Continuous and discrete adjectival scales

Abstract

The hallmark of the lexical category adjective is its ability to be graded. The typical adjec- tive has continuous scale, which can be ascertained morphologically and interpretively with such operations as the English comparative and degree specifiers such as very. A number of other attributive and predicative modifiers that cannot meet these gradation tests, including numerals, are nevertheless scalar lexemes if the scale is a discrete rather than continuous one. A discrete scale may have as few distinctions as present/not present. The author uses mor- phological evidence from the Muskogean language Choctaw and English interpretive evi- dence using a number of degree specifiers to show distinctions in scale type.