Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-fvjsw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-13T14:24:51.192Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Notes on the Semantic Structure of English Adjectives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Talmy Givón
Talmy Givón*
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The semantic structure of paired English adjectives is investigated, and the results are extended—or an extension of the result is suggested—to the vast lexicon of derived English adjectives. It is found that English adjectives are not semantic primitives, but rather are semantically based upon or derived from nouns or verbs. Categories of noun-based vs. verb-based adjectives are set up, and then contrasted with the categories of stative vs. active adjectives. It is claimed that the facts of semantic structure of English adjectives support the presence of lexical or pre-lexical transformations which map the deep semantic structure onto the surface lexical items called adjectives.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 46 , Issue 4 , December 1970, pp. 816 - 837
Copyright
Copyright © 1970 Linguistic Society of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bierwisch, M. 1967. Some semantic universais of German adjectives. Foundations of Language 3. 1–36.Google Scholar
Bolinger, D. 1967. Adjectives in English: attribution and predication. Lingua 18. 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fillmore, C. 1965. Entailment rules in semantic theory. (POLA, 10.) Columbus: Ohio State University.Google Scholar
Fodor, J. A., and Katz, J. J., (eds.) 1964. The structure of language. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall .Google Scholar
Givón, T. 1967a. Some noun-to-noun derivational affixes. (SP-2893.) Santa Monica, Calif.: Systems Development Corporation.Google Scholar
Givón, T. 1967b. Transformations of ellipsis, sense development and rules of lexical derivation. (SP-2896.) Santa Monica: Systems Development Corporation.Google Scholar
Gruber, J. 1967. Functions of the lexicon in formal descriptive grammars. (TM-3770/ 000/00.) Santa Monica: Systems Development Corporation.Google Scholar
Katz, J. J. 1964. Analyticity and contradiction in natural languages. In Fodor & Katz, 519–43.Google Scholar
Klima, E. 1964. Negation in English. In Fodor & Katz, 246–323.Google Scholar
Ross, J., and Lakoff, G. 1967. Stative adjectives and verbs. (NSF-17.) Harvard Computation Laboratory.Google Scholar
Vendler, Z. 1963. The transformational grammar of English adjectives. (TDAP 52.) University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar