A study on the postposition of adjectives ending in -ible and -able - Josefin Renman
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A study on the postposition of adjectives ending in -ible and -able Josefin Renman Department of English Bachelor Degree Project English Linguistics Spring 2021 Supervisor: Alan McMillion
A study on the postposition of adjectives ending in -ible and -able Josefin Renman Abstract In the English language adjectives can either be placed before the noun or after the noun in the noun phrase. This thesis is concerned with the postposition of adjectives in English. It is particularly concerned with adjectives ending in -ible and -able which can either take a prepositive or postpositive position when modified by a superlative adjective, only or next etc. In the theoretical section of this study, reasons for why postposition might occur and historic information about the -ble suffix are described. The usage of these adjectives in both the prepositive and postpositive position is furthermore excerpted from the Corpus of Contemporary American English. Twenty adjectives from the adjective sample are further analysed in detail regarding their postposition, to ascertain which characteristics might lead to postposition, in principle semantics, domain usage, etymology, syntactic function, and the characteristics of their noun collocates. Ten nouns are further analysed using the same criteria to ascertain if certain nouns can affect the postposition of adjectives in the noun phrase. From these examples, conclusions about the common characteristics of adjectives ending in -ble that prefer the postpositive position are drawn. The results showed that -ible adjectives had a 17.4% tendency to be postposed, whereas -able adjectives had a 17.5 % tendency to be postposed. Which can be compared to the 4.6 % chance that an adjective is postposed in English. -Ible and -able adjectives were, furthermore, mostly postposed in prepositional phrases, phrases with complements and in fixed expressions. The -ible adjectives were also often of Latin or French origin, whilst the -able adjectives were of French origin. These adjectives were moreover commonly used in the academic domain and denoted a dynamic sense. Their noun collocates were, lastly, commonly inanimate, intangible objects used in the academic domain. Keywords Postpositive adjectives, The -ble suffix, The -ible suffix, The -able suffix, Corpus Study
Contents
1. Introduction ................................................................................. 1
1.1 Aims and Research questions ............................................................ 2
2. Theoretical framework .................................................................... 2
2.1 The form and syntax of an adjective .................................................. 2
2.1.1 Nouns ............................................................................................. 3
2.2 Adjectival positions .......................................................................... 3
2.2.1 Prepositive adjectives ....................................................................... 4
2.2.2 Predicative adjectives ....................................................................... 5
2.2.3 Postpositive adjectives ...................................................................... 5
2.2.4 Adjective placement in French ........................................................... 7
2.3 -ible/-able adjectives........................................................................ 7
2.3.1 The -BLE suffix ................................................................................ 7
2.4 Recent studies on postposition .......................................................... 8
3 Method ......................................................................................... 9
3.1 Corpus of contemporary American English .......................................... 9
3.2 The Oxford English Dictionary ........................................................... 9
3.3 Procedure ....................................................................................... 9
4 Results and discussion .................................................................. 11
4.1 Sample description ......................................................................... 11
4.2 -ible .............................................................................................. 12
4.2.1 Analysis of the 10 selected -ible adjectives ........................................ 13
4.3 -able ............................................................................................. 17
4.3.1 Analysis of the 10 selected -able adjectives ....................................... 17
4.4 NOUNS .......................................................................................... 21
4.4.1 Analysis of the 10 selected nouns ..................................................... 22
5 Discussion ................................................................................... 24
6 Conclusion .................................................................................. 26
References ..................................................................................... 29
Appendices .................................................................................... 32
Appendix A .......................................................................................... 32
Appendix B .......................................................................................... 32
Appendix C .......................................................................................... 33Appendix D.......................................................................................... 34
Appendix E .......................................................................................... 34
11. Introduction
Most adjectives can occur before and after a noun in English. Adjectives can thus have
two different functions: attributive and predicative. In the attributive function the
adjective immediately precedes the noun head the old man whereas in the predicative
function the adjective serves as a subject or object complement the man is old.
Adjectives can furthermore be postpositive in the attributive function, where they
immediately follow the noun or pronoun they modify. This position is quite uncommon
in the English language and is more common in languages such as French. Adjectives
that prefer the postpositive position thus often have a French historical origin or are
remnants from Old English (Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, & Svartvik, 1985; Matthews,
2014).
According to grammars, all adjectives ending in -able or -ible in English can be in a
prepositive or a postpositive position if “the noun is modified by another adjective in
the superlative degree”, only or next etc. as in the cheapest method possible (Quirk et
al., 1985, p. 418; Svartvik & Sager, 2005). Svartvik and Sager (2005) furthermore
highlight that there can be a slight difference in meaning depending on the adjectival
placement if conditions previously mentioned are not met. Bolinger (1967) and
Matthews (2014) further argue that there might be a difference in meaning dependent on
the position of the adjective (see 2.2.3). They argue that the rivers navigable denote an
occasion, whereas the navigable rivers denote a characteristic.
None of the studies previously mentioned have specifically studied the postposition of
adjectives in English. Two recent studies conducted by Arsenijević (2011) and
Neubauerovà (2011) (see 2.4) studied this phenomenon, however. Arsenijević focused
on how the syntax could affect the degree of postposition of an adjective, whereas
Neubauerovà additionally studied how the morphology of certain adjectives could affect
their tendency to postpose. None of these studies focused on the postposition of
adjectives with the prefixes -ible and -able, though.
Grammars mention the possibility for adjectives ending in -ible and -able to be
prepositive as well as postpositive, but there has been no research attributed to them. It
1is therefore unknown how prone these adjectives are to postpose as well as why they
can take both positions in English. To fill this research gap, the Corpus of
Contemporary American English will be used to study the placement of 126 adjectives
ending in -able and -ible as well as 95 nouns. It will investigate the semantics, domain
usage, etymology, syntactic function, and the characteristics of their noun collocates. It
will further investigate if certain nouns can affect the postposition of adjectives in the
noun phrase. This investigation aspires to ascertain which characteristics of adjectives
ending in -ble might lead to postposition.
