, R. M. W.; AIKHENVALD, A. Adjective Classes: A Crosslinguistic Typology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. p. 1-49. Despite the importance of these criteria as a first approximation of the phenomenon of predication in natural languages, they have certain limitations for the identification of adjectives in languages in which this word class appears in sentences with the same inflection found in intransitive verbs, as in Karitiana. Therefore, some semantic criteria are presented for the characterization of adjectives based on the notion of scalar properties (KENNEDY, 1999KENNEDY, C. Projecting the adjective: The syntax and semantics of gradability and comparison. New York: Garland, 1999. KENNEDY; MCNALLY, 2005)KENNEDY, C.; MCNALLY, L. Scale Structure, Degree Modification, and the Semantics of Gradable Predicates. Language, Malibu, v.81, n.2, p. 345-381, 2005. These criteria are used to discuss not only the adjectives class, but also the typology of natural language intensifiers (NEELEMAN; VAN DE KOOT; DOETJES, 2004;DOETJES, 2008DOETJES, J. Adjectives and degree modification. In: MCNALLY, L.; KENNEDY, C. (ed.). Adjectives and adverbs: syntax, semantics and discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. p. 123-155.). Especially in Karitiana, the distribution and behavior of the modifier pita(t) ‘very/a lot’ (described in SANCHEZ-MENDES, 2014a) proved to be fundamental in helping to identify adjectives.
Linguistic Typology; adjectives; syntax; semantics; indigenous languages