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1.3.2.3.A morphological classification
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From a morphological point of view, the set-denoting adjectives undoubtedly constitute the largest adjectival class. In fact, a description of the morphological properties of these adjectives covers practically all productive word formation processes by which adjectives can be created. Since we do not intend to give a full description of the morphology of Dutch, the small sample in (118) should suffice to illustrate these processes; see De Haas and Trommelen (1993) and Booij (2002) for more comprehensive descriptions.

118
Morphological classes of set-denoting adjectives
type example translation
Simple adjectives aardig
mooi
nice
beautiful
Compounds N+A bloedmooi (blood + beautiful)
boterzacht (butter + soft)
extremely beautiful
soft as butter
  V+A fonkelnieuw (sparkle + new)
spilziek (waste + ill)
brand-new
wasteful
  A+A donkerrood (dark + red)
stomdronken (mute + drunk)
deep red
dead drunk
  P+A intriest (in + sad)
doornat (through + wet)
very sad
soaked
Derived adjectives denominal deugdzaam (virtue + affix)
rotsachtig (rock + affix)
virtuous
rocky
  deverbal zwijgzaam (be.silent + affix)
weigerachtig (refuse + affix)
reticent
inclined to refuse
  deadjectival gel(er)ig (yellow + affix)
ziekelijk (ill + affix)
yellowish
sickly
  deadpositional achterlijk (behind + affix)
voorlijk (in.front + affix)
retarded
precocious

Instead of providing a full description of the morphological categories that can be used as set-denoting adjectives, it is easier to list the morphological categories that cannot readily be used as such, because these constitute the subset of the denominal adjectives that are used as relational adjectives; cf. Section 1.3.3. This complementarity shows that the semantic distinction between the set-denoting and the relational adjectives also has a morphological reflex.

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References:
  • Booij, Geert2002The morphology of DutchOxfordOxford University Press
  • Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
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