Argument relationships / field relationships: the search for Basque equivalents to referential adjectives The problems posed for Basque translators by referential adjectives in texts of all types are well known. It has often been shown that to find the equivalents in Basque of referential adjectives in neighbouring languages various different paths must be followed (Ensunza, 1989; Loinaz, 1995), though to a certain extent the choice of the resources to be used is usually left to the good judgement, intuition and aesthetic sense of the writer/translator. Referential adjectives always derive from a noun, but often origins and referential nature are mixed and adjectives which are completely predicative are thrown into the same bag as adjectives which are without doubt completely referential. In English Levi clearly expressed in 1978 the need to distinguish between two types of adjectives deriving from nouns, whose semantic and syntactic characteristics were different: "nominal nonpredicating adjectives" and "denominal adjectives". The latter are derived by means of suffixes such as -y, -ful and -ous, so that they take not only their grammatical category but also their predicative nature from their suffixes. On the other hand "nominal nonpredicating adjectives" are by category adjectives but behave similarly to nouns: linguistic difficulties / language difficulties. In the case of Spanish, as defended by Bosque in 1989, there are some generative suffixes which are unlikely to derive to referential adjectives (-esco, -il, -oso, -ino) and others which frequently derive to such adjectives (-al, -ar, -ario, -ico). In French, too, different suffixes are generally used to create referential and predicative adjectives, giving rise to pairs such as familial-familier and infantil-infantin. In any event, two types can be distinguished in adjectives which are truly referential due to their relationship with the noun which they modify (Bosque, 1989; 1992; Bosque & Picallo, 1994): on the one hand are those which modify nouns denoting activities or consequences, where the referential adjective is frequently the argument of the noun. Examples would be decisi?n presidencial ("presidential decision"), which must mean what is decided by the President, and extracci?n dental ("tooth extraction"), denoting the action of removing a tooth or molar. It is obvious that in the latter case the adjective dental is equivalent to the direct object of the verb extraer ("to extract"). In Basque compound nouns are prime candidates for this (hortz-ateratzea). However, we are unlikely to translate decisi?n presidencial as presidente-erabaki: we would almost certainly opt for presidentearen erabaki. Why is there this difference between the "subject nature" of the modifier of compound nouns and the "defined nature" of this element? On the other hand, when referential adjectives modify the noun (an object with no argumental structure) the relationship between the noun and the adjective cannot be predicted: in this case we find a relationship of field or of ownership, which is shown by dictionary compilers by the periphrasis -ri dagokion. For instance hilo dental ("dental floss") is the floss used to clean teeth, and in Basque hortzetako haria would probably be preferred to hotz-haria. Finally, the group known in phonetics as a consonante dental would be kontsonante horzkaria and not hortz-kontsonante. In short, the classification of the relationships which may exist between nouns and their modifiers is universal: on the one hand there are modifiers with a predicative nature and on the other those with a referential nature. Within this last group are modifiers of noun arguments and modifiers with an ownership or field relationship with nouns. These relationships can be expressed through different grammatical categories in one language or another: through adjectives, prepositional or postpositional phrases, compound nouns, etc. For instance the adjective marginal in English is used in a referential fashion in marginal note and in a predicative one in marginal case. In Spanish, however, the difference between these referential and predicative uses is made by using nota al margen and caso marginal. In Basque, the Elhuyar dictionary gives albo-ohar or marjinako ohar for the referential use, but examples of the bazterreko kasu type for the predicative use. In any event many languages have adjectives which cover all three areas described. This can be illustrated with an example from Levi: musical voice, musical criticism, musical comedy. In this study we shall attempt to determine the resources through which each of these universal relationships can be expressed in Basque and where the limits of each resource lie (at least at the present). What types of adjective can be created through adjective generating suffixes? Although many referential adjectives can be expressed in Basque through compound words, this method clearly does not offer forms for all such adjectives. Where then is the limit? Where is the key? Is it in predicative/non predicative nature, in argumental, field or possessive relationships or is it elsewhere? Does definite/indefinite, animate/inanimate, countable/uncountable nature have any influence? Is impossibility influenced by whether the noun modified is an action, a consequence or an object? Under what conditions could we be forced to use loans to translate referential adjectives from other languages into Basque? When do we use noun complements in Basque to replace adjectives in other languages? In summary, the aim of this study is to achieve a systematisation which can help us find the equivalent in Basque to referential adjectives in neighbouring languages in a fairly automatic way.