Towards the morphosyntactic corpus profile of prototypical adjectives in Estonian

Abstract

The transition zones between traditional word classes cause problems in lexicography. This research addresses the issue of estimating the level of adjectivization in Estonian by proposing a set of close-context indicators ("test patterns") based on the existing literature and detectable in annotated corpus text. The profile of prototypical adjectives (the "reference profile") is established by analyzing the normalized frequencies of the test patterns in a random sample of validated adjectives (N = 100). A scale of similarity to the reference profile is established by using the method of calculating Euclidean distances, which is considered a heuristic of the cumulative similarity vs. the difference. As a result, the scalar nature of the similarity to the reference profile is revealed, among both validated adjectives and the control group of yet underspecified lexicographic headword candidates (N = 100). The results are discussed in respect to improving the toolbox of the test patterns as well as in respect to future studies on some intriguing features of the actual corpus behavior of adjectives as compared to what would be expected by their morphosyntactic potential described in the literature.