Adjective Placement and Noun Semantics in Spanish

Abstract

This chapter addresses the issue of adjective placement in Spanish and, more specifically, it investigates how adjective placement is related to semantic interpretation of both the noun it modifies and the noun phrase (NP) where it is contained. Adjectives in Spanish are said to have a restrictive or non-restrictive interpretation depending on their position relative to the noun they modify (Lujan, 1980). The restrictive interpretation of a noun-adjective (NA) or an adjective-noun (AN) pair is a complex matter. Delbecque (1990: 350) notes that the semantic interpretation of adjectives such as Spanish grande ‘big’ — when preposed it refers to what the entity denoted by the noun does or has done and when postposed to a physical characteristic of the person (for example gran hombre ‘great man [because of his deeds]’ v. hombre grande ‘big man’) — is valid for a restricted number of adjectives and in conjunction with a restricted number of nouns that usually refer to humans. So, for example, the noun phrases in (10.1) can be interpreted to be a person who knows and performs music well or a good person who is a musician. The one or the other interpretation would be determined, ultimately, by context: (10.1) a. buen musico ‘good musician’ b. musico bueno musician good ‘good musician’