The problem of the category of state

A general outline of the adjective

Semantic features. The adjective expresses the property of an entity. Typically, adjectives denote states, usually permanent states, although there are also adjectives which can denote temporary states.

Adjectives are characteristically stative, but many of them can be seen as dynamic.

The stative property of an entity is a property that cannot be conceived as a developing process, and the dynamic property of an entity is a property that is conceived as active, or as a developing process.

— e.g. John is very tall. Vs .*John is being very tall today

— John is very careful today (unemphatic). vs. John is being careful today (emphatic).

— Morphological features.

— Derivationally, adjectives are related either to nouns or verbs.

— Suffixes changing nouns to adjectives are: - (i)al, -ar, -ary or –ery, -ed, -en, -esque, -ful, -ic(al), -ish, -istic, -less, -like, -ly, -ous, -ward, -wide, -y.

— Suffixes changing verbs to adjectives are: -able or –ible, -ent or –ant, -ed, -ing, -ive, -(at)ory.

— Syntactic features. In the sentence, the adjective performs the functions of an attribute(an adjunct) and a predicative. Of the two, the more typical function is that of an attribute since the function of a predicative can also be performed by other parts of speech.

— Adjectives can sometimes be postpositive, that is, they can sometimes follow the item they modify.

— Adjectives can often function as heads of noun phrases.As such, they do not inflect for number and for the genitive case and must take a definite determiner.

— An adjective can function as a verbless clause(eg. Anxious, he dialed the number).

Classification of adjectives

Semantic classification

All the adjectives are traditionally divided into two large subclasses: qualitative and relative.

Relative adjectives express such properties of a substance as are determined by the direct relation of the substance to some other substance.

E.g. mathematics — mathematical precision; history — a historical event.

Qualitative adjectives denote various qualities of substances which admit of a quantitative estimation. The measure of a quality can be estimated as high or low, adequate or inadequate, sufficient or insufficient, optimal or excessive.

However, in actual speech the described principle of distinction is not strictly observed. Substances can possess qualities that are incompatible with the idea of degrees of comparison.

So adjectives denoting these qualities and incapable of forming degrees of comparison still belong to the qualitative subclass (extinct, immobile, deaf, final, fixed, etc.)

On the other hand, some relative adjectives can form degrees of comparison.

— Cf.: a grammatical topic — a purely grammatical topic — the most grammatical of the suggested topics.

Prof. Blokh suggests that distinction be based on the evaluative function of adjectives. According as they actually give some qualitative evaluation to the substance referent or only point out its corresponding native property, all the adjective functions may be grammatically divided into "evaluative" and "specificative".

One and the same adjective, irrespective of its being "relative" or "qualitative", can be used either in the evaluative function or in the specificative function.

For instance, the adjective good is basically qualitative.

On the other hand, when employed as a grading term in teaching, i.e. a term forming part of the marking scale together with the grading terms bad, satisfactory, excellent, it acquires the said specificative value; in other words, it becomes a specificative, not an evaluative unit in the grammatical sense.

Conversely, the adjective wooden is basically relative, but when used in the broader meaning "expressionless" or "awkward" it acquires an evaluative force and, consequently, can presuppose a greater or lesser degree ("amount") of the denoted properly in the corresponding referent.

Thus, the introduced distinction between the evaluative and specificative uses of adjectives, in the long run, emphasizes the fact that the morphological category of comparison (comparison degrees) is potentially represented in the whole class of adjectives and is constitutive for it.

Adjectives that characterize the referent of the noun directly are termed inherent, those that do not are termed non-inherent.

— eg. an old member of the club – the member of the club is old

Most adjectives are inherent, and it is especially uncommon for dynamic adjectives to be other than inherent.

Syntactic classification.

From a syntactic point of view, adjectives can be divided into three groups:

1) adjectives which can be used attributively and predicatively (a healthy man – the man is healthy);

2) adjectives which can be used attributively only (a complete idiot – *the idiot is complete);

3) adjectives which can be used predicatively only (*a loath man – the man is loath to agree with it).

Attributive adjectives constitute two groups:

1) intensifying;

2) restrictive, or particularizing(limiter adjectives).

Intensifying adjectives constitute two groups:

1) emphasizers;

2) amplifiers.

Emphasizers have a heightening effect on the noun (clear, definite, outright, plain, pure, real, sheer, sure, true); amplifiers scale upwards from an assumed norm (complete, great, firm, absolute, close, perfect, extreme, entire, total, utter).

Restrictive adjectivesrestrict the noun to a particular member of the class (chief, exact, main, particular, precise, principal, sole, specific). They particularize the reference of the noun.

The problem of the category of state

There is a class of words in English with the following morphological, semantic and syntactic characteristics:

1) The words of this type denote “states” while adjectives denote “qualities”;

2) The words of this type may be characterized by the prefix a- (it derives from the Middle English preposition an ‘in, on’): alive, asleep, ajar, etc.;

3) The words of this type do not possess the category of the degrees of comparison;

4) The words of this type are used predicatively only, e.g. He is awake.

Because of the said features, these words are regarded by some grammarians as a separate part of speech which has been variously referred to as the category of state words, adlinks, and statives (B. Ilyish; B. S. Khaimovich and B. I. Rogovskaya).

The number of such words does not exceed several dozen. The traditional view of the stative, which separates temporary adjectives from other adjectives, does not seem to be convincing: temporary adjectives are part and parcel of the adjective class as a whole.

At the same time, we must admit that these adjectives have features (meaning, function) that allow us to assign them to a separate subclass of the adjective. But the features examined are not sufficient for the distinction of the category of state within the adjective.