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Derivation of adjectives

Denominal adjectives

A primary distinction within adjective classes is between qualitative and relational adjectives. Qualitative adjectives express properties that describe entities and are typically gradable. In contrast, relational adjectives function to classify entities, denoting the domains to which they belong or specifying relationships with other entities, including those with argumental roles.

Relational adjectives

Relational adjectives, one of the more thoroughly researched classes of denominal adjectives, are semantically underspecified regarding the type of relationship they establish between the head noun and their base noun. The interpretation of this relationship adapts flexibly to contextual relevance. In this framework, the fundamental semantic role of relational adjectives is classificatory: they denote subtypes of the head noun by establishing connections with other entities. Unlike qualifying adjectives, which involve a content-rich relational function R, the relational adjective’s link more closely resembles a semantically neutral preposition, such as of in English or de in Spanish.

The affixes involved in forming relational adjectives are:

  • -itĭ: hlon(a)itë ‘phonetic’, ólamaitë ‘consonantal’ (and so erólamaitë ‘uniconsonantal’, attólamaitë ‘biconsonantal’, nelólamaitë ‘triconsonantal’). Earlier aranaitë ‘royal’ was likely replaced by the derivative of -jā: aranya; and the hanuvoitë ‘male’ with *vona ‘male’.
  • -jā is the most represented suffix here. It can be seen with:
    • – consonantal nouns: apacenya ‘of foresight’, tercenya ‘of insight’, elenya ‘stellar’, aranya ‘[royal]’, ferinya ‘beechen’, arinya ‘early’, and especially place-names: amanya ‘[of Aman]’, formenya ‘northern’, hyarmenya ‘southern’, númenya ‘western’, rómenya ‘eastern’.
    • – moraic nouns: gávea ‘consonantal’, vénea ‘virginal’, essea ‘local’.
    • – derivative nouns: lúmequentalea ‘historical’, ampanotalea ‘architectural’, ettelea ‘foreign’, farastea ‘of the chase’, lirustea ‘fit for singing’, nengwea ‘nasal’, yárea or yalúmea ‘olden’.
    • – pseudo-vocalic nouns: entya ‘central’, enya ‘middle’ (but see also endea ‘middle’).
  • -(i)nā is particularly represented by:
    • – the material adjectives (which are however in the fuzzy area between relational and qualifying categories): angaina ‘of iron’, taurina or toina ‘of wood’, sarna ‘of stone’. It could also include cemna ‘of earth’ (< cén), but it's more likely to show -ā (< cemen).
    • – derivative nouns: lambina ‘of tongue’, cunduina ‘princely’, parmaina ‘literary’, valaina ‘divine’.
  • -ā with haplology is attested only in the earlier period, and includes ómanda ‘vocalic’, toa ‘woolen’, as well as mentioned above cemna, and in theoretical framework instances of moraic adjectives: linda ‘melodious’, gúla ‘occult’.
  • Finally, the list also includes -(r)in, that specializes only on demonyms1: Eldarin ‘of the Eldar’, Telerin ‘of the Teleri’, Vanyarin ‘of the Vanyar’, etc.

An example like ⟨ taurina ‘of wood’, taurea ‘forested’ ⟩ illustrates the tendency for -jā to convey a possessive reading more naturally. Thus, a hypothetical adjective like *lambea, if it existed, would more likely mean ‘having a tongue’ rather than anything else. In fact, as will be detailed in the section on possessive adjectives, the suffix -inā is absent in contexts where a possessive reading is required.

1 With the exception of telperin, likely discarded.

Genitive II

In contrast to English, where the semantically empty preposition of serves as a counterpart to relational adjectives, Quenya employs a Genitive II case. Examples like Eruva ‘divine’ illustrate how this genitive can encroach upon adjectival functions. Although there is overlap between relational adjectives and the Genitive II case, a noun in the Genitive II case has a richer structure; it can, for instance, express a numP feature, as in lambe Eldaiva ‘language of the Elves’. Relational adjectives, being structurally impoverished, cannot convey such features — thus, cunduina ‘royal’, but not *cundurina.

