6.2. Semantic adjectives

Semantic adjectives can be divided into the following subgroups:

6.2.1. Denominating semantic adjectives

sempos = adj.denot

The subgroup of denominating semantic adjectives consists of:

  • traditional adjectives,

  • traditional adverbs derived from adjectives (i.e. represented by adjectival t-lemmas).

NB! Possessive adjectives do not belong to this subgroup; they are represented by the t-lemma of the corresponding semantic noun and are described with the help of nominal grammatemes; see Section 6.1.1, "Denominating semantic nouns".

Denominating semantic adjectives have the following grammatemes:

The degcmp grammateme. All denominating semantic adjectives have the degree grammateme. Denominating semantic adjectives are not (unlike denominating semantic adverbs) divided into the gradable and non-gradable ones. Finding the borderline between gradable and non-gradable semantic adjectives is complicated by the occassional occurrence of comparative and superlative forms of otherwise non-gradable adjectives (e.g.: čokoládový - nejčokoládovější čokoláda (=chocolate.adj - the most chocolate chocolate), český - češtější přístup k věci (=Czech - a more Czech approach to the matter)). As for the semantic adverbs, these cases are rare if existent at all (non-gradable semantic adverbs could be separated as a subgroup not having the degree grammateme; see sempos = adv.denot.ngrad.nneg; see Section 6.3.1, "Non-gradable denominating semantic adverbs that cannot be negated" and sempos = adv.denot.ngrad.neg; see Section 6.3.2, "Non-gradable denominating semantic adverbs that can be negated").

The value of the degree grammateme usually corresponds to the value of the morphological category of degree. For example:

příjemnější hudba [degcmp=comp] (=nicer music)

nejlépe strávený večer [degcmp=sup] (=an evening spent in the best way)

NB! The comp or sup values are not assigned in those cases when the higher/highest degree of a property is expressed in the periphrastic form, e.g.: víc příjemně (=more pleasantly), nejvíce hezký (=the most beautiful) etc. Apart form these collocations, which may be considered equivalent to one-word comparative and superlative forms (příjemnější (=nicer, more_pleasant), nejhezčí (=the_prettiest, the_most_beautiful)), there are also cases when více (=more) / nejvíce (=the_most) are combined with comparative or superlative forms (e.g.: více příjemněji (=lit. more pleasant-er) etc.). The degree grammateme value assignment is problematic in these cases. A solution is to assign a value to both parts of the collocation. For example:

víc [degcmp=comp] příjemně [degcmp=pos; t_lemma= příjemný] (=more pleasantly)

nejvíce [degcmp=sup] hezký [degcmp=pos] (=the most beautiful)

více [degcmp=comp] hezčí [degcmp=pos] (=lit. more prettier)

více [degcmp=comp] rychle [degcmp=pos; t_lemma= rychlý] (=lit. more fast)

As for the acomp value, there is no corresponding value of the morphological category of degree; it is assigned to nodes representing frozen comparative forms not expressing comparison (the so called absolute comparative / elative). For example:

starší žena [degcmp=acomp] (=elder(ly) woman)

muž tmavší pleti [degcmp=acomp] (=man of darker skin)

vyšší odborná škola [degcmp=acomp] (=lit. higher vocational school)

při delším nošení [degcmp=acomp] (=with long-time (lit. longer) wear)

každá větší pobočka [degcmp=acomp] (=every bigger branch)

Otakar Brousek starší [degcmp=acomp] (=OB, Senior)

NB! When it is not possible to decide whether the comparative is the absolute or the common one, both values are assigned.

