German to Querétaro Otomi: unpack adjective endings and comparison
A compact German modifier may become a clause
German can place an adjective before a noun and alter its ending according to the noun phrase. Palancar’s study of San Ildefonso Tultepec Otomi, a Querétaro variety, analyses many corresponding property words as verbs. When these words modify a noun, his examples use a following relative clause rather than a bare adjective inserted into the German position. A target phrase can consequently be longer while preserving a compact German description accurately.
Compare the original German phrases ein großes Haus and das große Haus. The adjective ending differs, and the articles differ, but both descriptions concern a house’s size. An Otomi rendering should preserve that property and the intended house reference without trying to turn the German endings into separate size meanings. The grammatical work done by a German adjective phrase may instead be distributed across a noun and a clause describing it.
Biggest is more than the ending on big
Palancar illustrates a superlative interpretation involving the purchase of the biggest house. In the analysed variety, this uses a focused relative construction with a borrowing from Spanish más. That example provides a useful warning for German forms such as das größte Haus: the superlative cannot be translated simply by taking a target property verb and adding a mechanically corresponding German-style ending.
A German property advertisement can distinguish a large house from the largest house in a particular group. The latter makes a ranking claim. If the Otomi sentence states only that the house is big, it has dropped that claim; if it adds a ranking to a merely positive German adjective, it has strengthened the advertisement. Keep the comparison set in view as well: largest on this street and largest among the houses shown are different promises. The target construction must express the intended comparison, not just the underlying property.
Do not interpret a property verb as an added event
In Palancar’s analysis, property verbs can predicate directly with the language’s verbal marking. A verbal target expression does not automatically mean that an object has changed or that somebody has acted on it. German can use sein with a property adjective to describe an existing condition; that condition may have a different grammatical shape in Otomi without gaining a new event in the translation.
For instance, a German inspection note distinguishing a hard piece of wood from wood that has just hardened concerns state versus development. A target property expression should not be interpreted solely through German expectations that verbs denote actions and adjectives denote qualities. Read its complete construction. The cited study makes a syntactic argument about lexical classes in one documented variety; its title does not mean that Otomi cannot describe colour, size or texture. Those meanings are available, but their grammatical expression requires more than transferring German adjective order, endings and comparison morphology.
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