A collateral adjective is an adjective that is identified with a particular noun in meaning, but that is not derived from that noun. For example, the word bovine is considered the adjectival equivalent for the noun cattle, but it is derived from a different word, which happens to be the Latin word for "cattle" (n.b. the collateral adjective for cow as specifically restricted to adult female cattle, is vaccine). Similarly, lunar serves as an adjective to describe attributes of the Moon; Moon comes from Old English mōna "moon" and lunar from Latin luna "moon". The adjective thermal and the noun heat have a similar semantic relationship. As in these examples, collateral adjectives in English very often derive from the Latin or Greek translations of the corresponding nouns. In some cases both the noun and the adjective are borrowed, but from different languages, such as the noun air (from French) and the adjective aerial (from Latin). The term "collateral" refers to these two sides of the relationship.
In English, most
cardinal numbers, such as the ordinal 3rd (third) sounding like the cardinal number 3 (three), 4th (fourth) sounding like 4 (four), 10th (tenth) sounding like 10 (ten), 117th (one-hundred seventeenth) sounding like 117 (one-hundred seventeen), etc. However, 1st (first) and 2nd (second) sound unfamiliar to their cardinal counterparts 1 (one) and 2 (two). This is because these two ordinal numbers were derived from different roots, with "first" being derived from the
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "forward", and "second" deriving from the Latin word "secundus", meaning "following".
[1]
The phenomenon of ordinal numbers being collateral adjectives of cardinal numbers is common in the
Sinospheric languages, including
Japanese,
Korean, and
Vietnamese.
[citation needed] For example, Japanese usually use
Sino-Japanese numerals (words for numbers based on the Chinese language) for
measure words that use ordinal numbers. Since Japanese, much like Chinese, does not have any inflections that indicate
number, it uses measure words alongside a number to determine amounts of things.
[citation needed] The numerals 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 usually use the pronunciation derived from Chinese (
on'yomi), i.e.
ichi, ni, san, go, roku, hachi, kyū, and
jū respectively. However, 4 can be pronounced using either its on'yomi
shi or its native Japanese pronunciation (kun'yomi)
yon, depending on context, and likewise 7 can be pronounced either
shichi or
nana, depending on context. Most measure words require the speaker to use the Sino-Japanese on'yomi numbers, e.g. 3 years is
sannenkan (3年間), 6 o'clock is
rokuji (6時), 9 dogs is
kyūhiki no inu (9匹の犬), 7 people is
shichinin (7人), and 4 seasons is
shiki (四季). However, there are some measure words (and even a select few numbers among certain measure words) that require the native kun'yomi numbers: 7 minutes is
nanafun (7分), 4 apples is
yonko no ringo (4個のリンゴ). Measure words that use native numbers include days of the month and
tsu, which is the generic measure word that roughly translates into "things". 1–10 are
hitotsu (1つ)
, futatsu (2つ)
, mittsu (3つ),
yottsu (4つ),
itsutsu (5つ),
muttsu (6つ),
nanatsu (7つ),
yattsu (8つ),
kokonotsu (9つ)
, and tō (10). While the measure word for people,
nin (人), usually uses Sino-Japanese numbers, such as
sannin (3人),
hachinin (8人), and
jūnin (10人), the measures for 1 and 2 people use the native numbers, which are
hitori (1人) and
futari (2人).
[2]
lexicalized
uses so that one cannot replace the other, as in
nocturnal view and
night view, or
feline grace but
cat food (not *
cat grace or *
feline food).
Collateral adjectives contrast with
derived
(denominal) adjectives. For the noun
father, for example, there is a derived adjective
fatherly in addition to the collateral adjective
paternal. Similarly, for the noun
rain, there is derived
rainy and collateral
pluvial, and for
child, there are derived
childish and
childlike as well as collateral
infantile and
puerile.
The term "collateral adjective" was coined by the Funk and Wagnalls dictionaries, but as they are currently out of print, the term has become rare. A synonym sometimes seen in linguistics is a
suppletive (denominal) adjective, though this is a liberal and arguably incorrect use of the word 'suppletive'.
See also
References
- Funk and Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary (1984) Harper and Row
- G. Jan Wilms, "Computerizing a Machine Readable Dictionary", in Proceedings of the 28th annual [ACM] Southeast regional conference, 1990
- Tetsuya Koshiishi, "Collateral adjectives, Latinate vocabulary, and English morphology", in Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, January 2002.
- "The typology of suppletion", a chapter in David Beck (2006) Aspects of the theory of morphology
External links