Chapter ##
IDEOPHONIC ADJECTIVES
deophonic adjectives comprise a set of words that have characteristics of both
adjectives and ideophones. Like adjectives, they predicate qualities to nominal
referents, but like ideophones, they tend to indicate highly specific properties or
I
combinations of properties ( small size of a head ,  acidic like fermented grain ,
 small, hard, and round like a marble ). Their precise meanings are hard to pin down
without attributing the properties to referents that embody them. Also like ideophones,
they exhibit a limited number of phonological shapes, most of which are not shared by
 mainstream lexical categories, such as nouns, adjectives, and verbs. Syntactically,
ideophonic adjectives likewise behave in ways that justify classifying them as a special
lexical subcategory. In contrast to true adjectives (##), which can appear only
postnominally in attributive function, ideophonic adjectives may be appear in an
attributive sense both prenominally or postnominally, e.g. gućngućruć&! kućfia H" kućfia
gućngućruć&!  huge, round pot . Similar to ideophones, ideophonic adjectives may add
specificity to regular adjectives that express properties compatible with the meaning of
the ideophonic adjective, e.g. kućfia sęr� gućngućruć&!  a gungurun-big pot . Like adjectives,
ideophonic adjectives can be used alone as predicates of equational sentences, e.g. din&yil
Jummai ye mbaćkk�taćk  that baby of Jummai s is big and hefty . Unlike adjectives,
ideophonic adjectives cannot be used nominally or pronominally. Thus, the adjective dąi
 red could be used nominally to mean  redness and pronominally with the clitic nć, as in
nć daći poćyyuwoć  the red one shattered , whereas gućngućruć&! could not be used
independently to mean  huge roundedness or  a huge round one , e.g. *(nć) gućngućruć&!
poćyyuwoć  the huge round one shattered is ungrammatical.
1. Forms of Ideophonic Adjectives
Most ideophonic adjectives have one of four phonological patterns. For reference
purposes we use nonsense forms that mirror the canonical patterns: kolkol, kololo,
kollor, kokkilok. A fifth, somewhat less regular pattern, XCvv, always ends in a long
vowel or diphthong. All patterns are monotonal, i.e. they bear all H or all L. For most
ideophonic adjectives, the choice of H or L is lexically specific, and in a few cases, tone
is the only distinction between ideophonic adjectives of different meaning. There are,
however, a fair number that can bear H or L with no difference in meaning.
The canonical patterns incorporate either reduplication or a geminate consonant. The
patterns with geminates are associated with words that do not have geminates but have
parallel syllable structure and have the semantic and syntactic properties of ideophonic
adjectives.
1
Some ideophonic adjectives are disyllabic, some are trisyllabic. The medial syllable
of the trisyllabic patterns always has the vowel i or u, which is epenthetic and is required
to break up CCC clusters or to separate consonants that would otherwise form an
impermissible sequence in Bole (see ## for possible and impossible Bole consonant
sequences). The basic epenthetic vowel is i, with the variant u found where the vowel of
the following syllable is u.
1.1.  kolkol type: CVCRED
 tiny
+"il+"il
 smooth, neat, clean
fialfial
 small, tiny
fiolfiol
 small and round
golgol
 short, stubby
kećrkećr `" kerker
 mildly hot (warm)
laćilaći `" lailai
 flexible
l�ul�u
 warm
lućmlućm
 crowded, creating a hubbub
nyaćmnyaćm
 emaciated
nyomnyom
 sour, fermented (porridge, beer, etc.)
shoćmshoćm
 pointed
shomshom
 smooth (of surface)
sulsul
The kolkol type of ideophonic adjective consists of a reduplicated CVC syllable. The
second consonant of the reduplicated syllable is always a sonorant. The kolkol pattern is
not restricted to ideophonic adjectives. There are nouns, adjectives, and ideophones with
the same pattern, and the lexical distinction between ideophonic adjectives and other
categories, particularly ideophones, is hazy. In a phrase like kećrkećr paćtać `" paćtać kećrkećr
 stubby tail(ed) , ideophonic adjective is the proper designation stubbiness is a property
of the tail and the phrasal syntax is typical of ideophonic adjectives (see below). On the
other hand, ngortuĄ wula taitai  he tied the load tightly , ideophone seems more
appropriate  tightly specifies the manner of tying, not a property of the load.