1.1 Aims and Research questions
This study seeks to analyse whether adjectives ending in -able and -ible mostly occur in
a prepositive or a postpositive position when modified by a superlative adjective, only
or next in English. It further seeks to investigate which types of adjectives prefer the
postpositive position. It lastly seeks to analyse after which nouns postposition mostly
occurs.
The research questions are as follows:
1. Do adjectives ending in -ible or -able prefer the prepositive or postpositive
position, when modified by a superlative adjective, only or next?
2. Which types of adjectives prefer the postpositive position?
3. After which nouns does postposition of -ible and -able adjectives mostly occur?
2. Theoretical framework
2.1 The form and syntax of an adjective
According to Huddleston and Pullum (2017), adjectives are the third biggest word class
after nouns and verbs. They further state that their common function is to express
qualities and characteristics of the nouns that they modify, and they denote properties
regarding “size, shape, colour, worth, and age” (p. 527). According to Nelson and
Greenbaum (2016) some suffixes are further commonly associated with adjectives: -
able, -ful, -ish, -ous, -al, -ic, -less and -y (p. 48).
2Quirk et al. (1985) state that adjectives can function as a subject or object complement
in the predicative position. As a subject complement the adjective follows the verb the
dog is cute and as an object complement the adjective directly follows the object they
found the dogs cute.
Adjectives can moreover be stable stative or unstable dynamic. According to Quirk et
al. (1985), stative adjectives denote a permanent state, such as red, small, and tall; these
cannot be used in imperative nor progressive constructions (p. 434). They further state
that in contrast to stative adjective, dynamic adjectives can be used in imperative
constructions as well as predicatively in progressive constructions he is being
disruptive. Dynamic adjectives are further temporary and can be subjectively measured,
which can be expressed by the adjectives’ gradeability. This gradeability is expressed
through comparison.
2.1.1 Nouns
Animate nouns refer to persons or animals, whereas inanimate nouns refer to things or
concepts. The pronouns he, she and who can be used to refer to animate nouns, whereas
the pronouns it and which can refer to inanimate nouns (Quirk et al., 1985). Nouns can
further either be tangible concrete or intangible abstract. Tangible nouns can be touched
or felt, whereas intangible nouns cannot as they refer to feelings, thoughts, concepts,
and ideas (Quirk et al., 1985).
2.2 Adjectival positions
Matthews (2014) refers to a position as a place in the sentence, premodifiers and
postmodifiers thus have different positions, but not different functions. He exemplifies
this by stating that tall fills the same function in someone tall as in a tall chief as it is
just the position that differs (p. 10).
Quirk et al. (1985, p. 418) state that an adjective can occur in 3 positions.
1. Predictive: This information is useful.
2. Prepositive: useful information
3. Postpositive: something useful
3Some adjectives can occur in both the predicative and prepositive position, whereas
others can only occur in one of these.
2.2.1 Prepositive adjectives
There are certain adjectives that only occur in the prepositive position (Huddleston &
Pullum, 2017, p. 555-558; Biber, Conrad & Leech, 2017, p. 190)
1. Degree and quantifying adjectives describe the degree the adjective applies to
the noun.
a. A complete fool
2. Temporal and local adjectives describe the relative time or location the adjective
applies to the noun.
a. His current girlfriend
3. Associative adjectives do not literally apply to the noun, but something
associated with it.
a. Criminal law
4. Process-oriented adjectives do not denote a property of the noun, but the
process.
a. A big eater
5. Modal adjectives denote a degree of uncertainty.
a. The actual cause
b. The likely benefits
6. Particularising adjectives denote specific nouns in a sample.
a. A certain house
7. Expressive adjectives vary in strength depending on the situation and
interlocuters.
a. My dear mother
8. Transferred adjectives do not refer to the noun, but the way e.g., the cigarette
was smoked.
a. A discrete cigarette
9. 98 % of the time adjectives with the suffix -al occur in the prepositive position.
a. General
b. Industrial
42.2.2 Predicative adjectives
The following list contains adjectives that can only occur predicatively or postpositively
(Huddleston & Pullum, 2017, p. 530, 551-552, 559-561).
1. 98 % of documented instances adjectives with the prefix a- occur in the
predicative position (Biber et al., 2017, p. 190).
a. Their children are awake
2. Adjectives with complements.
a. The minister is desirous of meeting with them
3. Adjectives that denote a mental or physical condition, or health.
a. ill, poorly, unwell, content, glad, present, rife, sorry
4. An adjective has a prepositional phrase as a complement or modification
a. The people in the garden
b. A leader younger than you
2.2.3 Postpositive adjectives
Postposed adjectives may occur in the following situations (Biber, Johansson, Leech,
Conrad, & Finegan, 1999, p. 519; Christophersen & Sandved, 1972, p. 127-129;
Huddleston & Pullum, 2017, p. 560-561; Svartvik & Sager, 2005, p. 128; Quirk et al.,
1985, p. 418-421, 1293-1296).
1. Postpositive-only adjectives.
a. aplenty, designate, galore, elect, proper, laureate
2. Adjectives might occur after indefinite pronouns: anyone, something,
everything, somebody
a. Something different
3. Adjectives with complements
a. An actor who is suitable for the part
b. An actor suitable for the part
4. The following tend to be postposed: concerned, involved, elect and available
a. The only details available
5. In certain fixed or idiomatic expressions
a. Asia Minor
6. Fixed phrases with French or historical origin
a. The heir apparent
57. In heavy, expanded, adjective phrases
a. Sounds totally different from what we think of as saxophone tone
8. Coordinated adjectives
a. Blackmail pure and simple.
9. Adjectival phrases preceded by too, so or as
a. A style too difficult to imitate
10. Verbs used as adjectives
a. No man living
11. Adjectives are postposed when they are preceded by a definite article.
a. Ivan the terrible
12. Adjectives can occur in comparisons
a. We need secretary (who is) more competent than Ann
13. Adjectives which can occur in both positions, but with a difference in meaning.
a. The present members
b. The members present
On the difference in meaning depending on the positions, Bolinger (1967) states that
attribution and postposition of an adjective can be compared to a characteristic versus
an occasion of the adjective. Bolinger (1967) and Matthews (2014) further argues that
the only navigable river denotes a characteristic, as it is generally navigable, whereas
the only river navigable denotes an occasion, as it is navigable at a specific time (p. 3-
4).
