2. Morphological, Structural, Functional and other Isomorphic and Allomorphic Features of Different Classes of Adjectives in the Contrasted Languages.

The adjective as a part of speech is characterized in English and in Ukrainian by a common lexico-grammatical nature and common functions. It expresses the attributes of substances ( a nice flower, urgent measures) and can serve as a predicative complement after the copula-verb ( the child was small, he grew old; дитя було маленьке, вона стала нервовою).

Adjectives in the contrasted languages may be qualitative, directly denoting qualities of a substance as a size, shape, colour, physical and mental qualities (little, hard, white; великий, чорний) and relative which characterize objects or phenomena through their relation to other objects and phenomena: to materials (silken, wooden; шовковий, дерев’яний), to place (Italian, Asian; італійський,

азіатський), to some action (preparatory, rotatory; підготовчий, обертальний).

Grading of Qualitative Adjectives

Most qualitative adjectives in English and Ukrainian are gradable.

Gradibility in both languages is achieved by means of the positive, the comparative and the superlative degrees. The way of grading may be synthetic or analytical.

The synthetic way of grading is restricted to base (one syllable) adjectives (big, bigger, biggest); two-syllable adjectives in -y, -er, -ow, -le (happy, clever, narrow, simple); two syllable adjectives with the concluding stressed syllable (concise, complete, etc). In colloquial emphatic speech they may be graded in the analytical way, too: It appeared to me that he was more clever and cold than they were…(Ibid)

The analytical forms of grading are more often employed in English than in Ukrainian, eg.: important, more/less important, most/least important).

In Ukrainian the synthetic way of grading is more often used. It is formed by means of the suffixes -іш/-ш and the prefixes най-, щонай-, якнай-, eg: добрий, добріший, найдобріший/якнайдобріший; сміливий, сміливіший, найсміливіший, etc.

The comparative and the superlative (or both) degrees of some Ukrainian adjectives may be formed by analytical means, most of which are intensifying adverbs більш/менш важливий, багато/набагато важливіший, значно сильніший.

Of isomorphic nature in the contrasted languages is the existence of suppletivity (in actually the same adjectives) , eg: good, better, best; bad, worse, worst; little, less, least; добрий, кращий, найкращий.

Ukrainian adjectives may be formed by diminutive and augmentative suffixes, such as –еньк-, -есеньк-, -ісіньк-, -юсіньк-, (гарненький, тонюсінький), and –езн-, -енн-, -ач-/-яч-, -ущ-/-ющ- (величезний, добрячий, багатющий).

Isomorphic is the process of adjectivation of some parts of speech: beaten track – битий шлях, biting frost – пекучий мороз, the well-to-do people – заможні люди.

Common is also the process of substantivization of adjectives in English and Ukrainian: a relative, a black/white, a monthly/weekly, Brown/the Browns; прийомна, слідчий, черговий, Береговий – wholly substantivized; the poor, the rich, the young; головне, важливе, основне, (ходити в) теплому, шовковому, бути в літньому – partially substantivized, having no number, gender, case distinctions in English, and being of neuter gender in Ukrainian.

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