1.2.  kololo type: s\CV|
RED
 large and round, tightly filled out
daĄnaĄnaĄ
 small and round
goĄl�l� `" go\lęlę
 very small and skinny
mbęręrę
 small (child, animal)
mbu\ru\ru\
 lying long and stretched out
meĄleĄleĄ
 big, strong
mućrsuĄsuĄ
 thin
ngęręrę
 small
ngu\ręrę
 emaciated
nja\lu\lu\
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 tall, strong, tall but not thin
paćrtaĄtaĄ
 tall, strong, huge
pućrtuĄtuĄ
 watery
shoĄroĄroĄ `" sho\ro\ro\
 watery
&yo\ro\ro\
 tiny, small, oblong
zuĄtuĄtuĄ `" zu\tu\tu\
The regular kololo pattern ends in two CV reduplicated syllables with long vowels.
Kololo ideophonic adjectives as a group are among the few words in Bole that end in
long vowels (##).1 The first syllable is usually also CV with a long vowel, though a few
have CVr. The vowel of the first syllable is usually, though not obligatorily, the same as
that of the reduplicated syllables. Like all ideophonic adjectives, the tones are all H or all
L.
A small group of ideophonic adjectives with the kololo pattern have short vowels in
the first and second syllables (or, in one case, a short vowel in the first syllable and
diphthongs in the second and third syllables). The final vowel is long, as for kololo
ideophonic adjectives with long vowels throughout.
 full, filled
danana\ (cf. daĄnaĄnaĄ above)
 long and flexible
mb�laćilaći
 watery
&yororo\ `" &yo\ro\ro
 flaccid; weak, diluted
&yululu\
The monotonal kololo pattern is exclusive to ideophonic adjectives. There are a
couple of nouns mb�r�r�  mud-dauber wasp and mbuĄruĄruĄ a type of large, coloful
locust with this pattern, but these were probably originally ideophonic adjectives that
indicated properties embodied by the insects. Note that these nouns differ minimally in
tone from otherwise identical ideophonic adjectives in the table above.
1.3.  kollor type: CVGVC, CV�CVC (� = sonorant), C1VC2iC3VC4 (C2 =
obstruent)
CVGVC
 excessively short (of clothes)
fiekkem
 short, referring to s.th. that could be long
fiekkem `" fiikkim
 puffed out cheeks
mbaćkkućm `" mbakkum
 heavy and fat
mbaćttaćm `" mbećccećm
 faded, lightened from original color
poćlloćr `" pollor
 roundish
roćkkoćl `" rokkol
 sullen, angry looking
s�kk�m
 spread, wide and soft
tećccećm `" teccem
1
The final long vowel is a property specific to ideophonic adjectives. Reduplication of a final syllable
does not automatically result in a long final vowel cf. the short final vowels in the nouns, araĄrać  cashew ,
bu\fiu\fiuć  Senegal coucal , buĄsuĄsu  a spell causing paralysis , kudeĄdeć  unreliability .
3
CV�CVC
 huge
kaćngaćm
 round and solid
kućltućm `" kultum
 being loose, not together, feeling helpless
nyaćncać&! `" nyanca&!
 huge
t�nk�r
 good-looking and cheerul
wersel
 protruding (of forehead)
yurfium
 big-eyed
zoćltoćm
C1VC2iC3VC4
 excessively short (of clothes)
+"etiker
 naked
baćfi�waćr
 big and fat
mbućfiućkućl
 tiny
njifiikir
 small and flat
pekiter
 having a pensive look
sukulum
 having a pensive look
takulum
 having a pensive look
zogilom
We can generalize the kollor pattern as CVCCV�H ~ L (� = sonorant, superscript
H ~ L = a single tone over the whole word), where the canonical pattern for kollor type
ideophonic adjectives has a geminate medial syllable, ends in a sonorant consonant, and
usually has the same vowel in the first and last syllable. All kollor ideophonic adjectives
end in a sonorant consonant.