Matthews (2014) argues that there might be three reasons why certain adjectives can
occur in the postpositive position whereas others cannot. The first reason is due to
morphological complexity and word formation: available is more complex than large
for example (p. 169). Secondly, the postmodifier has a locative meaning the buildings
adjacent (p. 169). Lastly, when the adjective may have a following dependent, optional
complement, that remains latent. The students eligible can for example refer to: the
students eligible for a research fellowship (p. 170).
Matthews (2014) further argues that postmodifiers are restrictive. In the aircraft which
are available the adjective is marked which inhibits further reference and the possibility
of reduction, while the aircraft, which are still available, can be reduced to the aircraft
6available (Matthews, 2014, p. 168). He argues that postposition can thus be used to
represent the marked term in an opposition. He further states that this effect could also
be achieved in the prepositive position by varying the intonation.
2.2.4 Adjective placement in French
In French adjectives are generally postposed. Delatour, Jennepin, Léon-Dufour and
Teyssier (2014) state, however, that it is difficult to establish any rules for the adjective
placement in the language. Some adjectives are always placed before the noun, other
after the noun and some do not have a fixed place.
2.3 -ible/-able adjectives
Adjectives ending in -able and -ible can occur in both the prepositive and postpositive
position “when the noun is modified by another adjective in the superlative degree” or
by only, next, last etc (Quirk et al., 1985, p. 418). Possible can therefore occur
prepositively in the best possible use and postpositively in the best use possible
according to Quirk et al. (1985, p. 418).
Svartvik and Sager (2005, p. 127) further highlight that there might be a slight
difference in meaning for adjectives ending in -ble depending on their placement if the
conditions above are not met. Quirk et al. (1985, p. 419), on this topic, state that
adjectives ending in -ble retain their basic meaning regardless of position, but there may
be a slight meaning difference regarding temporality dependant on the position (see
2.2.3). A slight meaning difference regarding location can also be denoted by the
position of the adjective (see 2.2.3). In terms of dynamic and stative meaning, the rivers
navigable denote a dynamic meaning, whereas the navigable rivers denote a stative
meaning (see 2.1) (Bolinger, 1967). To conclude, Matthews (2014) states that the
lexical meaning of an adjective is the same independent of position, but that the
difference in syntax leads to a slight difference in tone.
2.3.1 The -ble suffix
The -ble suffix is a borrowing from the French -ble suffix, originating from Latin -
bilem/-bilis (OED, 2021). This suffix is further used to form verbal adjectives with the
meaning of: “given to, tending to, like to, fit to, able to” (OED, 2021).
7The most common -ble words are those ending in -able. The -able suffix is still
productive in French and English today, whereas the -ible suffix is a remnant from the
Latin language. In French old adjectives ending in -ible (e.g. vendibilis) have been
replaced by modern versions ending in -able (e.g. vendable) (OED, 2021). In English,
however, the -ible suffix has remained in words of a distinctive Latin origin, whereas
the -able suffix is used in words directly borrowed from French or created within
English during the modern English period (OED, 2021).
2.4 Recent studies on postposition
Two research papers that have studied postposition specifically are Neubauerová (2011)
and Arsenijević (2011). A corpus study by Arsenijević (2011) showed that out of 5,000
sentences analysed there were only 125 cases of postpositive adjectives. The most
common type of postposition in her study was “[a]djectives with complementation or
modification” which was 35.2% of the total sample (p. 44). The second most common
types were “[a]djectives modifying a compound indefinite pronoun” 25.6 % and
“[c]oordinated descriptive adjectives” 22.4 % (p. 44). Whereas the least common type
“[a]djectives preceded by a definite article” was 0.8 % of the sample (p. 44).
Neubauerová’s (2011) corpus study analysed 1,110 examples of postpositive adjectives.
About half of the sample was made up of fixed noun and adjective combinations. She
found that 481 tokens (43%) of postposed adjectives were part of proper names lifespan
able, whereas postposition in fixed expressions had 35 tokens (3.1 %). The other half of
the sample included 594 tokens of 104 different adjective types that were sorted
according to their occurrence rate. The following adjectives were moreover the most
common in the other part of the sample: concerned 28% available 22%, present 6.5%
and responsible 4%. The other adjectives in the other part of the sample had a frequency
of 3-0.1%. These other adjectives were further sorted into adjectival types. Simple
adjectives (without affix) occurred 35 % of the time, whereas adjectives ending in -ible
and -able had a 18% frequency. The least common types of adjectives were adjectives
with the following suffixes: -ous, -ly and -y, which had a frequency of 1% each.
83 Method
3.1 Corpus of contemporary American English
The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) was used to extract examples
for this study. A corpus is a large database containing millions of words of spoken and
written text stored electronically. This corpus was chosen as it contains more than 1
billion words of text spanning from 1990-2019. It is further balanced in terms of genre
as it includes “spoken, fiction, popular magazines, newspapers, academic texts, and (...)
TV and Movies subtitles, blogs” and more (COCA, 2021).
3.2 The Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) was used to explain the semantics behind the
examples in sections 4.2.1-4.2.3. The dictionary contains the “meaning, history, and
pronunciation of 600,000 words” in the English language (OED, 2021). Not only the
current meaning of words in the dictionary are included, but also the etymology,
cognates and how the meaning of certain words has changed over the years. This
dictionary is thus used to determine if the examples in sections 4.2.1-4.2.3 have a Latin
or French origin and if this origin might explain their tendency to postpose.