Qualifying adjectives

Unlike relational adjectives, qualifying adjectives project additional syntactic features that underlie their core properties:

  • Degree Modification: Qualifying adjectives generally allow modification by degree, a feature unavailable in relational adjectives.
  • Predicative Function: Qualifying adjectives function as predicates, introducing properties that can truthfully be attributed to a subject.
  • Stable Semantics: Qualifying adjectives exhibit stable semantics, where each adjective aligns with a particular conceptual dimension. While relational adjectives leave the relationship with the head noun underspecified, allowing contextual interpretation, qualifying adjectives specify the dimension directly. 

 Four traditional categories of qualifying denominal adjectives can be identified: possessive adjectives (1), similitudinal adjectives (2), causative adjectives (3), and dispositional adjectives (4).

  1. Possessive: hloirea ‘venomous’, laistea ‘ignorant’, ómea ‘voiced’.
  2. Similitudinal: vinima ‘childish’, lossea ‘snowy’, elvea ‘starlike’.
  3. Causative: rávea ‘roaring’, gorta ‘horrible’, naicelea ‘painful’.
  4. Dispositional: handa ‘understanding’, penda ‘inclined’, tinda ‘glinting’.

The distinctions among these four classes — possessive, similitudinal, causative, and dispositional — do not correspond to syntactic projection differences. Instead, they reflect variations in the type of pP layer employed, corresponding to the specific “flavor” of p used in each case. These flavors represent distinct organizations within the conceptual semantics component, aligning with qualia structure theory (Pustejovsky, 1995). Each class of qualifying denominal adjectives corresponds to one of four qualia classes:

  • p<constitutive> = possP: possessive adjectives, reflecting the constitutive quale
  • p<formal> = simP: similitudinal adjectives, reflecting the formal quale
  • p<agentive> = causP: causative adjectives, reflecting the agentive quale
  • p<telic> = disP: dispositional adjectives, reflecting the telic quale 
Qualia structure

Qualia structure organizes the conceptual interpretation of words as information stored within the lexical entries of linguistic exponents, rather than in the syntactic structure that they spell out. It encapsulates the minimal characteristics that define our understanding of the meanings of nouns and verbs. Pustejovsky (1995) identifies four types of qualia, each representing a different dimension of this conceptual information:

  • Formal quale: distinguishes an object within a domain, including attributes like shape, dimensionality, color, magnitude, and orientation.
  • Constitutive quale: expresses the relationship between an object and its parts or constituents, covering material and component elements.
  • Agentive quale: denotes factors involved in the origin or creation of an object.
  • Telic quale: relates to the purpose or function of an object, either in terms of an agent’s intended action or an inherent functional aim.

For example, a book encompasses, beyond its formal (large, green, standing) and constitutive (cover, paper, ink) properties, an agentive quale (the act of writing that created it) and a telic quale (its purpose of being read).

The four classes of qualifying adjectives correspond to the four qualia precisely because adjectives are not fundamental, primitive categories in natural languages. The selection among these qualia types is not left solely to the nature of the p exponent, as one might anticipate with purely conceptual semantics. These qualia distinctions are reinforced by specific affixes that directly map to respective qualia-based types of p, producing adjectives of only one kind: -arwa for possessive, -vea for similitudinal, -cara for causative, -isa for dispositional, etc.

Possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives, broadly, denote attributes of an entity by associating it with a salient, constitutive element. This relation is generally limited to particular classes of concepts, as certain roots, notably those expressing events or animate beings, do not typically form possessive adjectives.

A significant portion of possessive adjectives is based on nouns referring to physical entities, further divided into five distinct sub-classes:

  • – body parts;
  • – items of clothing;
  • – substances (produced by the body or otherwise);
  • – physical entities that accompany, modify, or decorate an entity;
  • – structural parts that form part of the internal structure of an object.

In addition to physical entities, non-physical concepts also provide bases for possessive adjectives. Common sub-classes of such nouns include:

  • – capacities and abilities;
  • – moral qualities;
  • – mental states;
  • – diseases and ailments;
  • – other characteristics that describe an entity's intrinsic properties.