The negation grammateme. The value of the negation grammateme tells us whether the surface form of the adjective was negated or not (the neg0 value for the positive, the neg1 value for the negative forms). For example:

příjemná hudba [negation=neg0] (=nice music)

nedobrý signál pro voliče [negation=neg1; t_lemma= dobrý] (=lit. not_good signal for voters)

dopadlo to s ním zle [negation=neg0; t_lemma= zlý] (=it turned out badly for him)

zachoval se k nám nepěkně [negation=neg1; t_lemma= pěkný] (=He treated us not_well)

NB! Not every prefix ne- represents the neg1 value in the negation grammateme - not in the case there is no positive form of the lexical item in question. For example:

nekalé úmysly [negation=neg0; t_lemma= nekalý] (=dishonest intentions)

krása nesmírná [negation=neg0; t_lemma= nesmírný] (=immense beauty)

!!! Dividing denominating semantic adjectives into those that can and those that cannot be negated (as with the denominating semantic adverbs; see Section 6.3, "Semantic adverbs") is complicated by the fact that some adjectives, which are usually found only in their positive forms, can occassionaly be negated, too; for example: český (=Czech) - nečeský (=non_Czech) etc. The negation grammateme is therefore relevant for denominating semantic adjectives as well.

6.2.2. Definite pronominal semantic adjectives: demonstratives

sempos = adj.pron.def.demon

The subgroup of definite pronominal - demonstrative - semantic adjectives consists of:

  • demonstrative and identifying pronouns in the positions of syntactic adjectives.

Nodes of this subgroup have no grammatemes.

Examples:

Ten dům už koupili. (=They have bought the house already)

Takový přístup se mi nelíbí. (=I don't like this approach)

On už je takový. (=He is like that)

Měl tentýž problém jako ty. (=He had the same problem as you)

!!! In the current version of PDT, the value adj.pron.def.demon is assigned to all nodes representing the pronoun takový. However, it will be necessary to distinguish the cases when the pronoun is a semantic noun from the cases when it is a semantic adjective in the future (i.e. to decide when to assign the value adj.pron.def.demon and when n.pron.def.demon) - depending on its syntactic position. See also Section 5.3.2, "Correlative pairs with the supporting expression "takový"".

6.2.3. Indefinite pronominal semantic adjectives

sempos = adj.pron.indef

The subgroup of indefinite pronominal semantic adjectives consists of indefinite pronouns with the adjectival function:

  • relative pronouns který (=which) and jaký (=what), if their syntactic function (position) is adjectival.

  • their derivatives if in the position of syntactic adjectives, i.e. indefinite (e.g.: nějaký (=some)), interrogative (e.g.: který (=which)), negative (e.g.: nijaký (=no)) and totalizing pronouns (e.g.: každý (=every)); see Section 1.2, "Types of lexical derivation".

The pronouns který (=which) and jaký (=what) and their derivatives are either semantic nouns or semantic adjectives depending on whether they are in the position of a syntactic noun or adjective. Cf.:

  • Nevěděla, jaké šaty se by se na ples hodily. (=She didn't know what (kind of) dress would be good for the ball)

    Kterou knihu si přál? (=Which book did he wish to have?)

    Kup mu nějakou knihu (=Buy him a book/some book or other).

    Ta barva je nijaká. (=The color is insipid (lit. no))

    Kup mu nějakou knihu (=Buy him a book/some book or other).

    Každý člověk má problémy. (=Everyone has problems)

    - these are syntactic, hence semantic adjectives.

  • Šaty, jaké by se hodily na ples, tu neměli. (=They didn't have the kind of dress which would be good for a ball)

    Knihu, kterou si přál, nemohla sehnat. (=She couldn't get the book which he wished to have)

    - these are syntactic, hence semantic nouns (see Section 6.1.4, "Indefinite pronominal semantic nouns").

Indefinite pronominal semantic adjectives have the following grammatemes:

The indeftype grammateme. The indeftype grammateme expresses the semantic feature distinguishing the pronoun from the t-lemma it is represented by. There are only two t-lemmas used with indefinite pronominal semantic adjectives: který (=which) and jaký (=what). All other pronouns are taken to be their derivatives. Which pronouns are represented by which t-lemmas and which values of the indeftype grammateme they get is summarized in Table 5.18, "Indefinite pronominal semantic adjectives"

The first row presents the t-lemmas and in each column, there are pronouns represented by these t-lemmas. The first column lists the values of the indeftype grammateme which are to be assigned to a given t-lemma if it represents the pronoun in the same row as the value of the grammateme.

