This parameter considers the dominant word order of degree words, or affixes, (Deg) relative to adjectives. Adjectives are defined here as any words, regardless of actual word class, that express the characteristics or qualities of a noun.[1] Degree words mark the extent to which the adjective defines the nouns.[2] The degree word may precede or follow the adjective, or it may be that no dominant word order exists. The dominant word order is determined by considering the behavior of known degree words in the language.[3] Any word order that appears as either the only word order, or with at least twice the frequency of the other word order, is considered the dominant word order.

Not all languages have a dominant word order. This may be for any of the following reasons:

• There are no restrictions on any degree words preceding or following the adjective.
• Certain degree words precede the adjective, while others follow it; neither group is at least twice as large as the other.
• The order of degree words relative to adjectives depends on whether the adjectives appear in attributive or predicative function.
• Some combination of the above can be observed, and neither word order is at least twice as frequent as the other.

Types:

DegAdj: Degree words always (or almost always[4]) precede adjectives.

AdjDeg: Degree words always (or almost always) follow adjectives.

When a language displays both word orders, both values can be listed. If one order is dominant, a slash (/) can separate the two values, with the dominant value appearing first; if neither is dominant, they are listed with an ampersand (&) separating the two.

[1] In some languages, these words may be classified not as adjectives but as nouns or verbs.

[2] Words and affixes expressing degree include very, completely, a little, somewhat, relatively. Words referring to the validity of the statement or the circumstances of its declaration, such as supposedly, apparently, surprisingly, do not qualify.

[3] The set of basic degree words in any given language generally does not exceed 10 or 15. Dominant word order is determined by considering the order in which these words appear, rather than by corpus-based frequency. If at least two-thirds of a language’s basic degree words display a particular word order with respect to adjectives, and the remaining one-third displays a different word order, the word order of the first group should be considered the dominant word order. Mixed word order occurs when neither order appears in at least two-thirds of the language’s basic degree words. In this case, both parameters should be listed, separated by an ampersand (&).

[4] Words that mean ‘very’ or ‘completely’ cannot be exceptions to this rule.