3.3 Procedure
This thesis analyses 89 adjectives ending in -able and -ible as well as 95 nouns. The
tendency for adjectives in English to be postposed was determined by searching for
[NOUN ADJ] and [ADJ NOUN]. There were 621,333 tokens for the first postposition
string and 12,975,548 tokens for the second preposition string, which is a 4.6% chance
for an adjective to be postposed. The adjectives were further gathered by searching for
the following strings:
[the *st NOUN *ible], [the *st *ible NOUN], [only/next NOUN *ible], [only/next *ible
NOUN], [the *st NOUN *able], [the *st *able NOUN], [only/next NOUN *able], [only/next
*able NOUN]
All adjectives that occurred in the first 999 hits for each of the eight searches were
written down. This resulted in 32 different types of -ible adjectives and 94 different
9types -able adjectives in the first 7992 hits, respectively. Each adjective was then
individually searched for using the same strings and replacing the -able or -ible parts of
the strings with the adjective. Data for available was for example gathered by searching
for the following string: [the *st NOUN available]. All adjectives that did not occur in
both the post- and preposition were afterwards removed, resulting in a sample of 89
adjectives, consisting of 20 -ible and 69 -able adjectives (see 4.1). There were further
11,697 tokens for the -ible adjectives and 11,624 for the -able adjectives (see
Appendices A & B).
It was not possible to do a collocate search for the nouns as the collocate search field
did not allow searches with several asterisks *. The nouns were thus found by searching
for the following strings: [the *st NOUN *ible], [the *st NOUN *able], [only/next
NOUN *ible] and [only/next NOUN *able]. All nouns that occurred in the first 100 hits
of each of the four searches were written down, which resulted in a sample of 100 nouns
in the first 400 hits. Nouns that did not occur in both the prepositive and postpositive
position were moreover afterwards removed resulting in a sample of 95 nouns with
9,096 tokens (see Appendix C). To gather data about each noun, the word “NOUN” in
the strings were replaced with the respective noun. Data for thing was thus gathered by
searching for the string: [the *st thing *ble].
When searching for the -able strings the word “table” was removed from the results.
Verbs that had the same form as nouns were also sorted out from the results, such as
“count” in “only count eligible voters”. Nouns that further coincided with the “*st
NOUN” part of the search strings were also removed, such as “terrorist
network/group/cell”, “vast bureaucracy”, “nihilist movement”, “leftist politicians”,
“jihadist group(s)”, “first lady”, “extremist group”, “dust grains”, “21st century” and
“the almost”. When further searching for the -ible strings the word “bible” was
removed.
104 Results and discussion
4.1 Sample description
Tables 1-3 show the adjectives and nouns used in the study. Further information about
their tendency to postpose and a complete distribution of the statistics can be found in
Appendices A-C.
Table 1 shows the 20 -ible adjectives sorted in alphabetical order. 10 of these adjectives
will further be analysed in section 4.2.
Table 1. List of the 20 -ible adjective in alphabetical order
accessible contemptible feasible invisible possible susceptible
admissible convertible gullible permissible responsible unintelligible
audible discernible impossible plausible sensible visible
compatible eligible
Table 2 furthermore shows the 69 -able adjectives sorted in alphabetical order. 10 of
these adjectives will also be analysed in 4.3.
Table 2. List of the 69 -able adjective in alphabetical order
able capable imaginable observable reliable unbearable
acceptable charitable improbable obtainable remarkable undesirable
accountable comfortable indispensable palatable renewable unfavorable
achievable comparable inevitable payable respectable unmistakable
adaptable conceivable intolerable practicable sizeable unpredictable
adorable dependable justifiable predictable stable unsuitable
affordable deplorable knowledgeable probable suitable untenable
allowable desirable manageable profitable sustainable variable
applicable detectable memorable reachable taxable viable
attainable disposable navigable reasonable tolerable vulnerable
available doable notable recognizable unacceptable wearable
bearable favorable noticeable
11Table 3, lastly, shows the 95 nouns sorted in alphabetical order. 10 of these nouns will moreover
be analysed in 4.4.
Table 3. List of the 95 nouns in alphabetical order
advice degree image outcome room system
athlete education impression paths scenario team
audience environment information people school technology
book evidence instruments performance schools terms
case example intelligence person science thing
chance experts job pieces score things
choice extent knowledge place scrutiny ticket
choices fate manner player service tickets
condition figures material point shape time
conditions food means position size tool
curriculum game medicine price smartphone tools
data games minds product solution treatment
date grade mom quality standard way
decision grades money rate standards ways
decisions health news resolution star year
defence home option resources statistics
4.2 -ible
The analysis of the data on -ible adjectives showed that these adjectives were commonly
borrowed from French and Latin (see Appendix D). These adjectives were further
dynamic and commonly used in the academic domain with inanimate noun collocates
(for domain usage see Appendix E). No clear conclusions about the adjectives’ syntactic
functions and the tangibility of their noun collocates could, however, be drawn. Table 4
further shows the ten adjectives that will be analysed in section 4.2.1 sorted by their
degree of “postposition”. In the first column “-ible NOUN” shows the number of tokens
for preposition, whereas in the second column “NOUN -ible” shows the number of
tokens for postposition.
Table 4. -ible adjectives analysed in 5.2.1 sorted by their tendency to postpose
12-ible -ible NOUN NOUN -ible Postposition
1. compatible 12 10 45.5%
2. responsible 134 79 37.1%
3. possible 7303 2221 23.3%
4. permissible 21 4 16.0%
5. eligible 83 15 15.3%
6. audible 28 5 15.2%
7. visible 763 86 10.1%
8. impossible 60 6 9.1%
9. feasible 100 7 6.5%
10. accessible 144 10 6.5%
According to Appendix A, none of the words ending in -ible prefer the postpositive
position as their tendency to be postposed is less than 50%. The overall tendency for
adjectives ending in -ible to be postposed is further 17.4%
4.2.1 Analysis of the 10 selected -ible adjectives
To discern what characteristics an adjective that often occurs in the postposition have, a
short analysis of the 10 most common adjectives by their tendency to postpose, with 5
tokens in each position (except for permissible), will follow (see table 4). Each analysis
further contains an example from COCA and some of the adjective’s postpositive
collocates.
