(no subject)

[moonflower77]

dialectal differences:

kəlləŋlaX tall, high [exclusively sedankan] : aslaX tall, high [exclusively napanan]
ktɣɛlaX black [mostly sedankan] : txunlaX dark, black [mostly napanan]
oļɣɛļaX thin [mostly sedankan] : kchoņļaX thin [mostly napanan] 

some respondents have pointed out that kchoņļaX would describe ice ("thin"), whereas oļɣɛļaX would describe a well-treated skin ("fine, supple")

used to describe the sensations and impressions produced by the objects or phenomena in one's surroundings. may be divided into five semantic subclasses.

1) the physical properties of inanimate objects

ktlaX firm; hard, tough; solid; strong
əltlaX soft; pliable; supple; flexible; infirm; unstable
utxlaX old. worn; decrepit, dilapidated
imɬlaX dirty, neglected [of objects, locations - houses, yards etc., never humans]
k'izɣilaX dry, desiccated, also shallow [of a river, stream], as in kiɣ k'izɣilaX "shallow river, a river that is drying up"
kāzlaX heavy
əmsxulaX light; easy
chk'laX wet, damp, moist
tɛŋlaX good; high-quality [of an object], sometimes good, kind [of a person], as in knin isx tɛŋlaX "your father is a good man"
ch'iniŋlaX beautiful, also attractive, beautiful, handsome [of a person], as in ļaŋɛ ch'iniŋlaX "beautiful young woman"
chisplaX terrible, dreadful, frightening [of a sight, spectacle] 

the superlative form kɬchispeŋi?n means "(it is) dreadful" [said at the sight of blood, gore, injuries etc.]

iɬXlaX slippery; smooth, even [of snow] 

used almost exclusively as qāllal iɬXlaX "snow suitable for riding a sleigh"

itəmļaX rough, coarse [of snow]

used almost exclusively as qāllal itəmļaX "snow that is poorly suited for riding a sleigh"

pslaŋslaX smooth, even; flat
ch'imslaX thick, dense [forest, soup, stew, smoke]
qumislaX stuffy, close; sultry 

used largely as the superlative form kɬqumisi "(it is) (very) stuffy, difficult to breathe" [in a close dwelling, before a thunderstorm etc.]

iɸalaX new [no adverbial form]
tɛlwɛlaX slow, unhurried, cautious [of motion], as in kiɣ tɛlwɛlaX "slow-flowing river" 

the widespread adverbial form tɛlwɛchq! means "careful! take care! slow down!"

2) the qualities of a person (traits of character)

q'ɛwlaX strong, mighty
k'ɛchilaX good [may refer to any positive trait - kind, honest, compassionate etc.]
ɛchk'ɛlaX bad [may refer to any negative trait]
qiwɛlaX bad; wicked, evil, malicious [no adverbial form]
XɛqɛlaX bad, wicked, evil, malicious; low quality [no adverbial form]
chiŋzlaX vicious, spiteful, bad-tempered; angry; fierce, savage [also of a dog, bear, other animal]
əlk'silaX dirty; untidy, slovenly 

used largely as the grammatically irregular form əlk'si, e.g. ɛkoj kəzza əlk'si! "you are such a sloven! what a sloven you are!"

chiŋuqɛlaX untidy, slovenly
tɛɣɛŋlaX bored; sad; weary; boring, tiresome [no adverbial form]
tXiwlaX healthy, strong; cheerful; brisk, bright [of a person, their spirits] [no adverbial form]
əmchk'ɛllaX bothersome, irksome; boring, tiresome 

often used as the superlative form kɬ?əmchk'ɛli "i cannot be bothered, i have had enough (of him, dealing with him)"

mɛtXlaX old [no adverbial form]
mɛllaX good, kind [no adverbial form]
lɛ?luŋlaX miserable, wretched, pathetic, worthy of pity [no adverbial form]

superlative form klɛ?luŋiŋɛ?n ənna ɬchkuki "he is a (most) pathetic sight" 

ijakilaX horrifying, fearsome [also of a bear, other animal]
kɬchilaX stubborn, obstinate

3) quantitative characteristics of a person or inanimate object

plaX big, large
uļļuļaX small, little
kotlaX wide, broad, vast [of open spaces - river, tundra etc., never used for human beings]
aŋɬlaX wide, broad [of furniture items - board, bed, table etc., never used for human beings]
quņļaX tight, narrow
kchoņļaX thin; fine
iwlaX long
ikəmļaX short
aslaX high, tall
izulaX low, short
amlaX deep

4) sensations (temperature, taste, sound)

lqlaX cold
omlaX warm
xkalaX hot
ch'iwizlaX sweet, also tasty
əmch'laX bitter
kɬchlaX sour, savory 

was initially used to describe the taste of fermented fish heads (kɬchlɛch sg., kɬchlɛ?n pl.), now also used forfermented cabbage (kapusta kɬchlaX)

kst'laX sour, acid, tart, acerbic, e.g. a lemon would be kst'laX, never kɬchlaX
ik'sxulaX making one thirsty, but never salty - salt was introduced by the russians
ŋachk'ɛllaX loud [of a noise, someone's voice]
isɛŋlaX quiet

5) colors

here are virtually no color terms in contemporary Itelmen. the language only distinguishes between lighter and darker hues, atxlaX "light, bright; white" and txunlaX "dark; black". napana residents have provided two additional terms, ktɣɛlaX "black" and ch'ach'alaX "red" (may be used to characterize the color of blood, raw meat, the leaves of deciduous trees in the fall, skins that have been dyed with an infusion of alder bark, lingonberries, rowan berries, i.e. various shades of red, brown, reddish-brown, orange and yellow). krashennikov in his notes gives one more term, ɸɬlaX, which meant "green, blue", but it has faded out of use.

the words marked as having no adverbial form have no form with the suffix -q. however, some of these stems are actively used in a “pure" form with no inflection, both as attributives and adverbials.