For example, the pronoun veškerý (=all) is represented by the t-lemma který (=which) and the value total1.

The list of pronouns is not exhaustive; in some cases there are other variants as well (e.g. apart from všelijaký there are also bůhvíjaký, kdovíjaký and other variants). Certain types of pronouns are not existent in Czech at all; e.g. there is no totalizer for the adjectival jaký; cf. the - symbol in the appropriate slot).

Table 5.18. Indefinite pronominal semantic adjectives

  t-lemma:
the value of the indeftype grammateme: který jaký
relat který jaký
indef1 některý nějaký
indef2 kterýsi jakýsi
indef3 kterýkoli(v) jakýkoli(v)
indef4 leckterý, ledakterý lecjaký, ledajaký
indef5 kdekterý kdejaký
indef6 málokterý... všelijaký...
inter který, kterýpak jaký, jakýpak
negat žádný nijaký
total1 všechen, veškerý -
total2 každý -

6.2.4. Definite quantificational semantic adjectives

sempos = adj.quant.def

The subgroup of definite quantificational semantic adjectives consists of:

  • definite cardinal numerals in the position of syntactic adjectives,

  • definite ordinal numerals (e.g.: třetí, stý (=the third, hundredth)), set numerals (e.g.: troje, stery (=three, one_hundred_sets_of)) and sort numerals (e.g.: trojí, sterý (=three, one_hundred_kinds_of)), which are derived from (and therefore represented by) the corresponding cardinal numerals; see Section 1.2, "Types of lexical derivation"),

  • adverbs of the type dvakrát / podruhé (=twice, for_the_second_time), also represented by the t-lemmas of the corresponding cardinal numerals (see Section 1.3, "Mixed type"),

  • the numeral tolik (=so_much) and its derivatives (tolikátý, tolikery, tolikerý (the n-th, so_many_sets/kinds_of)) and adverbs tolikrát (=so_many_times) and potolikáté (=for_the_n-th_time).

The cardinal numerals jedna (=one) through devětadevadesát (ninety-nine) are either semantic nouns or adjectives, according to their function in the sentence (see also Section 10, "Numbers and numerals"). Cf.:

  • pět knih (=five books)

    Přišli tři muži (=Three men came)

    Uchazeči byli dva (=There were two applicants)

    Auta má dvě (=He has two cars)

    - these are syntactic, hence also semantic adjectives.

  • Vybrali tři (=lit. They chose three).

    - this is a syntactic, hence also semantic noun (see Section 6.1.5, "Definite quantificational semantic nouns").

The numerals sto, tisíc, milion (=hundred, thousand, million) or miliarda (=billion) etc. have the "container" meaning and are always semantic nouns (see Section 6.1.5, "Definite quantificational semantic nouns"). Nodes with the t-lemmas sto, tisíc are only considered semantic adjectives if they represent ordinal numerals (stý, tisící (=the hundredth, thousandth) etc.), set numerals (stery, tisícery (=one hundred, thousand sets of)) or sort numerals (sterý, tisícerý (=one hundred, thousand kinds of)), as well as if they represent adverbs of the type stokrát (=hundred_times) or posté (=for_the_hundredth_time).

Similarly, adverbs of this type, derived from the numerals jeden (=one) through devětadevadesát (=ninety-nine) (e.g.: jedenkrát, dvakrát / podruhé, podevětadevadesáté (=once, twice / for the first, second time)) are represented by the t-lemmas of the corresponding cardinal numerals.

The t-lemma tolik (=so_much) is always (i.e. whether it represents tolik, tolikátý or tolikrát etc.) considered a semantic adjective.