1. Compatible (45.5 %) is the most frequent adjective in the sample. It is further
commonly used in the academic domain in COCA, and it was introduced in the
English language 1490 derived from the French word compatible (OED, 2021).
Today compatible’s synonyms are: “accordant, consistent, congruous and
agreeable” (OED, 2021). The following nouns are further some of its collocates:
area 2x, method 2x, model 1x, option 1x, religion 1x, way 1x, games 1x,
grammars 1x. These collocates indicate that compatible is most used with
intangible, inanimate objects in postposition.
[1] The only method compatible with our notions of civilization
When used with inanimate objects compatible was often followed by the
preposition with and used as a subject or object complement.
132. Responsible (37.1 %) is the second most frequent adjective in the sample. It is
commonly used in the academic domain in COCA, and it was introduced in the
English language 1558, borrowed from the Old French word responsible or an
alternation of Late Middle English respond (OED, 2021). Today, responsible’s
synonyms include: “reliable, trustworthy, sensible” and the following nouns are
furthermore some of its collocates: person 16x, ones 5x, people 3x, party 2x,
factor(s) 2x, prosecutor 1x, Christians 1x, adults 1x (OED, 2021). These
collocates indicate that responsible is most used with tangible, animate objects.
[2] and the only person responsible for that is the President
When used with animate objects responsible was often used with the preposition
for and used as a subject complement.
3. Possible (23.3%) is the third most frequent adjective in the sample. It is
commonly used in the academic domain in COCA, and it was introduced in the
English language 1384 borrowed from the Old French possible and Latin
possibilis (OED, 2021). Today possible denotes something that something can
“be done” and the following nouns are moreover some of its collocates: way(s)
289x, extent 160x, education 68x, time 49x, thing(s) 36x, job 32x (OED, 2021).
These collocates indicate that possible is mostly used with intangible, inanimate
objects.
[3] Addy's cells were on fire in the best way possible.
It is further commonly used with way to denote in which manner something is
done or with extent to denote to which degree something is possible. In the
example “the best way possible” is part of the subject complement.
4. Permissible (16 %) is the fourth most frequent adjective in the sample. It is
commonly used in the academic domain in COCA, and it was introduced in the
English language 1475 borrowed from Latin permissibilis meaning “that can be
permitted” (OED, 2021). Today permissible is synonymous with “allowable”
and the following nouns are its collocates: desire 1x, asbestos 1x, rate 1x,
amount 1x (OED, 2021). These collocates indicate that permissible is mostly
used with inanimate, intangible objects in postposition.
[4] levels dropped to the lowest amount permissible on food crops
14When used with inanimate objects permissible was often used as a subject or
object complement.
5. Eligible (15.3 %) is the fifth most frequent adjective in the sample. It is
commonly used in the NEWS domain in COCA, and it was introduced in the
English language 1425 borrowed from Latin eligibilis (OED, 2021). Today
eligible means something “worthy of pursuing or adopting” and the following
nouns are moreover some of its collocates: people 3x, students 2x, person(s) 2x,
professionals 1x, ones 1x, leader 1x, drivers 1x (OED, 2021). These collocates
indicate that eligible is most used with tangible, animate objects.
[5] Of course the myth is that the only people eligible are THE BLACKS.
When used with animate objects eligible was often included in reduced relative
clauses as in the only people (who are) eligible are…
6. Audible (15.2 %) is the sixth most frequent adjective in the sample. It is
commonly used in the fiction domain in COCA, and it was introduced in the
English language 1483 borrowed from Latin audibilis meaning “able to be
heard” (OED, 2021). Today permissible is synonymous with “perceptible to the
ear; capable of being heard” and the following nouns are its collocates: thing(s)
3x, sound 2x (OED, 2021). These collocates indicate that permissible is most
used with inanimate and both intangible and tangible objects in postposition.
[6] the only sounds audible from the house are of the wind in the trees
Permissible was further often used as a subject complement.
7. Visible (10.1 %) is the seventh most frequent adjective in the sample. It is
commonly used in the academic domain in COCA, and it was introduced in the
English language 1340 borrowed from Old French visible or Latin vīsibilis
(OED, 2021). Today visible means something “capable of being seen” and the
following nouns are some of its collocates: star(s) 18x, thing(s) 14x, supernova
5x, people 3x, object 2x, galaxy 2x, wound 2x (OED, 2021). These collocates
indicate that visible is most used with tangible, inanimate objects and words
relating to space.
[7] 16 trillion times brighter than the faintest star visible to the naked eye.
15When used with the collocate star, visible is often complemented by the
following: “to the naked eye”, “from earth”, and “at night” and is thus often
included in heavy adjectival phrases.
8. Impossible (9.1 %) is the eight most frequent adjective in the sample. It is
commonly used in the WEB domain in COCA and was introduced in the
English language 1340 either derived from Latin impossibilis, Old French
impossible or Italian impossible (OED, 2021). Today impossible is synonymous
with “not possible” (OED, 2021) and the following nouns are its collocates:
mission 2x, place 1x, sense 1x, thing 1x, turn 1x. These collocates indicate that
impossible is most used with inanimate, intangible objects in postposition.
[8] a thing in the strictest sense impossible
Impossible was often used as a part of the proper name Mission Impossible
referring to the movie.
9. Feasible (6.5 %) is the ninth most frequent adjective in the sample. It is
commonly used in the academic domain in COCA, and it was introduced in the
English language 1460 derived from Old French faisable (OED, 2021). Today
feasible is synonymous with “possible, practicable” (OED, 2021) and the
following nouns are its collocates: extent 2x, temperature 1x, dollars 1x, time 1x,
size 1x, costs 1x. These collocates indicate that feasible is most used with
inanimate, intangible, abstract objects in postposition.
[9] locals wanted to limit the landfill to the smallest size feasible
Impossible was often used to denote to which degree something was feasible or
modifying an instrument used to complete an action.
