Postpositives in English: in search of adjectives available

Abstract

Single postpositive adjectives as a minor type of noun postmodification in English are surveyed using a corpus sample to assess their retrievability, to provide an overview of the morphematic types, and their register distribution. Applying an ancillary test of positional mobility to characterize the postpositive occurrences, four broad groups are delimited. Postmodification by a-adjectives and adjectives in terminological compounds is infrequent, whereas the majority of the sample is constituted by adjectives in -able/-ible and in -ed, whose post-head position involves changes in semantic meaning, as well as occurrences which cannot be accounted for by the constraints stipulated in grammars. The frequency and patterning of available, responsible or necessary call for a re-evaluation of the function of postposition, encompassing all frequent forms and taking into account reference and other textual factors.

Keywords

• adjectives
• corpus
• english
• noun phrase
• postposition