Definite quantificational semantic adjectives have the following grammatemes:

The numertype grammateme. The numertype grammateme expresses the semantic feature distinguishing the numeral from the t-lemma it is represented by. With definite quantificational semantic adjectives, there are four values of the numertype grammateme: basic (for cardinal numerals - or set numerals combined with pluralia tantum), ord (for ordinal numerals), set (for set numerals), kind (for sort numerals).

NB! Set numerals combined with pluralia tantum express - just like cardinal numerals with nouns that make use of the singular - plural opposition - simply the quantity of the denoted objects; the numertype grammateme has the value basic (troje dveře (=three doors) is just like tři okna (=three windows)).

Examples:

Koupil tři domy. [numertype=basic; t_lemma= tři] (=He bought three houses)

Natřel troje dveře. [numertype=basic; t_lemma= tři] (=He painted three doors)

Umístil se na třetím místě. [numertype=ord; t_lemma= tři] (=He came in third)

Doběhl do cíle jako stý. [numertype=ord; t_lemma= sto] (=He came in hundredth)

Ztratil už troje klíče. [numertype=set; t_lemma= tři] (=He has already lost three bunches of keys)

dvojí občanství. [numertype=kind; t_lemma= dva] (=He has two citizenships)

Tolik připomínek nečekal. [numertype=basic; t_lemma= tolik] (=He didn't expect so many comments)

Tolikery klíče nepotřebuje. [numertype=set; t_lemma= tolik]] (=He doesn't need so many (sets of) keys)

Adverbs of the type jedenkrát, dvakrát, stokrát, tolikrát (=once, twice, hundred_times, so_many_times) etc. are represented by the t-lemma of the corresponding cardinal numeral (jeden, dva, sto, tolik (=one, two, hundred, so_much/many) etc.) and the value of the numertype grammateme is basic.

The adverbs jednou and jedinkrát are considered variants of the adverb jedenkrát (=once) and are all represented by a single t-lemma jeden (=one) and the value of the numertype grammateme is basic.

Adverbs of the type poprvé, podruhé, posté, potolikáté (= for the first / second / hundredth / n-th time) etc. are also represented by the t-lemma of the corresponding cardinal numeral (jeden, dva, sto, tolik (=one, two, hundred, so_much/many) etc.) and the value of the numertype grammateme is ord.

The fact that these nodes, having the t-lemmas of cardinal numerals and the value of the grammateme either basic or ord represent adverbs and not cardinal or ordinal numerals follows from their function in the sentence. Such an adverbial function is expressed by the assigned functor (most often TWHEN or THO). Cf.:

Volal jsem tam už dvakrát.THO [numertype=basic; t_lemma= dva] (=I have called there twice already)

Přijal už dvě.RSTR návštěvy. [numertype=basic; t_lemma= dva] (=He has already accepted two visitors)

Vysvětluje to už podruhé.TWHEN [numertype=ord; t_lemma= dva] (=He is explaining the thing for the second time already)

Skončil na druhém.RSTR místě.[numertype=ord; t_lemma= dva] (=He took second place)

Do cíle doběhl jako druhý.COMPL [numertype=ord; t_lemma= dva] (=He came in second)

6.2.5. Indefinite quantificational semantic adjectives

sempos = adj.quant.indef

The subgroup of indefinite quantificational semantic adjectives consists of:

  • the indefinite cardinal numeral kolik (=how_many/much) (e.g.: kolik psů (=how_many_dogs)),

  • its indefinite (e.g.: několik (=several)) and interrogative variants (e.g: kolikpak (=how_many)) (see Section 1.2, "Types of lexical derivation"),

  • indefinite ordinal numerals (e.g.: kolikátý / několikátý (=how_many.ordinal, n-th/several.ordinal)), indefinite set (e.g.: kolikery / několikery (=how_many/several_sets_of) and sort numerals (e.g.: kolikerý / několikerý (=how_many/several_sorts_of); i.e. derivatives of the numeral kolik (see Section 1.3, "Mixed type"),

  • adverbs of the type kolikrát / několikrát (=how_many_times/several_times) and pokolikáté / poněkolikáté (=apprx. for_the_n-th_time) are also represented by kolik (=how_many/much) (see Section 1.3, "Mixed type").