10. Accessible (6.5 %) is the tenth most frequent adjective in the sample. It is
commonly used in the BLOG domain in COCA and, it was introduced in the
English language 1425 borrowed from Middle French accessible and Latin
accessibilis (OED, 2021). Today accessible means “capable of being entered or
approached” (OED, 2021) and the following nouns are its collocates: wheelchair
2x, ear 1x, energies 1x, way, 1x, stars 1x, spot 1x, route 1x, information 1x.
These collocates indicate that accessible is most used with tangible, inanimate
objects.
16[10] when probed at even the highest energies accessible to particle
accelerators.
Accessible is often followed by a prepositional phrase beginning with the
preposition to.
4.3 -able
The analysis of the data on -able adjectives showed that these adjectives were
commonly borrowed from French (see Appendix D). These adjectives furthermore had
the same characteristics as the -ible adjectives in section 5.2. Table 5 shows the ten
adjectives that will be analysed in section 5.3.1 sorted by their degree of “postposition”.
The second column “-able NOUN” shows the number of tokens for preposition,
whereas the third column “NOUN -able” shows the number of tokens for postposition.
Table 5. -able adjectives analysed in 5.3.1 sorted by their tendency to postpose
-able -able NOUN NOUN -able Postposition
1. imaginable 69 282 80.3%
2. able 35 111 76.0%
3. capable 80 183 69.6%
4. available 1318 1572 54.4%
5. obtainable 10 10 50.0%
6. allowable 12 6 33.3%
7. attainable 28 6 17.6%
8. predictable 53 10 15.9%
9. practicable 38 7 15.6%
10. conceivable 78 11 12.4%
According to Appendix B, 6 adjectives ending in -able prefer the postpositive position,
whereas 4 adjectives prefer both position and most of the adjectives prefer the
prepositive position. The overall tendency for adjectives ending in -able to be postposed
if further 17.5%
4.3.1 Analysis of the 10 selected -able adjectives
To discern what characteristics an adjective that often occurs in the postposition have, a
short analysis of the 10 most common adjectives by their tendency to postpose, with 5
17tokens in each position, will follow (see table 5). Each analysis further contains an
example from COCA and some of the adjective’s postpositive collocates.
1. Imaginable (80.3%) is the most common adjective in the sample. It is
commonly used in the magazine domain in COCA, and it was introduced in the
English language 1400 borrowed from Middle French imaginable and Latin
imaginabilis (OED, 2021). Today imaginable means “capable of being
imagined; conceivable” and the following nouns are some of its collocates:
thing(s) 23x, way(s) 18x, place 7x, stakes 3x, scrutiny 3x, conditions 3x (OED,
2021). These collocates indicate that imaginable is most used with inanimate
objects. It is however unclear if these collocates are tangible or intangible
independent of the context.
[11] you come to the United States, the worst thing imaginable will
happen to you
It is commonly used as a subject or object complement.
2. Able (76.0%) is the second most frequent adjective in the sample. It is
commonly used in the BLOG domain in COCA, and it was introduced in the
English language 1382 borrowed from Middle French hable (OED, 2021).
Today able means “suitable, fit, or appropriate for some purpose” and the
following nouns are some of its collocates: person(s) 12x, people 9x, ones 5x,
institutions 3x, country(ies) 4x, animal 2x (OED, 2021). These collocates
indicate that able is most used with animate, tangible objects.
[12] the only person able to save that country you live in
Able is often used in the fixed expression be able to (Cambridge University
Press, 2021).
3. Capable (69.6%) is the third most common adjective in the sample. It is
commonly used in the academic domain in COCA, and it was introduced in the
English language 1561 borrowed from French capable (OED, 2021). Today
capable means “able to take in, receive, contain, or hold” and the following
nouns are further some of its collocates: person(s) 19x, ones 11x, forces 11x,
thing 5x, group 5x, animal 4x, man 4x (OED, 2021). These collocates indicate
that capable is most used with animate, tangible objects.
18[13] He was the only person capable of writing a spell which he couldn't
break.
Capable is often followed by a prepositional phrase beginning with the
preposition of and it is commonly used in reduced relative clauses.
4. Available (54.4%) is the fourth most frequent adjective in the sample. It is
commonly used in the academic domain in COCA. According to OED
accessible was furthermore introduced in the English language 1451 created
within English from the Middle English verb vail with French origins and the -
able suffix with French and Latin origins. Today accessible means “capable of
being entered or approached” and the following nouns are some of its collocates:
data 87x, information 64x, option(s) 69x, figure(s) 36x, player(s) 34x, evidence
22x (OED, 2021). These collocates indicate that available is most used with
intangible, inanimate objects.
[14] According to the latest data available, here's where the popular
schools stand
There is not a discernible pattern for when available is in the postposition.
5. Obtainable (50.0%) is the fifth most frequent adjective in the sample. It is
commonly used in the academic domain in COCA. According to OED
obtainable was furthermore introduced in the English language 1617 formed
within English from the verb obtain borrowed from Old French obtenir 1422.
Today obtainable means “that can be obtained” and the following nouns are
further some of its collocates: ingredients 1x, resolutions 1x, velocity 1x, diets
1x, degree 1x, correlation 1x, paper 1x (OED, 2021). These collocates indicate
that obtainable is most used with intangible, inanimate objects.
[15] I assume that a conscientious cook will use the best ingredients
obtainable
Obtainable was often used as an object complement.
6. Allowable (33.3%) is the sixth most frequent adjective in the sample. It is
commonly used in the academic domain in COCA, and it was introduced in the
English language 1400 borrowed from Old French alloable meaning “worthy of
praise” (OED, 2021). Today allowable is synonymous with “permissible”
19(OED, 2021) and the following nouns are its collocates: punishment 2x,
temperature 1x, sentence 1x, service 1x, those 1x. These collocates indicate that
allowable is most used with inanimate, intangible objects.
[16] consider sentencing him to the severest punishment allowable
Allowable was often used as an object complement.