Possessive adjectives align closely with the constitutive quale by characterizing an entity through a salient aspect or property that forms part of its identity. This inherent connection explains why possessive adjectives involving nouns in this context often convey an inalienable possession reading, where the attribute is understood as an inseparable characteristic of the entity.

  • conversion: sauricumba ‘foul-bellied’, quingatelco ‘bow-legged’, raccalepta ‘claw-fingered’, – all three from Treebeard’s speech, – but also marta ‘fated’, *vala ‘powerful’, galda ‘polished’.
  • -itĭ: maitë ‘skillful’ (and many ‘-handed’ variations, e.g. hyarmaitë ‘lefthanded’), manaitë ‘blessed’, ómaitë ‘voiced’, nírítë ‘forceful’, nítë ‘dewy’.
  • -jā is the most represented suffix here. It can be seen with:
    • – consonantal nouns: attalya ‘biped’, fantarcenya ‘perspicacious’, herenya ‘fortunate’, nenya ‘wet’.
    • – moraic nouns: lómea ‘gloomy’ (and lilómea ‘many-shadowed’), mírea ‘jeweled’, ómea ‘voiced’, fínea ‘dexterous’, ondórea ‘pitiless’, pirucendea ‘on the point of toes’, rúzea ‘wrathful’, túrea ‘mighty’, lárea ‘fat’, mailea ‘lustful’, hórea ‘impulsive’, lingea ‘with a musical sound’, lillassea ‘having many leaves’, lilótea ‘having many flowers’, poldórea ‘strong’.
    • – derivative vocalic nouns: airea ‘holy’, coirea ‘living’, taurea ‘forested’, almárea ‘blessed’, hloirea ‘venomous’, nairea ‘sorrowful’, eressea ‘lonely’, caimassea ‘sick’, lintyulussea ‘having many poplars’, laistea ‘ignorant’, nemestea ‘apparent’, atalantea ‘downfallen’.
    • – pseudo-vocalic nouns: alalvea ‘having many elms’, lindornea ‘having many oaks’.
  • -ā: góla ‘wise’, ringa ‘cold’, russa ‘red-haired’, finda ‘haired’, melecta ‘mighty’, laica ‘acute’, túra ‘great’, raina ‘smiling’, ruina ‘blazing’, sincahonda ‘flinthearted’.
  • -nā: orna ‘hasty’, quinna ‘crested’, ambuna ‘hilly’, rína ‘crowned’.
  • -imā: vailima ‘windy’, nessima ‘youthful’, úvanima ‘ugly’, alima ‘good’, vórima ‘faithful’.
  • -inqua: alcarinqua ‘glorious’, erinqua ‘single’.
  • hapax: -wā: linyenwa ‘old’; -rā: vára ‘dirty’; -ŭ: hlúvö ‘greasy’; -arwa: aldarwa ‘having trees’.
Privative adjectives

In Quenya, privative adjectives can be derived through prefixation from possessive adjectives (like prefix des- in Spanish), or a specialized privative morpheme (-less or -free in English):

  • ú- or al- with possessive adjectives: úmaitë ‘unskilled’, úvanë, úvanima ‘ugly’, úpahtea ‘speechless’, úfanwea ‘unveiled’, alómea ‘voiceless’.
  • ú-, al- or ava- with nouns: alahen ‘eyeless’, úpa ‘dumb’ (lit. ‘mouth-less’), avanóte ‘numberless’. These three instances can also be additional examples of conversion.
  • -lóra with nouns: ómalóra ‘voiceless’. This morpheme was likely replaced by nec-, -enca, later affixes mentioned in writing without attestation.
Similitudinal adjectives

Similitudinal adjectives are less frequent than possessive ones, as noted in various studies. Just as the notion of ‘possession’ in possessive adjectives is understood broadly — where Y has X — similitudinal adjectives interpret resemblance flexibly, following the pattern: Y is like X.

Among common nouns, the primary classes forming the bases for similitudinal adjectives include:

  • – animals, especially those stereotypically associated with specific moral or physical qualities
  • – substances, fruits, and other natural entities with prominent physical attributes
  • – social roles, particularly professions or statuses tied to human attributes
  • – places associated with stereotypical behaviors or inhabited by groups with characteristic properties
  • – geometric shapes

While not exhaustive, these classes are the most prominent sources.