Viewing the medial geminate as a -CC- sequence, there are two associated
complementary patterns, each of which has a sequence of two different consonants in
place of the geminate. The CV�CVC pattern has a sequence SONORANT+OBSTRUENT;
the C1VC2iC3VC4 pattern has -CiC- (-CuC- when the vowel of the following syllable is
u) with an obstruent as the first consonant. The medial -i- (or -u-) is epenthetic, required
to break up the sequence of OBSTRUENT+C, which is normally disallowed in Bole (##).
There are a few nouns that have the geminated kollor pattern, viz. fiaćssaćn  worn out
thing , fiaćssućm (usually in biyeć fiaćssućm)  any non-slimy biye made with greens ,
tesshem  small amount of liquid remaining in a container (cf. tŁccŁm in the list above).
These are probably originally ideophonic adjectives. The other patterns have the look of
 normal Bole words many nouns and verbs have medial SONORANT+OBSTRUENT or
-CiC- sequences, many nouns end in sonorant consonants, many nouns and verbs have
all H or all L tones but it turns out that, in presently available data, there are no words
other than ideophonic adjectives with the specific combination of both segmental and
tonal properties described here.
1.4.  kokkilok type: CVkkiCVk, CV&!KiCV&!, CV[lab][lab]iVCm, CVnCiVCn
CVkkiCVk
 heavy
d�kk�fi�k `" dikkifiik `"
dećkk�fiećk `" dekkifiek
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 small and round
fiokkirok `" fiukkuruk
 hard
kaćkk�fiaćk `" kekkifiek `" koćkk�fioćk
 huge and heavy
mbaćkk�tak
 plump, round of body
mbukkufiuk
 huge
mućkkućtućk
 small and flat
paćkk�taćk `" pakkitak
 broad surface
pećkk�tećk
 lacking density
poćkk�toćk `" pokkitok
 light (not heavy)
soćkk�toćk `" sokkitok
 big and strong looking but lazy
sućkkućtućk `" sukkutuk
 uneven
soćrk�loćk
 protruding, esp. forehead
yućggućdućk
 deep but narrow
zućrkućlućk `" zurkuluk
CV&!KiCV&!
 wide, broad
daćng�yać&!
 huge and round
g�ng�r�&! `" gućngućruć&!
 tall, erect
zećng�leć&!
 long and thin
zengile&!
CV[lab][lab]iVCm
 heavy
kaćmp�taćm
 light (not heavy)
sampiram
 heavy
s�pp�fi�m
 small and round
som+"ilom
 oblong shaped
sum+"ulum
 big and tall
zećmp�tećm
 round and long, like a sausage
zućm+"ućlućm
 shaped like a corncob
zućm+"ućrućm
 long
zućmpućtućm
CVnCiVCn
 hard, tiny, and slippery
min*yilin
 long and protruding
zućntućrućn
Miscellaneous
 not fully ripe
dinshi+"ir
 disheveled
ja+"ur+"ur
 oversized
l�p�nd�&! `" l�p�nd�m
 broad, extensive
fi�yaĄfiućm
 quiet demeanor due to helpless feeling
ngućlaĄrućm `" ngula\rum
The most common sub-pattern for kokkilok ideophonic adjectives comprises four
consonants, the second being geminate -kk- and the last being -k. In addition, there are a
small number with -gg- or with -rk- rather than -kk-. There are three complementary
associated patterns with other medial -CC- sequences and final consonants: (1) medial
-&!g- and final -&!; (2) a sequence of medial labials (usually -mP-, P = any labial obstruent,
5
but one word has -pp-) and final -m; (3) a sequence of medial coronals (-nC- in the two
words so far found) and final -n. A few additional words have the overall  three-
syllables with a final consonant pattern of kokkilok ideophonic adjectives, with the first
two syllables alternating HEAVY-LIGHT or LIGHT-HEAVY, but they do not fit the more
regular patterns. All regular kokkilok ideophonic adjectives have medial epenthetic
-i- (-u- if the vowel of the next syllable is u) to break up what would otherwise be an
impermissible -CCC- sequence.
The kokkilok pattern is restricted to ideophonic adjectives. There is one noun with
this pattern, toćng�fioć&!  red-billed hornbill , probably originally an ideophonic adjective
referring to some characteristic of the bird.
