A Comparative Study of Adjectives in English, Russian, and Yoruba

Abstract

There exist a lot of literature on the form and functions of adjectives in English, Russian, and Yoruba,  but, to the best of our knowledge, none of them employed trilingual comparative/contrastive approaches to study adjectives in the three languages. This paper examines the structure, usage, and meanings of English, Russian, and Yoruba adjectives by comparing and contrasting them. It employs   contrastive linguistics and transfer theory to highlight the similarities and differences  in the forms, functions, and contextual usages of adjectives in the three languages. The data employed were elicited  from relevant  textbooks. Findings show  the existence of a significant degree of differences in the nature and grammatical status of adjectives in the three languages. The paper concludes that a proper comprehension of the status, existence, and usage of adjectives in the teaching and learning of these  languages can increase learners' overall communicative competence.