Adjectivals

Adjectivals is a term used in linguistics to refer words and phrases that function as adjectives in a language. They describe properties or attributes of nouns and noun phrases, and can include bare adjectives, adjectival phrases, or adjectives formed from other parts of speech. Adjectivals may appear on their own or as part of a larger modifier chain, such as determiner + numeral + adjective within a single noun phrase.

In English grammar, adjectives typically modify nouns and are used in attributive position before the noun (the blue car) or in predicative position after a linking verb (the car is blue). English adjectives generally do not show gender or plural agreement, though they do form comparative and superlative forms (taller, the tallest) and may be intensified by adverbs (very tall). Some adjectives are non-gradable or take restricted intensifiers.

Across languages, adjectivals can behave very differently. In many Romance languages, adjectives agree with the noun in gender and number and commonly follow the noun (la casa blanca, the white house). In others, adjectives may precede or follow the noun depending on emphasis or semantic nuance. Some languages mark degree or case on adjectives, and some place adjectives in specific positions within the noun phrase. Adjectival phrases can also include degree words, numerals, or determiners that jointly modify a noun.

There are also adjectival forms derived from verbs (participial adjectives such as broken, surprising) and adjectives that have specialized syntactic roles in noun phrases. Overall, adjectivals function to assign properties to nouns and contribute to the semantic content of noun phrases across languages.