Abstract
This paper aims to extend the knowledge of reciprocity outside the largely examined verbal domain, focusing on the reciprocity of adjectives in Czech. Our main aim is to show how syntactic reciprocalization is applied to constructions of adjectives where one of their valency complementations is subject to a systemic surface ellipsis.
We argue that the reciprocity of adjectives is mostly encoded by the same inventory of language means as the reciprocity of verbs, in particular by pluralization of one of the valency complementations affected by reciprocity (where the only difference from verbs is the form mezi 'between'+Instr) and by an anaphoric expression occupying the other valency complementation involved in reciprocity. The main difference between the formal marking of verbal and adjectival constructions lies in the fact that adverbials (e.g., navzajem 'mutually'), serving as the so-called specifiers in reciprocal constructions of verbs, often take over the role of the primary marker of reciprocity in adjectival constructions.
Further, we show that - similarly to verbs - adjectives bearing the semantic feature of mutuality require less linguistic marking in their reciprocal constructions, relying on pluralization only, while reciprocal constructions of adjectives without this feature are marked by both pluralization and an anaphoric expression or adverbials.