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From: franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Adjective order
Message-ID: <521@mmintl.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 22-Jul-85 17:00:38 EDT
Article-I.D.: mmintl.521
Posted: Mon Jul 22 17:00:38 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 28-Jul-85 07:12:40 EDT
Reply-To: franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams)
Organization: Multimate International, E. Hartford, CT
Lines: 20


Some time ago, I noticed that when more than one adjective is applied
to a noun in English, there is an invariable order in which they are
applied.  This order depends on what the adjective is specifying.  For
example, adjectives of size always precede adjectives of order; one says
"the big red house", not "the red big house".

I worked this out a bit further, although not systematically, and every
adjective I could come up to could be fit into one of six or seven categories
(I don't remember exactly, and I have lost my notes on it) which fell into
an invariant order.  This ordering was strong enough to seem like a
grammatical rule; as in the examples above, reversing the order "doesn't
sound right".

I wondered about a couple of points.  First, has anyone else ever noticed
this ordering?  I have never found any reference to such a thing.

Second, does the same kind of ordering occur in other languages?  I would
assume that it does.  Do they use the same ordering, or some other?  Do
languages which put the adjective after the noun reverse the order?