Obs. iii. In Premare’s list of antithetical characters, more than fifty of 117 are adjectives. Many also of those that belong to other parts of speech, have the antithesis less strongly marked.
Obs. iv. Many abstract substantives are formed by the union of these antithetical adjectives, in the order in which they stand above; e.g. how long? ’kí hau‘ dzáng ’dön? to say nothing about speed, veh ’kong k’wá man‘ v. Syntax. Part III. §2.
166. Sometimes in the antithesis, one member is a single, and the other a double form.
| 佳 kiá, capable. | 唔用 m yúng‘, useless. |
| 亂 lön‘, disturbed. | 太平 t’a‘ bing, peaceful. |
167. Other words having no obvious antithesis form it by assuming the sign of the negative.
- 勿像我能 veh ziáng‘ ’ngú nung, not like me.
- 勿肯做 veh ’k’ung tsú‘, not willing to do it.
- 勿便當 veh bíen‘ tong‘, not convenient.
Obs. The negative here just corresponds to our English prefix un, e.g. unlike, unwilling.
Combination. 168. Many adjectives are formed by the apposition in a fixed order, of two adjectives, and in these compounds many book words occur.
| 淸爽 t’sing ’song, clear. | 忠厚 tsóng ’eu, faithful. |
| 懶惰 lan dú‘, lazy. | 謙虛 k’íen h’ü, humble. |
| 乾淨 kûn zing‘, clean. | 煩難 van nan, difficult. |
| 聰明 t’sóng ming, clever. | 須少 sü ’sau, few. |
| 毛草 mau ’t’sau, rough. | 許多 ’hü tú, many. |
| 冷靜 ’láng ’zing, solitary. | 新鮮 sing síen, new. |
| 粗疎 t’sú sú, coarse. | 呆笨 ngé bun‘, stupid |
| 窮苦 kióng ’kú, poor. | 兇狠 h’iúng ’hun, fierce. |
Obs. The antithesis that occurs in examples of this sort is sufficiently indicated by the sense.