Indefinite quantificational semantic adjectives have the following grammatemes:

The numertype grammateme. With indefinite quantificational semantic adjectives, there are four values of the numertype grammateme: basic (for cardinal numerals - or set numerals combined with pluralia tantum), ord (for ordinal numerals), set (for set numerals), kind (for sort numerals).

NB! Set numerals in combination with pluralia tantum express - just like cardinal numerals with nouns that make use of the singular - plural opposition - simply the quantity of the denoted objects: the numertype has the value basic.

Examples:

Kolik domů koupil? [numertype=basic; t_lemma= kolik] (=How many houses has he bought?)

Kolikery dveře už prošel? [numertype=basic; t_lemma= kolik] (=How many doors has he gone through?)

Natřel několikery dveře. [numertype=basic; t_lemma= kolik] (=He painted several doors)

Kolikátý pokus jsi provedl? [numertype=ord; t_lemma= kolik] (=Which (lit. how_many_ordinal) experiment have you done?)

Ztratil už několikery klíče. [numertype=set; t_lemma= kolik] (=He has already lost several bunches/sets of keys)

Člověk může mít několikeré občanství. [numertype=kind; t_lemma= kolik] (=People can have several (kinds of) citizenship(s))

Adverbs of the type kolikrát / několikrát are represented by the t-lemma of the relevant cardinal numeral (kolik) and the value of the numertype grammateme is basic.

Adverbs of the type pokolikáté / poněkolikáté etc. are represented by kolik and the value of the numertype grammateme is ord.

The fact that these nodes, having the t-lemmas of cardinal numerals and the value of the grammateme either basic or ord represent adverbs and not cardinal or ordinal numerals follows from their function in the sentence - such an adverbial function is expressed by the functor assigned to the node (most often TWHEN or THO). Cf.:

Volal jsem tam už několikrát.THO [numertype=basic; t_lemma= kolik] (=I have called there several times already)

Přijal už několik.RSTR návštěv. [numertype=basic; t_lemma= kolik] (=He has already accepted several visitors)

Vysvětluje to už poněkolikáté.TWHEN [numertype=ord; t_lemma= kolik] (=He is explaining the thing for the n-th time already)

Na kolikátém.RSTR místě skončil. [numertype=ord; t_lemma= kolik] (=Which place did he take?)

The indeftype grammateme. The indeftype grammateme expresses the semantic feature distinguishing the numeral from the t-lemma it is represented by. The only t-lemma for indefinite quantificational semantic adjectives is kolik. All other numerals are considered derived from this t-lemma.

All combinations of the numertype and indeftype grammateme values with nodes the t-lemma of which is kolik - i.e. all derivatives od this t-lemma - are in Table 5.19, "Indefinite quantificational semantic adjectives".

The first row lists all the values of the numertype grammateme; the first column lists the values of the indeftype grammateme. All the numerals (in the individual slots) are represented by a single t-lemma, namely kolik. Different combinations of this t-lemma, a certain value of the numertype grammateme and certain value of the indeftype grammateme represent different numerals.

For example, několikerý (=several_kinds_of) is represented by the t-lemma kolik (=how_many) and the values kind and indef1.

The list is not complete; in some cases, there are also other variants. Certain types of derivatives (combinations) are not existent at all (which is indicated by the - symbol in the relevant slot).

