Adjectives
Adjectives follow the nouns they modify, preceding the case clitic attached to the noun. This position is called the adjectival position of a given noun phrase. For example:
san |
person |
busan |
fat |
A fat man
san |
person |
busan |
fat |
sa |
CVY.M |
duum |
sleep |
imim. |
FIN |
The fat man is sleeping.
Prototypical Adjectives
The adjectives kirat (tall and swift) and jini (tall and thin) belong to a group of polysemous adjectives that are commonly used in Tatari Faran. Native speakers regard certain combinations of attributes as prototypical of a certain ideal, and use a single word to describe them whenever they occur together. These prototypical adjectives are preferred over adjectives that refer to single attributes.
san |
person |
kirat |
tall_and_swift |
A tall and swift man
san |
person |
jini |
tall_and_thin |
A tall and thin woman
The adjective kirat is cognate with kiran young
man
, and refers to a prototypical young man who's tall and swift.
Intensified Adjectives
An adjective may be intensified by reduplication. For example:
buara |
volcano |
baasa |
large |
A large volcano.
buara |
volcano |
basa-baasa |
very~large |
A very large volcano.
The reduplicated stem is prefixed to the base adjective, and has any long vowels or glides in its last syllable reduced to a corresponding short vowel, and the final consonant, if present, is dropped:
esei → ese-esei
long; very long
tsat → tsa-tsat
fast; very fast
airis → airi-airis
young; very young
tihai → tiha-tihai
old; very old
The reduplicated stem is unstressed; the accent remains on the base adjective:
basa-baasa
[basaˈbaːsa]
ese-esei
[ɛsɛʔɛˈsej]
tsa-tsat
[ʦaˈʦat]
tiha-tihai
[tihaˈtihaj]