Syntactic Functions of Adjectives: A Comparative Approach with Examples from Albanian, English, German, French and Italian Languages
Xhafer Beqiraj
The present paper explores the attributive, epithetic and predicative functions of adjectives in the Albanian language, by considering the most relevant and contemporary theories such as the valency theory and the concepts of generative linguistics. Two reasons make this paper an important contribution to the domain of Linguistics: firstly, the syntactic functions of the adjectives in Albanian language have been analyzed insufficiently due to the fact that Albanian Linguistics is based on traditional theories and concepts. Therefore, many issues related to the syntactic functions of the adjectives remain unexplored. Secondly, as the paper focuses on the adjectives in Albanian language in terms of attributive, epithetic, and predicative functions, each function is illustrated with examples by comparing and contrasting them with other Indo-European languages. Therefore, this paper can be a reference to other non-Albanian researchers whose interest is either in understanding the syntactic issues of the Albanian language or attempting to compare and contrast it with other European languages. This paper is an extract from the doctoral dissertation, which I have reviewed and supplemented for the reader to have an insight into the syntactical system of the Albanian language with focus on adjectives, and to highlight the similarities and differences that exist between the Albanian language and other European languages.
Keywords:Adjective, Valence, Argument, Complement, Thematic roles, Syntagm, Adjectival syntagm, X-bar