7. Attainable (17.6%) is the seventh most frequent adjective in the sample. It
commonly used in the academic domain in COCA, and it was introduced in the
English language 1647 formed within English from the verb attain borrowed
from Old French ataindre 1330. Today attainable means “capable of being
attained” the following nouns are further its collocates: evidence 1x, quality 1x,
award 1x, degree 1x, rank 1x, score 1x (OED, 2021). These collocates indicate
that attainable is most used with inanimate, intangible objects.
[17] In most other things, as to the best evidence attainable
Attainable was often used as a subject complement.
8. Predictable (15.9%) is the eighth most frequent adjective in the sample. It is
commonly used in the magazine domain in COCA, and it was introduced in the
English language 1820 formed within English from the verb predict borrowed
from Latin praedīcere 1590 meaning “to give warning of” (OED, 2021). Today
attainable means “able to be predicted” and its only collocate in postposition is:
thing 10x. It is therefore commonly used with inanimate objects and these
objects are tangible objects or abstract concepts, depending on the context.
[18] The only thing predictable about the future is its unpredictability
Predictable was often followed by the preposition about.
9. Practicable (15.6%) is the ninth most frequent adjective in the sample. It
commonly used in the WEB domain in COCA, and it was introduced in the
English language 1593 borrowed from French practicable (OED, 2021). Today
practicable’s synonyms are: “able to be used; useful, practical, effective” and its
only collocate in postposition is: extent 7x (OED, 2021). It is therefore
commonly used with inanimate, intangible concepts.
[19] to the greatest extent practicable and permitted by the law
20The construction “the *st extent practicable” is often preceded by the
preposition to, denoting that an action should be fulfilled to the greatest extent
possible.
10. Conceivable (12.4%) is the tenth most frequent adjective in the sample. It is
commonly used in the academic domain in COCA, and it was introduced in the
English language 1443 formed within English from the verb conceive borrowed
from Old French conçaiver 1340 (OED, 2021). Today conceivable’s synonyms
are: “comprehended, or imagined; imaginable, supposable” and the following
nouns are further some of its collocates: civilization 2x, conditions 1x, problem
1x, lies 1x, screen 1x, host 1x. These collocates indicate that conceivable is most
used with inanimate, intangible objects.
[20] They sourced the biggest screen conceivable at the time - 3.5 inches
Conceivable is further commonly used as a subject or an object complement.
4.4 NOUNS
The analysis showed that these nouns were commonly borrowed from French (see
Appendix D). These nouns were further commonly inanimate objects used in the
academic domain (see Appendix E) either referring to abstract or concrete concepts.
Table 6 shows the ten adjectives that will be analysed in section 5.4.1 sorted by their
degree of “postposition”. In the second column “Adj. NOUN” shows the number of
tokens for preposition, whereas the third column “NOUN ADJ” shows the number of
tokens for postposition.
Table 6. Nouns analysed in 5.4.1 sorted by their tendency to postpose
Nouns Adj. NOUN NOUN Adj. Postposition
1. extent 180 25 87.8%
2. education 85 38 69.1%
3. resources 19 11 63.3%
4. money 18 11 62.1%
5. data 90 63 58.8%
6. tools 27 20 57.4%
7. grade 13 10 56.5%
8. figures 33 29 53.2%
219. year 22 20 52.4%
10. food 23 21 52.3%
According to Appendix C, 21 nouns prefer the postpositive position, 5 nouns occur at
an equal rate in both positions and the majority nouns occur less than 50% in this
position. The overall tendency for the nouns in the sample to be postposed if further
36.1%
4.4.1 Analysis of the 10 selected nouns
To discern what characteristics a noun that prefers to be postposed have, a short analysis
of the 10 most common nouns regarding their tendency to postpose, with 5 tokens in
each position will follow (see table 6). Each analysis further some of the noun’s
postpositive collocates.
1. Extent (87.8%) is the most frequent noun in the sample. It is commonly used in
the academic domain, and it was introduced in the English language 1303
derived from Middle English extente, with its roots from Latin extenta (OED,
2021). Today extent means “senses relating to valuation and debt” and its most
common collocates are: possible 171x, practicable 7x, feasible 2x, plausible 1x
(OED, 2021).
2. Education (69.1%) is the second most frequent noun in the sample. It is
commonly used in the academic domain, and it was introduced in the English
language 1527 borrowed from French education and Latin ēducātiō. Today
education means “the manner in which a person has been brought up” and its
most common collocates are: possible 69x, available 16x (OED, 2021).
3. Resources (63.3%) is the third most frequent noun in the sample. It is
commonly used in the academic domain, and it was introduced in the English
language 1596 borrowed from Old French ressource (OED, 2021). Today
resource means “something that is a source of help, information, strength, etc.”
and its only collocate in the postpositive position is: available 19x (OED, 2021).
224. Money (62.1%) is the fourth most frequent noun in the sample. It is commonly
used in the spoken domain, and it was introduced in the English language 1325
borrowed from Old French moneie (OED, 2021). Today money is used “as a
medium of exchange” and the following adjectives are further some of its
collocates: possible 11x, available 7x (OED, 2021).
5. Data (58.8%) is the fifth most frequent noun in the sample. It is commonly used
in the academic domain, and it was introduced in the English language 1645
borrowed from Latin data plural of datum (OED, 2021). Today data denotes “an
item of information” and its only collocate in postposition is: available 90x
(OED, 2021).
6. Tools (57.4%) is the sixth most frequent noun in the sample. It is commonly
used in the academic domain, and it was introduced in the English language 888
derivered from Old Norse tól. Today tool is “any instrument of manual
operation” and the following adjectives are moreover some of its collocates:
available 22x, possible 3x (OED, 2021).
7. Grade (56.5%) is the seventh most frequent noun in the sample. It is commonly
used in the academic domain, and it was introduced in the English language
1510 derived from Old French grade or Latin gradus originally used as a
measurement for angles (OED, 2021). Today grade refers to “a step or a stage in
a process” and the following adjectives are further some of its collocates:
possible 10x, available 2x (OED, 2021).