1.5.  XCvv type
 wide, broad
daćraćnsaći
 big and broad
d�g�zaĄ
 dirty
d�k�+"aĄ
 in disarray
l�k�shaĄ `" r�k�shaĄ
 protruding (of eyes)
moć&y&y�loĄtoĄ
 having a wide opening, e.g. nostrils
poĄt�roĄ `" po\tiro\
 in great quantity, esp. food
rućkuć+"aĄ
 slippery, slick
saćlfi�naći
 insipid tasting
saćmp�naći
Ideophonic adjectives of the XCvv pattern, like other patterns, are monotonal
(mostly L). Their primary charactistic is a final long vowel or diphthong. Assuming that
these comprise a single class, their root structure is more variable than that of other
classes of ideophonic adjectives. Classifying words of XCvv structure is also somewhat
less clear than for other ideophonic adjectives. Saćlfi�naći and saćmp�naći might be better
considered to be adjectives, rućkuć+"aĄ might be better considered an ideophone,2 and
taćk�shaĄ  falling with a splash (not included here), though it has XCvv structure, seems
to function as an unequivocal ideophone (##), e.g. pećten gać jo\ soĄre gać gaĄ paĄli
taćk�shaĄ  he came out running and fell into the puddle splash .
2. Syntax of Ideophonic Adjectives
2.1. Attributive modifiers. Two structures are available for ideophonic adjectives as
attributive modifiers: NOUN (nć) ID ADJ or ID ADJ+NOUN. The former construction is
identical to that of nouns with attributive adjectives (##), though there is a tendency for
the linking nć to be present when the modifier is an adjective and a tendency for it to be
absent when the modifier is an ideophonic adjective. As with adjectives, the linking nć
becomes the coda of a preceding CV syllable, and that syllable has Falling tone if it was
2
Used prenominally, saćlfi�naći and sąmp�nąi name the property of the adjective, e.g. saćmp�naći d�bęnoć
 insipidness of dates , and rućkuć+"ać cannot be used prenominally, e.g. *rućkuć+"aĄ t�shi cannot mean  food
abundance as would be predicted were rućkuć+"aĄ a regular ideophonic adjective. See ż2.1.
6
originally H. Also as with adjectives, if nć is not present, Low Tone Raising (LTR ##)
does not apply to the postnominal modifier. Blockage of LTR could be interpreted as the
effect of the L tone of an underlying nć, or it may be the effect of the syntactic boundary
between a noun and postnominal modifiers in general (adjectives, numerals,
demonstratives, relative clauses), none of which undergo LTR.
The second attributive construction, ID ADJ+NOUN, is not available for adjectives
(##) peĄt�lać suć+"ać means  whiteness of the gown (a type of whiteness), not  white gown
(a type of gown). The ID ADJ+NOUN construction incorporates no linking morpheme and
DOES induce LTR on the following noun, e.g. /wersel ą �do/ ! [wersel ido]  bright-
eyed . Although a prenominal ideophonic adjective seems to be interpreted as a modifier
of the noun, there is a meaning difference between the two attributive constructions using
ideophonic adjectives, e.g. �do]n wersel means something like  eyes that are bright
where wersel ido means something like  bright-eyed(ness) . What is of primary
importance, however, is that in either construction, the ideophonic adjective expresses an
attribute of the noun the reverse in ordering does not reverse the meaning relationships.
In the examples below, we do not attempt to distinguish meanings between the
constructions (but see below for discussion of noun phrases containing ideophonic
adjectives as arguments of verbs).
ID ADJ+NOUN
NOUN (nć) ID ADJ
 small, round head
koĄyi golgol `" koĄy�n golgol golgol ko\yi
 short, stubby tail
patać kerker kerker pata
 tiny child
laĄwoć +"il+"il +"il+"il la\woć
 protruding forehead
dućmpo yurfium `" dućmpo]n yurfium yurfium dućmpo
 stretched out python
m�fii meĄleĄleĄ `" m�fi�m meĄleĄleĄ meĄleĄleĄ m�fii
 emaciated cow
koćm nja\lu\lu\ nja\lu\lu\ ko]m
 huge, round pot
kućfia gućngućruć&! gućngućruć&! kućfia
 disheveled hair
soćwwoć ja+"ur+"ur ja+"ur+"ur sowwoć
 small buttocks
sumbu +"etiker +"etiker sumbu
 wide nostrils
ućnti poĄt�roć poĄt�roĄ ućnti
 insipid dates
d�bęnoćn saćmp�naći saćmp�naći d�bęnoć
One type of noun allows a special construction with ideophonic adjectives. In
NOUN+NOUN genitive constructions, body part terms ending in -o and having final LH
tone pattern delete -o and insert epenthetic -i (##). These same nouns can undergo the
same change with an ideophonic adjective as a postnominal modifier. This construction
induces LTR on the ideophonic adjective and is equivalent in meaning to the
ID ADJ+NOUN construction rather than NOUN (nć) ID ADJ construction, which is, of course,
also available for these nouns (see the example with dłmpo  forehead in the table above
and the example �do  eye in the paragraph preceding the table). In a related variant
construction, the noun koĄyi  head has a bound form ko, which can be used with a
following ideophonic adjective.
