adjectivelor

Adjectivelor is a coinage used in linguistic discussions and in some language-construction projects to refer to a word class that blends properties of adjectives with nominal functions. Because it is not a standardized term, its meaning varies by author. In general, adjectivelor are proposed as words that act like adjectives in syntax but can also be treated as nouns or noun heads in certain contexts.

In a common interpretation, adjectivelor behave like adjectives when modifying nouns, and they may also occur predicatively. Crucially, they can bear determiner and plural marking and may be declined for case or gender in languages that feature such systems. This combines adjectival semantics with nominal morphosyntax, making the class useful in linguistic theory and in constructed languages. Some analyses emphasize that adjectivelor occupy an intermediate space between standard adjectives and nouns, rather than forming a distinct separate class in all languages.

Examples from English illustrate nominal uses of adjectives, which are often explained as nominalized adjectives rather than a separate class: the rich, the poor, the young. In these cases the adjective stands in for a class of people. Other languages may assign explicit noun-like inflection to adjectivelor, aligning them with noun phrases or with specialized noun classes.

In conlang design, adjectivelor can provide a compact strategy for encoding categorization or social groups, while also preserving descriptive meaning. Critics note that the term overlaps with established concepts such as nominalized adjectives and noun phrases formed from adjectives, and that its definitions are not universally agreed. Related concepts include nominalization and adjectives used as nouns.