adjectivebound

Adjectivebound is a term used in linguistics to describe a relationship in which adjectives form a bound, inseparable part of the noun phrase they modify. It characterizes constructions in which the adjective is not an independent modifier but a bound element—often realized as a suffix, a prefix, or a fixed compound—that cannot freely occur outside the noun it accompanies. The concept is used to discuss languages and grammatical phenomena where adjectives behave like bound morphemes or tightly bound compounds rather than standalone modifiers.

In languages exhibiting adjectivebound, binding can be achieved through affixation, cliticization, or compounding. Morphology may attach adjectives to nouns to reflect category features such as noun class, grammatical number, or definiteness. Syntactically, adjectivebound items often display restricted distribution: they must occur immediately adjacent to the noun, and agreement or selectional restrictions tie the adjective to the noun head. Some theories treat adjectivebound as a type of binding that sits between bound morphemes and lexical adjectives.

Typologically, adjectivebound is discussed primarily in languages with high degrees of noun–modifier integration, such as certain synthetic or polysynthetic systems where descriptive content is fused with the noun. It may correlate with processes like noun incorporation or the fusion of descriptive material into the noun. Critics argue it risks conflating genuine bound morphology with fixed compounds; proponents claim recognizing adjectivebound clarifies how modifiers encode grammatical information and influence parsing and morphology.

See also: bound morpheme, compound, noun phrase, agreement, clitic.