Xɛqɛ sunsɛn (he is) living miserably, (he is) eking out a miserable existence
Xɛqɛ ch'amzaņɬX bad, malicious, immoral person

the others all have adverbial forms:

ktaq firmly, strongly; (it is) firm, strong, hard
əltq in a soft, infirm manner; (it is) soft, infirm, unstable [to step on - of the ground]
q'ɛɸq mightily, using great strength
k'ɛchiq well; (it is) good, fine
ɛchk'ɛq badly; (it is) bad, poor
kotq in a wide manner; (it is) wide, spacious
asq in a high, tall manner; (it is) high, tall
izuq in a short, low manner; (it is) short, low
amq deeply; (it is) deep
ch'iwisq sweetly, tastily; (it is) sweet, tasty
ŋachk'ɛlq loudly; (it is) loud
isɛŋq quietly; (it is) quiet
txunq darkly; (it is) dark
atxq brightly, lightly; (it is) bright, light

exceptions:

plaX large: pəlq extremely, strongly; very (not "many, much" - this word refers to a qualitative rather than quantitative property and is rarely used)
ptos, pto, ptoq many, much

affixes:

-laX (adj., sg.), -laXa?n (adj., pl.) 

-q (adv.) 

-chɛjɛ (adj. or adv. comparative form) 

kɬ-...-ŋɛ?n, kɬ-...-ŋa?n, kɬ-...-ŋa, kɬ-...-i, kɬ-...-a (adj. or adv. superlative forms)

the suffix -chɛjɛ appears to have been introduced on analogy with the comparative form of adjectives and adverbials in russian, and has no proper place in the grammatical inventory of the language. 

aslaX high, sg.: aslaXa?n high, pl.: aschɛjɛ higher: asq high; (it is) high
kotlaX broad, sg.: kotlaXa?n broad, pl.: kotchɛjɛ broader: kotq broadly; (it is) broad
amlaX deep, sg.: amlaXa?n deep, pl.: amchɛjɛ deeper: amq deeply; (it is) deep

ɛchk'ɛlaX bad, sg.: kɬɛchk'ɛŋɛ?n most bad
ch'iwizlaX sweet, sg.: kɬch'iwizi most sweet
txunlaX dark, sg.: kɬtxuniŋɛ?n most dark
qumislaX stuffy, sg.: kɬqumisi most stuffy
ijakilaX fearsome, sg.: kɬijaki most fearsome

additional affixes for degrees of comparison:

adjectives: 

-laX 

-ŋs-laX (somewhat more ...) 

xi-...-laX, xɛ-...-laX (extremely ...)

adverbials: 

[...]-q 

[...]-ŋs-q (in a somewhat more ... manner) 

xi-[...]-q, xɛ-[...]-q (in an extremely ... manner)

xiq'ɛwlaX very strong, sg.: xiq'ɛwlaXa?n very strong, pl.: xiq'ɛfq very strongly, using much strength
xɛ?aslaX very high, sg.: xɛ?aslaXa?n very high, pl.: xɛ?asq very high, (it is) very high
xɛkchoņļaX very thin, sg.: xɛkchoņļaXa?n very thin, pl.: xɛkchoņq very thinly, (it is) very thin
xiəmsxulaX very light, sg.: xiəmsxulaXa?n very light, pl.: xiəmsxuq very lightly, (it is) very light

in some instances, the form with the prefix xi- ~ xɛ- is far more preferable to the minimal one, mostly for phonetic reasons, as it makes the word easier to pronounce. the respondents acknowledge the minimal forms, but they are rarely used in actual speech.

lqlaX (the one that is) cold: xilqlaX (the one that is) very cold: xilqlaXa?n (the ones that are) very cold: lqaqcoldly; (it is) cold: xilqaq very coldly; (it is) very cold
ktlaX (the one that is) firm: xɛktlaX (the one that is) very firm: xɛktlaXa?n (the ones that are) very firm:ktaq firmly; (it is) firm: xɛktaq very firmly; (it is) very firm
chk'laX (the one that is) damp: xichk'laX (the one that is) very damp: xichk'laXa?n (the ones that are) very damp: chk'ɛq damply; (it is) damp): xichk'ɛq very damply; (it is) very damp
kst'laX (the one that is) sour: xɛkst'laX (the one that is) very sour: xɛkst'laXa?n (the ones that are) very sour:kst'aq sourly; (it is) sour: xɛkst'aq very sourly; (it is) very sour

iwlaX (the one that is) long: iwleŋslaX (the one that is) somewhat longer
k'ɛchilaX (the one that is) good: k'ɛchiŋslaX (the one that is) somewhat better
omlaX (the one that is) warm: oməŋslaX (the one that is) somewhat warmer

kotq broadly; (it is) broad: kotəŋsq somewhat more broadly; (it is) somewhat broader
txunq darkly; (it is) dark: txunɛŋsq somewhat more darkly; (it is) somewhat darker
əmsxuq lightly; (it is) light: əmsxonsq somewhat more lightly; (it is) somewhat lighter
uļļuchq little: uļļuŋsq somewhat less

the affix -ŋs is an unproductive linguistic relic which is no longer used and is unknown to most respondents.