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# Is the adjective distinct from the noun as a grammatical category in biblical Hebrew?

**Authors:** [Cynthia L. Miller-Naudé](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/authors/cynthia-l-miller-naude/), [Jacobus A. Naudé](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/authors/jacobus-a-naude/) · **Year:** 2016 · **Venue:** In die Skriflig / In Luce Verbi 50 (4), a2005 **Link:** [doi.org/10.4102/ids.v50i4.2005](https://doi.org/10.4102/ids.v50i4.2005) · **Licence:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

[**8** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W2513533388) openalex-snapshot · 2026-10-14[In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi](https://openalex.org/S4210203666)[licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

- [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.4102/ids.v50i4.2005)
- [PDF](https://indieskriflig.org.za/index.php/skriflig/article/download/2005/3891)
- [DOI 10.4102/ids.v50i4.2005](https://doi.org/10.4102/ids.v50i4.2005)
- [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W2513533388)

**Authors (2)**

1. Cynthia L. Miller-Naudé
2. [Jacobus A. Naudé](https://openalex.org/A5058740558) [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8680-0476) · [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/71533680) · h 13 · 653 citations · 151 works

Citations and author metrics from openalex-snapshot (2026-10-14); authors with the same name are not always told apart.

## What it is about

Many grammars (Joüon–Muraoka, Waltke–O'Connor, GKC §79a) fold the adjective into the noun because their endings look alike. The authors argue, with Gai (1995) for morphology and Baker (2003) for syntax, that they are separate word classes. Morphologically, a noun has inherent gender (which its ending may not show: יָד, זְרוֹעַ are feminine) and inflects only for number, with a dual; an adjective inflects for all four gender–number forms purely by agreement and has no dual (a dual noun takes a plural adjective). Syntactically, only adjectives are direct attributive modifiers (iterated with וְ: "a good and broad land", Exod 3:8), only adjectives (and stative verbs) follow מָה as a degree word ("how great …!"), and only nouns refer and can antecede a pronoun. The "substantival" adjective (הַגְּדֹלָה "the big one", Gen 29:16) is an adjective modifying a silent noun, not a noun.

## Ideas

- I1. Agreement as a gender test: for nouns whose ending hides their gender, read the gender off the attributive adjectives, verbs and pronouns that agree with them in the Torah; build a list of "covert feminines" (and masculines in -וֹת plurals) and compare with MACULA's gender tag.
- I2. A tree convention for the bare definite adjective (הַגְּדֹלָה, הַקְּטַנָּה): keep it ADJ (UPOS) with the role of the missing noun (nsubj/obj …), with a MISC note of the null head and its antecedent if one is found, instead of retagging it NOUN.
- I3. Dual nouns with plural adjectives: an agreement rule that accepts dual + plural adjective, so the agreement checker does not flag it.
- I4. מָה + adjective or stative verb at the clause start → exclamative ("how …!"), not a question: a `prag` form rule.

## For Mova

I1 and I3 go into [The Noun, the Adjective and the Numeral](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/04-noun/) (gender, number, adjectives) and as an agreement count over our trees in `tools/macula`. I2 is a UD convention for `13-mova-tools.md` §6 and the head rules. I4 is a candidate rule in `tools/macula/src/prag.rs` (form: exclamative), described in `05-pronouns-particles.md` (interrogatives).

## Cite

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.4102/ids.v50i4.2005](https://doi.org/10.4102/ids.v50i4.2005)

```
@inproceedings{millernaude2016is,
  title = {{Is the adjective distinct from the noun as a grammatical category in biblical Hebrew?}},
  author = {Miller-Naudé, Cynthia L. and Naudé, Jacobus A.},
  booktitle = {In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi},
  year = {2016},
  doi = {10.4102/ids.v50i4.2005},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.4102/ids.v50i4.2005}
}
```

- [← previous Time in Ancient Hebrew Lexicon: The Case of yrḥ and ḥdš](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo-2016-legnaioli-time-ancient-hebrew-lexicon-case/)
- [next → Speaking to One's Heart: דבר and its Semantic Extension](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo-2016-mylonas-speaking-one-s-heart-semantic/)
- [↑ back to Ancient Hebrew](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo/)

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