Volume 57, Issue 2 - Special Issue: Adjective order through a Germanic lens, Guest Editors: Andreas Trotzke and Eva Wittenberg

In this paper, we introduce the issue of adjective order and show that different approaches vary in their answers to the question of how fine-grained the semantic categories determining adjective order are. We report on a corpus study that we conducted and that illustrates that a clear answer to the question of what general factors exactly determine adjective order is elusive, given the multifactorial nature of the problem. We then present the individual contributions to this special issue, and how they attempt to add new observations from Germanic languages to the general issues revolving around the topic of adjective order.

Premodification patterns play a central role in the categorization of of -binominals in general, and particularly in the grammaticalization of the evaluative binominal noun phrase ( a beast of a man ) into an evaluative modifier ( a beast of a Hollywood year ), where the first noun functions as an extreme modifier. This paper compares a linear, construction-based account of the premodification patterns of the evaluative binominal noun phrase, evaluative modifier, and other historically related of -binominals to a hierarchical account in Functional Discourse Grammar in order to investigate in what way each theory captures and accounts for these patterns. The paper comprises two parts: First, based on a zone-based premodification model, an empirical study of the synchronic premodification distributional patterns of these of -binominals is presented. Second, the paper discusses a Functional Discourse Grammar explanation of the findings. In the conclusion, the theoretical implications of the explanations of these patterns in the two approaches are discussed.

In this article we identify and motivate the main word order patterns of adjectives in the English NP. Theoretically, we situate ourselves within the tradition of semiotically-based, cognitive-functional construction grammars as developed by such linguists as Halliday, Langacker and McGregor. In this tradition, the lexicogrammar is assumed to exist to symbolize semantic functions. We argue that the various semantic functions of adjectives in the English NP are coded by different modification relations, which differ in terms of where and how they fit into the structural assembly of the whole NP. We hold that function motivates structure, and that order is an epiphenomenon of structure. Therefore, we first set out our model of the functions that can be fulfilled by adjectives in the English NP. This model is innovative in a number of ways. Theoretically, it extends the distinction between representational and interpersonal modifiers. Descriptively, we elucidate the traditionally recognized representational functions of classifier and epithet as well as the interpersonal functions of noun-intensifier and secondary determiner. To this set, we add the hitherto barely recognized interpersonal functions of focus marker and metadesignative. We also systematically investigate the possibility for coordination and subordination between adjectives fulfilling the same function. In a second step, we then correlate this functional-structural model with the general ordering tendencies of the functions realized by adjectives. We specify the general left-to-right ordering of the six functions, pointing out possible and impossible orders of the functions relative to each other. We interpret the distinction between representational and interpersonal modifiers with regard to their different ordering potential. Finally, we look at the main ordering options available for multiple adjectives realizing the same function.

In this work we aim to give a first description of the morphosyntactic behavior of some adjectives in the Cimbrian of Luserna. This Germanic variety allows a subclass of adjectives to appear in post-nominal position. This aspect seems to be relevant, since neither colloquial Standard German nor any other German substandard variety spoken in German-speaking areas display a similar pattern. Along the lines of Cinque (2010, 2014), we argue that Cimbrian, with respect to the adnominal adjectival order, has maintained the Germanic pattern of Merge, but permits in some cases NP-Movement above the (“bare” AP reduced) relative clause projection. The fact that adjectives following the head noun are predicative rather than attributive is supported by the fact that post-nominal modifiers never show up with inflection.

Adjective order restrictions on attributive adjectives (AORs) have been subject to debate in modern linguistic research for a long time. Most generally, the question whether AORs can be located in grammar as such in rule-based fashion is still unsettled. In the current paper, we largely argue against this view and claim that several of the core data to be explained are preferences based on norms rather than rules. A pragmatic explanation is offered to account for marked or apparently ungrammatical examples. First, we demarcate AORs in the narrow sense against data based on truth-conditional differences, show the sole hard constraint to be found in a distinction between object- and kind-modification, and introduce several of the factors argued to drive AORs in the literature. A large-scale corpus study on German AAN-phrases shows a hierarchy of relative adjectives preceding absolute ones to reliably predict preferences, while temporariness and weight do not. We then illustrate that norm-based preferences can be overwritten via discourse linking and implement markedness in out-of-the-blue contexts pragmatically based on the M-principle. Speculating that AORs in the narrow sense have their origins in more general cognitive principles, our findings support approaches that locate the better part of AORs outside the realm of core grammar.