Problems and questions in derived adjectives

Abstract

This article overviews the main questions that emerge from cross-linguistic analysis of morphologically complex adjectives. It is discussed that the problems arise from the fact that it is difficult to identify any positive properties of adjectives capable of singling them out with respect to other categories. Thus, what has been classified as a derived adjective frequently is a version of the base category that lacks some of the definitional properties of that category. This article examines the questions related to deverbal adjectives, participles and denominal adjectives.