Adjective + noun phrase patterns

1. Below in the tables we categorized each adjective according to the ending Maximus chose. We also marked erroneous examples with an asterisk (*).
   
   From the tables below we find that Maximus most frequently uses the na-adjective form (14 examples while there are only six examples for the i-adjective form). In fact, he treats several i-adjectives and an irregular adjective ‘ii’ like na-adjectives by adding the ending ‘na-’ (e.g., ‘悪いなこと/warui-na koto (bad thing)’ instead of ‘悪いこと/warui koto’). Similarly, he uses the possessive particle ‘no’ to modify nouns (e.g., ‘遠いの所/tooi no tokoro (a faraway place)’ instead of ‘遠い所/tooi tokoro’).
   
   These rules seem to be led by the cognitive process of overgeneralization. Maximus overuses the na- ending for other types of adjectives, and overuses the possessive particle ‘no’ for adjectives instead of nouns. Conversely, notice that he never overuses the i- ending for other types of adjectives. This seems to show that he has acquired na-adjectives but is still learning i-adjectives.
   
   Adjectives that Maximus treated like na- adjectives

Adjectives that Maximus treated as i- adjective

Adjectives to which Maximus added the possessive particle “no”

2. There are cases where Maximus uses the same adjectives both correctly and incorrectly at different contexts. For instance, he uses the same adjectives ‘大きい/ookii (big),’ ‘ちっちゃい/chicchai (small)’ both as i-adjectives (correctly) and na-adjectives (incorrectly) across the different tasks as well as within one task. Such inconsistent use may be due to the fact that his linguistic ‘rules’ for adjectives are in the process of evolving. Or as we discussed in Activity 3 of the Error Analysis section, in the case of ‘大きい/ookii (big)’ and ‘ちっちゃい/小さい/chicchai/chiisai (small),’ there are ‘大きな/ookina (big)’ and ‘小さな/ちっちゃいな/chiisana/chicchana (small)’ that function only as na-adjective modifiers. If Maximus meant to use these forms, these could be phonological errors. If this is the case, then his overgeneralization of the na-ending may not be as prevalent as it seemed in Part 1 above.

If you were Maximus’ teacher, how could you try to find out whether this is a phonological error or an overgeneralization of the na-adjective?