Adjectives without nouns (Northern Mansi)

AdjNoN=Adj: Adjectives can appear without a noun; the bare adjective appears with no morphological change.


(1) taw luwǝŋ simri-χūl tēγ.
he/she bony perch-fish eat.prs.3sg
’He/she is eating a bony perch.’ (S. D.)


(2) simri-χūl luwǝŋ.
perch-fish bony
’The perch is bony’ (S. D.)


(3) luwǝŋ at tēγ-ǝm.
bony not eat-prs.1sg
’I don’t eat bony (one).’ (S. D.)


In Northern Mansi, adjectives can be adjuncts (1) and predicates (2). If the adjective appears on its own in the sentence, its form does not change (Kálmán 1976: 65).

Author: 

Szilvia Németh