8. Figures (53.2%) is the ninth most frequent noun in the sample. It is commonly
used in the academic domain, and it was introduced in the English language
1225 derived from Old French figure (OED, 2021). Today figure refers to a
“form, shape” and the following adjectives are furthermore some of its
collocates: available 31x, visible 1x, possible 1x (OED, 2021).
9. Year (52.4%) is the eighth most frequent noun in the sample. It is commonly
used in the NEWS domain. According to OED year is of Germanic origin and
some of its cognates are Dutch jaar and German Jahr. Today year refers to a
23“natural unit of time of about 365¼ days” (OED, 2021). The following
adjectives are moreover some of its collocates: available 18x, possible 2x,
comparable 1x, able 1x.
10. Food (52.3%) is the tenth most frequent noun in the sample. It is commonly
used in the magazine domain, and it is of Germanic origin (OED, 2021). Today
food refers to “nourishment” and the following adjectives are further its
collocates: available 13x possible 9x, imaginable 1x (OED, 2021).
5 Discussion
The research questions were as follows:
1. Do adjectives ending in -ible or -able prefer the prepositive or postpositive
position, when modified by a superlative adjective, only or next?
2. Which types of adjectives prefer the postpositive position?
3. After which nouns does postposition of -ible and -able adjectives mostly occur?
A complete distribution of the statistics can furthermore be found in Appendices A-C
and the etymology as well as the domain usage can be found in Appendices D and E.
-Ble adjectives had a much higher tendency to be postposed than other adjectives in the
English language. The tendency for adjectives to be postposed in English is 4.6%,
whereas the tendencies for adjectives ending in -ible and -able are 17.4% and 17.5%
respectively, which is surprising regarding that none of the -ible adjectives preferred the
postpositive position, whereas 6 -able adjectives preferred this position. The statistics
were, however, affected by the sample sizes of the adjectives, as the -ible adjectives had
20 adjective types, while the -able ones had 70. The most common -ible adjectives were
moreover more productive than the most common -able adjectives resulting in 11,697
and 11,624 tokens, respectively. Lastly, the nouns had a 25.6 % tendency to be
postposed by -ble adjectives, which is probably due to the nouns being gathered from
the 400 first search hits, whereas the adjectives were gathered from the 7992 search hits
for each adjective, respectively. Due to the lack of variation among the nouns, the
results were thus most likely skewed.
24Most of the adjectives with a high tendency to be postposed were derived from French
and Latin, or both languages (see Appendix D). The -ible adjectives were seldom
created within the English language and they were commonly borrowed from French or
Latin. Half of the -able adjectives were however created within the English language,
with almost all adjectives having a French origin. The productivity of the -able suffix
and the tendency for -able adjectives to be of French origin also correlates with the
Oxford English Dictionary’s explanation (OED, 2021) (see 2.3.1). The nouns in 4.4.1
were, however, of more mixed origin, with most nouns having a French or Latin origin
and some having a Germanic origin.
There were several other factors than historical origin that characterised the -ible
adjectives that were prone to postposition in section 4.2.1. Firstly, the -ible adjectives
that were most prone to postposition were commonly used in the academic domain,
except for eligible (NEWS), audible (fiction) and feasible (WEB). They further denoted
a dynamic sense in the examples, correlating with previous studies on the semantics of
adjectives in the postpositive position (Bolinger, 1967; Quirk et al., 1985; Svartvik &
Sager, 2005; Matthews, 2014) (see sections 2.2.3 and 2.3). Other than dynamicity,
Bolinger (1967) argues that adjectives in postposition denote a specific occasion, which
can be seen in example [20] in section 4.3, this denotation was not clear in most
examples, though. The collocates of the adjectives were further often inanimate, except
for responsible and eligible. About half of the adjectives had moreover tangible
collocates, whereas the other half had intangible collocates, this tangibility could,
however, differ depending on the context. To exemplify, the collocate way can denote a
physical route or method of doing something. The adjectives were lastly used in
prepositional phrases, as subject- and object complements, in reduced relative clauses,
in heavy adjectival phrases and as proper names.
There were also several factors that characterised adjectives ending in -able that
preferred the postpositive position in section 4.3.1. Firstly, the -able adjectives that were
most subject to postposition were commonly used in the academic domain, except
imaginable (magazines), predictable (magazines), able (BLOG), practicable (WEB).
All adjectives further denoted a dynamic sense. The collocates of the adjectives were
furthermore often inanimate, except for the adjectives able and capable. Most adjectives
moreover had intangible collocates, whereas predictable and practicable had tangible
25collocates, the tangibility depended on the context though. The adjectives were finally
used in prepositional phrases, as subject- and object complements, and as fixed
expressions.
The nouns that preferred the positive position in section 4.4.1 further had some common
characteristics. The nouns that preferred to be postposed were firstly commonly used in
the academic domain, except money (spoken), year (NEWS), room (fiction). All nouns
were further inanimate objects either referring to concrete objects or abstract concepts,
e.g., a room might refer to a physical room or an opportunity in room for improvement.
Lastly, the nouns’ adjective collocates were commonly the most common -ble
adjectives: available and possible which had 2,890 and 9,524 tokens, respectively.
Overall, adjectives ending in -ble prefer the prepositive position, but they have a higher
tendency to be postposed than adjectives in English generally have. The adjectives with
a high tendency to be postposed were primarily of French or Latin origin, dynamic and
commonly used in the academic domain. Postposition was further common in the
following situations: prepositional phrases, as object- and subjects complements, in
proper names and fixed adjectival and noun expressions. The nouns were lastly
inanimate, intangible objects commonly used in the academic domain.
6 Conclusion
The aims of this study were to investigate whether adjectives ending in -able and -ible
prefer the postpositive or prepositive position. Furthermore, analysing which types of
adjectives prefer the postpositive position. The last aim was to investigate after which
type of nouns postposition mostly occurs. All these aims resulted in the following
research questions:
1. Do adjectives ending in -ible or -able prefer the prepositive or postpositive
position, when modified by a superlative adjective, only or next?
2. Which types of adjectives prefer the postpositive position?
3. After which nouns does postposition of -ible and -able adjectives mostly occur?
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