translativeadjective

Translative adjective is a term encountered occasionally in linguistic discussions to denote adjectives that express the endpoint or resulting state after a change of property or condition. It is not a standard, widely accepted category in all grammars, but is used to describe how certain adjectives function in resultative constructions where a subject undergoes a transformation and ends up in a new state.

Semantically, translative adjectives encode the state achieved as a consequence of a change, rather than the process of changing. They commonly appear with verbs of change or becoming (such as become, turn, grow, get) and with linking predicates that describe the outcome. In analyses that use the label, the emphasis is on the relation between the event of changing and the adjective describing the post-change state, rather than on the adjective’s intrinsic properties alone.

Cross-linguistically, some languages employ a translative or similar case/morphology to mark the endpoint of a change, while adjectives participate in constructions that convey result states. In such contexts the term translative adjective is used more as a descriptive label for the function of the adjective within a resultative pattern, rather than as a distinct, widely recognized lexical class. For English, examples commonly cited are sentences like “The metal cooled and became molten” or “The crowd grew silent,” where the adjectives “molten” and “silent” describe the state reached after the change.

In summary, translative adjectives refer to adjectives that denote the state resulting from a transformation. They are discussed chiefly within resultative and change-of-state semantics, and the label is not uniformly standardized across grammars. See also resultative constructions, change-of-state semantics, and translative case.