Colour adjective and noun agreement in the Lithuanian and French languages

Lietuvių ir prancūzų kalbose būdvardžiai plačiai vartojami tiek kasdienėje kalboje, tiek literatūroje, o bene svarbiausias taisyklingo jų vartojimo aspektas – būdvardžių derinimas su daiktavardžiais. Šiame straipsnyje analizuojami minėtųjų kalbų spalvą reiškiantys būdvardžiai ir jų derinimas su daiktavardžiais, kuriuos apibūdina. Tiriamos būdvardžių rūšys bei funkcijos minėtose kalbose, didžiausią dėmesį sutelkiant ties spalvą reiškiančiais būdvardžiais. Remiantis pavyzdžiais, analizuojama kokiomis kategorijomis šie būdvardžiai derinami prancūzų bei lietuvių kalbose. Šių dviejų kalbų būdvardžių derinimas su daiktavardžiais gerokai skiriasi. Skiriasi ir spalvą reiškiančių būdvardžių pozicija daiktavardinėse frazėse, kas taip pat turi įtakos jų derinimui. Straipsnio tikslas – atskleisti spalvą reiškiančių būdvardžių derinimo su daiktavardžiais lietuvių ir prancūzų kalbose panašumus bei skirtumus, iliustruojant juos surinktais pavyzdžiais.In most languages, words are divided into parts of speech, the most important of which is the noun. However, the adjective is very closely related to the noun. Adjectives enrich the language and make it more expressive and eloquent. In this article, one type of adjectives – the colour adjective in Lithuanian and French – will be analysed. As the adjective is a very specific part of speech, the usage of it is sometimes complicated. In certain languages, adjectives have only one form regardless of the gender and the number of the noun they modify. However, adjectives have various forms in flectional languages, where matching the number and the gender with the noun is obligatory, as in French and Lithuanian. After conducting the research, most common tendencies of the French and the Lithuanian colour adjective and noun agreement were revealed. First of all, it became clear that in French and Lithuanian, two types of adjectives exist: qualitative and relative adjectives. Also, it became clear that most of French adjectives are placed after the noun they modify, which is also valid for colour adjectives. On the contrary, in Lithuanian, the placement of adjectives is flexible; however, the dominant position is before the noun. Throughout the research it was found out that in French, three types of colour adjectives exist: simple colour adjectives, compound colour adjectives and colour adjectives represented by nouns. What is proved during the empirical survey is that simple colour adjectives in French must match the noun which they modify by its gender and number. The compound colour adjectives stay invariable and do not have to match the noun. However, there are minor exceptions to this rule. Finally, colour adjectives represented by nouns are also invariable, though there are some exceptions as well. In Lithuanian, only two types of colour adjectives exist: simple and compound colour adjectives. The adjectives of both the first and second types must match the noun they modify by the gender, the number, and the case