Prenominal adjectives in English: Structures and ordering

Previous studies on the order of prenominai adjectives in English (and other languages) have tended to focus on a ‘subjective-objective’ (e.g. Hetzron 1978) or ‘specificatory-characterizing’ (e.g. Seiler 1978) cline within a set of non-coordinated adjectives. The aim of the present contribution is twofold: (i) to add both ‘full’ and ‘partial’ coordination to the picture so as to obtain a cline of structural realization ranging from independent to recursive modification, and (ii) to describe two classes of adjectives which are not accurately described in terms of the logic of constituency or dependency, but rather in terms of scoping (McGregor 1997). The concluding section will offer an overview of the options open to the language user in structuring and ordering prenominai adjectives in English.