The primary interpretation of a similitudinal adjective is that Y shares a salient characteristic typically associated with nouns of the X class. Which specific property is highlighted is often underspecified, though color and shape are common. Additional properties, such as texture, size, flavor, and smell, may also be conveyed, with the interpretation often varying based on the subject the adjective modifies.

When the base noun denotes a human or other animate being, the highlighted property tends to involve abilities, moral qualities, or typical behaviors. For nouns indicating social status or occupations, a behavior-focused reading is almost obligatory; if the noun denotes an animal, both behavioral and physical traits are commonly inferred.

Similitudinal adjectives are associated with the formal quale, as the resemblance relation may encompass any distinctive property that sets the base noun apart within its domain, such as shape, size, color, or texture.

The affixes involved in forming similitudinal adjectives are:

  • conversion: laicalasse ‘green as leaves’, tornanga ‘iron hard’.
  • -itĭ: ruscuitë ‘foxy’. To this category can also be allocated pronominal sítë ‘of this sort’, taitë ‘of that sort’.
  • -jā: laurea ‘golden’, lossea ‘snowy’, mairea ‘beautiful’, úmea ‘abundant’, nieninquea ‘like a snowdrop’, oialea ‘eternal’, vilvarindea ‘like a butterfly’, pitya ‘petty’. Here also belong adjectives on -vea: elvea ‘starlike’.
  • -(i)nā: lóna ‘dark’, lúna ‘[dark]’, cúna ‘curved‘, morna ‘somber’, culda or culina ‘golden-red’, tunga ‘taut’, malina ‘yellow’, culuina ‘orange’, telpina ‘silver’.
  • -imā: vinima ‘childish’, mírima ‘very precious’.
  • -ā: míra ‘beautiful’, fána ‘white’, rinda ‘circular’, tunda ‘tall’, yanda or yonda ‘wide’, helca ‘icy’, sinca ‘[flinty]’, felca ‘[cavernous]’, vea ‘adult’, helda or nilda ‘friendly’, norna ‘tough’, corna ‘round’, landa ‘wide’, rimba ‘frequent’, runya ‘fiery red’.
  • -ĭ: lissë ‘sweet’, lossë ‘snowy’.
  • -tā: olosta ‘dreamy’, telepta ‘silver’.
  • -rā, -lā: téra ‘straight’, sára ‘bitter’, astula ‘bony’; and -kā: tauca ‘stiff’.
Causative adjectives

Causative adjectives, or effect adjectives, are derived when the base noun is understood as an effect produced or triggered by the subject. In these cases, the subject is considered to bring about the quality or state that the adjective describes.

The bases used in causative adjectives can denote either physical objects or eventualities. Within eventualities, there are three main distinctions:

  • – physical objects: such as laira (‘shady’) or ilucara (‘omnificent’), where the subject causes the presence or manifestation of these objects or states.
  • – psychological states (the most frequent): like nairea (‘sorrowful’), naicelea (‘painful’), or gorta (‘horrible’), where the subject induces a particular emotional or psychological state.
  • – events and processes: including tinda (‘glinting’), saura (‘foul’), and cuivea (‘wakening’), where the subject initiates an event or ongoing process.

Causative adjectives align with the agentive quale, interpreting the subject as the catalyst for the state or effect represented by the base noun. In other words, the subject is the agent or cause behind the manifestation of the quality encapsulated by the adjective.

The affixes involved in forming causative adjectives are:

  • -jā: rávea ‘roaring’, yaimea ‘wailing’, cuivea ‘wakening’, naicea ‘cruel’, naicelea ‘painful’, nairea ‘sorrowful’.
  • -ā: tinda ‘glinting’, laira ‘shady’, naira ‘horrible’, naica ‘painful’, gorta ‘horrible’.
  • -imā: írima ‘desirable’, lámina ‘echoing’.
  • -carā: ilucara ‘omnificent’.
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