Ordering of taboo adjectives

Abstract

The productivity of an adjective ordering rule based on definiteness of denotation was assessed by comparing preferred orderings of taboo and nontaboo adjectives in noun phrases. Taboo adjectives were just as stable as nontaboo adjectives in their preferred position in adjective ordering. When given instructions to interpret the taboo adjectives denotatively, subjects preferred them closer to the noun than when the adjectives were interpreted connotatively, the latter being the typical interpretation given no instructions. Results support the notion that a functional determinant of adjective ordering is the definiteness of denotation.