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 protruding forehead
dućmpo dućmpi yurfium `" yurfium dućmpo
 bright eyes
�do �di wersel `" wersel ido
 broad flat ears
kućmo kućmu pakk�taćk `" paćkk�taćk kućmo
 misaligned teeth
ućdo ućdi nyanca&! `" nyanca&! udo
 
ućdi nyancać&! `" nyaćncać&! ućdo
 little round head
koĄyi ko som+"ilom `" som+"ilom ko\yi
This special construction is available only for nouns have have the special bound
forms illustrated in the table above. It does not apply to any nouns other than body parts,
and it does not apply to body parts that do not have the form LH-o cf. ućnti poĄt�roć  wide
nostrils (< łnti) or sąra pąkk�tąk  broad, flat hand (< sąra) with no change in the noun
and non-application of LTR on the ideophonic adjective. The construction also is not
available for adjectives. Phrases like *�di dąi < /�do dąi/  red eyes , *kućmi gaćra&! <
/kućmo gaćra&!/  long ears are ungrammatical.
Another construction collocating ideophonic adjectives and nouns has the form
ID ADJ gą NOUN. This seems to be restricted to phrases where the body part is a noun and
the ideophonic adjective expresses some negative characteristic appropriate to that noun.
The construction is used in abuse.
zućntućrućn gać boĄ  protruding mouth
gućngućruć&! gać koĄyi  large, round head
yućggućdućk gać koĄyi  head protruding in the forehead
Noun phrases that include ideophonic adjectives as nominal modifiers can function as
arguments of verbs, but only in the NOUN (nć) ID ADJ construction.
nć konu\ kulać soćkk�toćk but *nć konu\ soćkk�toćk kulać  I picked up a light calabash
nć ndolu\ aćtti &yo\ro\ro\ sa but *nć ndolu\ &yo\ro\ro\ atti sa  I don t like watery atti
goćjju\ mo\taćn sum+"ulum but *goćjju\ sum+"ulum mo\taćn
 he bought a long, round-looking car
meĄmuć mućrsuĄsuĄ kaćccutuĄ goćggoć but *mućrsuĄsuĄ meĄmuć kaćccutuĄ goćggoć
 a huge man blocked the road
aćtti &yo\ro\ro\ aćj� nzućfieć but *&yo\ro\ro\ aćtti aćj� nzućfieć  the watery atti is spilling
The ID ADJ+NOUN construction can function as a noun phrase in a sentence where it
stands as a description more or less on its own.
mbaćkkućm boĄ maćnać boĄ am bućya alge\tać
 puffed out face like the face of an algeta player
soćm+"�loćm koĄyi maćnać fiinsa  a little round head like an egg
This distributional difference between the two constructions follows from the
meaning difference. We suggested that the ID ADJ+NOUN construction has the sense of a
compound incorporating the noun into the overall sense of the ideophonic adjective
8
( bright-eyedness for the ID ADJ+NOUN construction vs.  eyes that are bright for the
NOUN (nć) ID ADJ construction). A sentence like nć konu\ kulać soćkk�toćk would thus mean
 I picked up a calabash (that felt) lightweight , whereas *nć konu\ soćkk�toćk kulać would
have to mean something like * I picked up light-weighted calabashness . Used as a
more less isolated reference rather than a specific argument of a verb, however, the
phrase could evoke a general property applying to some entity.
