5.4 Adjective classes in CMA: morphology and syntax
5.4.3 Colour
The Colour class in CMA presents an interesting problem as not all adjectives that belong to this class behave similarly. To begin with, it only consists of three native Arabic colour terms which are the terms for ‘black’, ‘white’ and ‘red’,
while all other terms have been borrowed from Greek.10 The fact that the only native adjectives in this class are specifically these three colour terms, and not any other three colour terms, follows directly from typological findings on colour universals. Berlin & Kay (1991) argue that if a language only contains three colour terms, then these terms will be for white, black and red. The forms of the three native colours in CMA are given in (45). We observe that the consonantal root is modified when specified for number and gender, in the same manner as quality and size adjectives.
(45) a. aXmar red.m.sg
Xamra red.f.sg
Xumr red.pl
‘red’
b. isfet
black.m.sg
sauta black.f.sg
sut black.pl
‘black’
c. apcaD white.m.sg
peDa white.f.sg
piD white.pl
‘white’
Borrowed colour adjectives, on the other hand, pattern with shape and nationality adjectives as they mark gender and number by suffixation. This is demonstrated in (46) with the adjective ‘green’.
(46) ‘green’
a. √prasin −→ prasino.m/n.sg b. √prasin −→ prasini.f.sg c. √prasin −→ prasina.n.pl
If we look at the placement of the colour terms in relation to the noun, again we find that native terms pattern with adjectives of quality and size, while the be-haviour of borrowed colour terms corresponds to shape and nationality adjectives.
This means that the former must appear postnominally, as indicated in (47), and the latter are equally acceptable both before and after the noun, something that is evident from (48).
10Borg (2004:84, 2011:77) claims that CMA has five native words for colour, the two ad-ditional terms being XoDer.m.sg ‘green’ and asfar.m.sg ‘yellow’. However, according to my informants, XoDer is restricted to the meaning ‘fresh/unripe’ and asfar conveys the meaning
‘pale’. Borg (2004:85) points out that these additional meanings of asfar and XoDer are shared in many other Arabic dialects. Nevertheless, it appears that in CMA these two terms are lim-ited to the non-colour meanings, and native speakers use the Greek terms for yellow and green instead. As a result, when asfar and XoDer are used in CMA, they appear as Quality adjectives.
(47) a. thavli table.def.n
l-aXmar/l-isfet/l-apcaD
the-red/the-black/the-white.n b. *l-aXmar/l-isfet/l-apcaD
the-red/the-black/the-white.n thavli table.def.n
‘the red/black/white table’
(48) a. thavli table.def.n
li-prasino/li-tSitrino/li-ble the-green/the-yellow/the-blue.n b. li-prasino/li-tSitrino/li-ble
the-green/the-yellow/the-blue.n thavli table.def.n
‘the green/yellow/blue table’
The presence of a borrowed Greek adjective in the same phrase as a native colour term does not make the prenominal position accessible to the native colour term, in any order. This contrasts with the distribution of quality and size adjectives:
(49) a. ??li-strodZilo the-round.n
l-aXmar/l-isfet/l-apcaD
the-red/the-black/the-white.n thavli table.def.n b. *l-aXmar/l-isfet/l-apcaD
the-red/the-black/the-white.n
li-strodZilo the-round.n
thavli table.def.n
‘the round red/black/white table’
A further departure from the behaviour of quality and size adjectives is related to the ordering of native colour terms. If we look at the ordering of native colour adjectives and a nationality adjective in (50), we notice that the preferred one is the mirror image order. This is unexpected as all other classes of adjectives in CMA surface in the non-mirror image order postnominally.
(50) a. ??thavli table.def.n
l-aXmar/l-isfet/l-apcaD
the-red/the-black/the-white.n
l-italiko the-italian.n b. thavli
table.def.n
l-italiko the-italian.n
l-aXmar/l-isfet/l-apcaD
the-red/the-black/the-white.n
‘the red/black/white Italian table’
On the other hand, borrowed colour terms not only can appear prenominally, but they also emerge in the same order prenominally and postnominally. This means that borrowed colour adjectives follow the universal order both prenominally and postnominally, as all other adjectives in CMA apart from native colour terms.
