adjectivalfability

Adjectivalfability is a proposed linguistic notion describing the potential for a word or base form to be realized as an adjective in a given language. In this sense, it captures how readily a lexical item can undergo adjectival derivation or function as an adjective in ordinary syntax.

Although not a widely established term, adjectivalfability overlaps with concepts such as adjectivization, denominal adjective derivation, and derivational productivity. The term would describe a gradient property rather than a binary yes/no status, varying with language, historical period, and domain of meaning.

Several factors influence adjectivalfability: morphological productivity (availability of adjectives formed with common suffixes such as -al, -ic, -y, -ful, -ous, -ive); semantic compatibility (the base meaning being amenable to modification by an adjective); syntactic licensing (the ability to modify nouns and appear in predicative position with be, seem, remain, etc.); and phonological or orthographic constraints.

Examples illustrate a spectrum. Nouns like water readily yield adjectives via forms such as water-based or watery; culture yields cultural; science yields scientific; nation yields national. Some bases rarely or never form adjectives directly, requiring periphrastic or semantic alternatives.

Assessment methods could include diachronic corpora studies of derivational productivity, cross-linguistic comparison, and speaker judgments about acceptability and ease of formation.

Adjectivalfability is language-specific; languages with rich derivational morphology may show higher adjectivalfability for certain bases. It provides a lens for examining how languages expand descriptive vocabulary and how related lexical families evolve.