The order of adjectives: from attribution to predication and from juxtaposition to coordination

Abstract Investigations of adjective order in English have primarily focused on the attributive use type. However, adjectives can also occur in predicative contexts. This study extends the analysis of juxtaposed attributive adjective sequences to coordinated attributive and (coordinated) predicative uses and examines whether the same ordering constraints are at work in the three conditions. A distinction is made between semantic and activation-based variables. Juxtaposed attributive adjective dyads are found to be sensitive to semantic but less sensitive to activation-based variables whereas the opposite is true of coordinated attributive and predicative adjective pairs. Thus, coordinated attributive and predicative adjectives behave alike while juxtaposed attributive adjectives stand apart. Semantic and activation-based variables are argued to stand in a complementary relationship. The importance of semantic constraints in juxtaposed attribution follows from the desire to facilitate the recognition of the upcoming noun. By contrast, the importance of activation-based variables in coordinated attribution and predication results from the limited role of semantic constraints in these two conditions.