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In descriptions of the Japanese language, an adjectival noun, adjectival, or ''na''-adjective is a noun that can function as an adjective by taking the particle 〜な ''-na''. (In comparison, regular nouns can function adjectivally by taking the particle 〜の ''-no'', which is analyzed as the genitive case.) Adjectival nouns constitute one of several Japanese word classes that can be considered equivalent to adjectives. In their attributive function, Japanese adjectival nouns function similarly to English noun adjuncts, as in "''chicken'' soup" or "''winter'' coat" – in these cases, the nouns "chicken" and "winter" modify the nouns "soup" and "coat", respectively. Japanese adjectival nouns can also be used predicatively – in that use, they do not take the ''-na'' suffix, but normally combine with forms of the copular verb. ==Terminology== The terminology used to refer to these words is quite inconsistent. The Japanese name is 形容動詞 ''keiyō-dōshi'', which literally means "adjectival verb". This is not necessarily at odds with the English term ''adjectival noun'', since in traditional Japanese grammar, ''keiyō-dōshi'' includes the copula, while the adjectival noun in the analysis described here does not include the copula. For example, in the traditional grammar, ''kirei da'' is a keiyō-dōshi and ''kirei'' is its stem; in the analysis here, ''kirei'' is an adjectival noun and ''kirei da'' is its combination with the copula. Considering the copula is a kind of verb and ''kirei'' is a kind of noun syntactically, both terminologies make sense. Grammatically, these words are nouns, or more technically, nominals, which function attributively (like adjectives) – the main differences being that nouns take a 〜の ''-no'' suffix when acting attributively, while these words take a 〜な ''-na'' suffix when acting attributively, and that most of these words cannot be used as the agent or patient (i.e. subject) of a sentence, but otherwise behaving essentially identically grammatically. Thus, they are variously referred to as "adjectival verbs" (literal translation), "adjectival nouns" (nouns that function adjectivally), ''na''-adjectives (function as adjectives, take ''na''), and ''na''-nominals (nominals that take ''na''). For example, Eleanor Harz Jorden refers to them as ''na''-nominals in her textbook ''Japanese: The Spoken Language''. In fact, by some analyses, nouns and ''na''-nominals are fundamentally grammatically the same, where 〜の vs. 〜な when used attributively is simply a conventional stylistic complementary distribution, with 〜の／〜な being allomorphs. This view is reinforced by the fact that some words, such as 特別 ''tokubetsu'' "special", can take either a 〜の or a 〜な, depending on the phrase.〔(answer by Boaz Yaniv, 2011 Jun 10 ), to (why is it that some 形容動詞 accepts の after it while some only accepts な after it? ) on (Japanese Language and Usage ) at StackExchange〕 Ultimately, 〜な is an abbreviation of 〜にある, used to use a noun attributively (compare modern 〜である, which is a more recent form), while 〜の is the genitive case;〔 see etymology, below. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Adjectival noun (Japanese)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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