Adjectives exist, adjectivisers do not: A bicategorial typology

Abstract

This paper examines how adjectives are derived within a featural system comprising only two categories. It argues that adjectivisers, a heads, do not exist, leaving the repertory of categorisers with two members only: verbalisers, v heads, and nominalisers, n heads. We proceed to argue that the adjective category is possibly universal insofar as it involves prima facie dual categorisation: adjectives obtain when a root or an already categorised element combines with a complex categorial structure, one that involves both a verbaliser and nominaliser. This proposal is supported by grammar-internal evidence (viz. the external modification of adjectives by adverbs and the nominal character of their internal structure) and by broader typological facts (the distribution of which follows from our analysis). Several consequences and predictions are beneficially derived.