2.2. Ideophone-like modifiers with adjectives and statives. As well as being direct
attributive modifiers of nouns, ideophonic adjectives may function more like regular
ideophones by adding properties to nominal modifiers, including both adjectives and
statives derived from verbs (##). There is, however, a difference between true
ideophones used as modifiers of adjectives and verbs and ideophonic adjectives used in a
similar way. In the case of a true ideophone used with an adjective, e.g. maćnshi lukup
 very old, old as the hills , the ideophone expresses degree, intensity, or the like of the
adjective itself. Ideophonic adjectives, on the other hand, express additional properties of
the noun, albeit properties somehow associated with the adjective with which they are
used. Thus, in the examples below, sets of two or three expressions include the same
adjective (fioćle  small , gaćra&!  tall, long , sęr�  big ) or stative (fioćwa-n�  seated <
fiowu  sit down , rućkkać-n�ś-to  thin < rućkku  become thin ), but differing ideophonic
adjectives associate different sets of properties with the referents while not changing the
base meaning of the adjective or stative. Note that adjectives do not induce Low Tone
Raising in a following ideophonic adjective, e.g. in the first example below LTR does not
apply to yield *paćtać fioćle kerkećr.
Used with adjectives
paćtać fioćle kećrkećr  small short and stubby tail
laĄwoć fioćle +"il+"il  small tiny child
dać&ya musućr ye laĄ fioćle min&yilin
 the necklace bead is small (as well as) hard and shiny
Maduć gaćra&! paćrtaĄtaĄ  Madu is tall (as well as) well-built
+"oćltu\ bila\lać gaćra&! l�ul�u  he cut a long, flexible whip
gaćram meĄleĄleĄ  long and stretched out (like a long snake or a rope)
kućfia sęri gućngućruć&!  big large and round pot
meĄmuć sęri tećccećm  the man is big (as well as) broad of beam
Used with verb-derived statives
A�do fioćwan� s�kk�m  Ado is seated sullenly
fioćwan� takulum  he is seated pensively
koćm rućkkaćn� mbęręrę  the cow is thin and undernourished
laĄwoć soćruttu rućkkaćto nyomnyom  and the girl fell thin from being starved
aćwo ngoćman� daĄnaĄnaĄ  the stomach is full to the top ( filled danana )
2.3. Predicate adjectives, subjective complements, and objective complements. Like
adjectives, ideophonic adjectives can be used as predicates in equational sentences (##)
9
and as subjective and objective complements of nouns in various verbal constructions
(##). In the latter case, where the verb has some substantive meaning, the ideophonic
adjective may sometimes be interpreted as an ideophonic modifier of the verb, e.g. in the
last example under  Subjective complements , kaćkk�fiaćk could plausibly be saying
something about how the fruit dried rather than the fruit itself. Such ambiguous contexts
undoubtedly serve as a mechanism to create the sometimes vague boundaries between
lexical categories mentioned elsewhere.
Predicate of equational sentence
aćtti ye shoĄroĄroĄ  the atti is watery
zottoćto +"etiker  her wrapper is too short
kulać eme\ sokkitok  this calabash is light-weight
�di zoćnge zoćltoćm  the hyena s eyes were huge
&yaćla ye s�ras sa, laĄ dinshi+"ir  the millet is not full grown, its heads are short
Subjective complements
suć+"ać ko\reć ęj�n� poćlloćr  the indigo gown has become faded (pollor)
suć+"ać sęri ye ę l�p�nd�&!  the gown is excessively big
laĄwoć kućreĄfi� ye pećten zengile&!  the small snake came out long and thin
mbormi poć&&u\j�n� kaćkk�fiaćk  the ebony fruit has dried up (becoming) very hard
Objective complements
oćssa&y &yaćla nyaćncać&!  she ground the flour to a coarse consistency
zućma\ konn� sulsul  he shaved his head smooth
kućmta\ aćmma lućmlućm  he heated the water (to become) warm
Following from the use of ideophonic adjectives in main clauses is the fact that they
may be predicates in postnominal relative clauses.
kućreĄfi� laĄ meĄleĄleĄ  a snake that is lying stretched out
gowna\ gać ka\ri laĄ ngęręrę  he hit me with a stalk that was long and thin
njilna\ lo laĄ njifiikir  he cut me (a piece of) meat that was very tiny
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