This is demonstrated in (51) and (52).
(51) a. thavli table.def.n
li-prasino/li-tSitrino/li-ble the-green/the-yellow/the-blue.n
l-italiko the-italian.n b. ??thavli
table.def.n
l-italiko the-italian.n
li-prasino/li-tSitrino/li-ble the-green/the-yellow/the-blue.n
‘the green/yellow/blue Italian table’
(52) a. li-prasino/li-tSitrino/li-ble the-green/the-yellow/the-blue.n
l-italiko the-italian.n
thavli table.def.n b. *l-italiko
the-italian.n
li-prasino/li-tSitrino/li-ble the-green/the-yellow/the-blue.n
thavli table.def.n
‘the green/yellow/blue Italian table’
To summarise what we have seen so far, the available orders for colour and nationality adjectives in CMA are the ones given in (53). Borrowed Greek colour adjectives always appear to the left of nationality adjectives regardless of whether they appear before or after the noun, while native Arabic colour adjectives can only appear postnominally in the mirror image order.
(53) Ordering of Colour and Nationality a. ColourGreek ≻ Nationality ≻ N b. N ≻ ColourGreek ≻ Nationality c. N ≻ Nationality ≻ ColourArabic
The ordering of native colour adjectives becomes even more perplexing when we look at how these are ordered with adjectives that are structurally higher. So far, we have only examined how these are ordered with respect to nationality adjectives. According to the universal adjective order, which is repeated in (54), nationality adjectives are found lower than the merging position of colour adjec-tives. When we look at higher classes such as Shape in (55) and Size in (56) we notice that the mirror image order is no longer observed and the adjectives appear in the universal order.
(54) Universal adjective order :
Quality > Size > Shape > Colour > Nationality (55) a. thavli
table.def.n
li-strodZilo the-round.n
l-aXmar/l-isfet/l-apcaD
the-red/the-black/the-white.n b. ??thavli
table.def.n
l-aXmar/l-isfet/l-apcaD
the-red/the-black/the-white.n
li-strodZilo the-round.n
‘the round red/black/white table’
(56) a. thavli table.def.n
li-Gbir the-big.n
l-aXmar/l-isfet/l-apcaD
the-red/the-black/the-white.n b. ??thavli
table.def.n
l-aXmar/l-isfet/l-apcaD
the-red/the-black/the-white.n
li-Gbir the-big.n
‘the big red/black/white table’
The overall picture that emerges so far is summarised in table 5.1. For the sake of simplicity, I make a distinction between ColourGreek and ColourArabic and do not list them as a single class. It is evident from this table that the classes which only consist of borrowed Greek adjectives with concatenative morphology exhibit uni-form syntactic behaviour; they can access the prenominal position, and the order they follow corresponds to the universal order of adjectives. Quality and Size, which follow rules of nonconcatenative morphology, can access the prenominal po-sition only when they appear with another adjective that is borrowed from Greek.
In other words, a shape, nationality or a Greek colour adjective. With regard to their ordering, they too adhere to the universal order. Finally, ColourArabic ad-jectives must be postnominal. They follow the universal order most of the times, but when they appear with a nationality adjective they surface in the mirror image order.
Table 5.1: Morphology and Syntax of CMA adjectives
Morphology Prenominal Order
Shape concatenative yes universal
Nationality concatenative yes universal
ColourGreek concatenative yes universal
Quality nonconcatenative only with +AGreek universal Size nonconcatenative only with +AGreek universal
ColourArabic nonconcatenative no mirror image (Nation.) universal elsewhere
The conclusion drawn is that there is a three-way distinction in the syntax of CMA adjective classes. Shape, Nationality and ColourGreekfollow the same rules, Quality and Size also behave alike, and, finally, ColourArabicdoes not pattern with any of the two.