Table 5.19. Indefinite quantificational semantic adjectives

t_lemma=kolik the value of the numertype grammateme:
the value of the indeftype grammateme: basic set kind ord
relat kolik (klíčů), kolikery (dveře) kolikery (klíče) kolikerý kolikátý
indef1 několik (klíčů), několikery (dveře) několikery (klíče) několikerý několikátý
indef2 - - - -
indef3 - - - -
indef4 - - - -
indef5 - - - -
indef6 kdovíkolik (klíčů), kdovíkolikery (dveře)... kdovíkolikery (klíče)... kdovíkolikerý... kdovíkolikátý...
inter kolik (klíčů), kolikery (dveře) kolikery (klíče) kolikerý kolikátý
negat - - - -
total1 - - - -
total2 - - - -

!!! It has turned out that indefinite numerals can be in the positions of syntactic nouns as well. In the future versions of PDT, it will be necessary to delimit a subgroup of indefinite quantificational semantic nouns, too (n.quant.indef) and distinguish the values adj.quant.indef and n.quant.indef, with indefinite numerals, depending on their syntactic position. See also Section 10.1.1, "Numerals with the role of an attribute (RSTR)".

6.2.6. Gradable quantificational semantic adjectives

sempos = adj.quant.grad

The subgroup of gradable quantificational semantic adjectives consists of:

  • gradable indefinite cardinal numerals in the positions of syntactic adjectives: málo účastníků, mnoho chyb (=few participants, many mistakes)),

  • adverbs of the type málokrát (=few_times) represented by the t-lemma of the corresponding indefinite cardinal numeral (see Section 1.3, "Mixed type").

Gradable quantificational semantic adjectives have the following grammatemes:

The degcmp grammateme. The value of the degree grammateme usually corresponds to the value of the morphological category of degree. Examples:

hodně zájemců [degcmp=pos] (=many applicants/interested people)

více připomínek [degcmp=comp; t_lemma= hodně] (=more comments)

nejméně chyb [degcmp=sup; t_lemma= málo] (=the least mistakes)

As for the acomp value, there is no corresponding value of the morphological category of degree; it is assigned to nodes representing frozen comparative forms not expressing comparison. E.g.:

děti z méně movitých rodin [degcmp=acomp; t_lemma= málo] (=children from less well-off families)

NB! The comp or sup values are also assigned in those cases when the higher/highest degree of a property is expressed by the periphrastic form, e.g.: víc příjemně (=more pleasantly), nejvíce hezký (=the most beautiful) etc. Denominating semantic adjectives (see Section 6.2.1, "Denominating semantic adjectives") are (unlike the quantificational ones) assigned the pos value for the degcmp grammateme in these cases. For example:

víc [degcmp=comp; t_lemma= hodně] příjemně [degcmp=pos] (=more pleasantly)

nejvíce [degcmp=sup; t_lemma= hodně] hezký [degcmp=pos] (=the most beautiful)

méně [degcmp=comp; t_lemma= málo] rychle [degcmp=pos] (=less fast)

The numertype grammateme. Numerals of this subgroup are always cardinal numerals - the value of the numertype grammateme is always basic. For example:

Prohlédli si už mnoho bytů. [numertype=basic] (=They have already seen over many flats)

Prošel už mnoho dveří.[numertype=basic] (=He has gone through many doors)

nejméně chyb [numertype=basic] (=the least mistakes)

Adverbs of the type málokrát, mnohokrát are represented by the t-lemma of the relevant cardinal numeral (málo, mnoho) and the value of their numertype grammateme is basic. The fact that these nodes, having the t-lemmas of cardinal numerals and the basic value of the grammateme represent adverbs and not cardinal numerals follows from their function in the sentence - this adverbial function is expressed by the functor assigned to the node (usually THO). For example:

Volal jsem tam už mnohokrát.THO [numertype=basic; t_lemma= mnoho] (=I have called there already many times)

Přijal už mnoho.RSTR návštěv. [numertype=basic; t_lemma= mnoho] (=He has already accepted many visitors)

Adverbs of the type potřetí / pokolikáté (=for_the_third/n-th_time) derived from these numerals are non-existent in Czech.