Adjectives without nouns (Surgut Khanty)

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


(1) wərtə järnas, nēwi järnas

’red dress, white dress’


(2a) tēm järnas wərtə.

det dress red

’This dress is red.’


(2b) tēm järnas wərtə woʌ.

det dress red be.pst.3sg

’This dress was red.’


(3) mükšər järnas sīkkəŋ-čək, wərtə wəs nēwi? wərtə.

which dress beautiful-comp red or white red

’Which dress is more beautiful, the red or the white one? The red one.’


In Surgut Khanty, the adjective has only one form. The same form is used in the adjunct position before nouns (1), in predicative constructions (2a, 2b), and when it stands on its own, without a noun (3).

Author: 

Márta Csepregi