Geographical adjectives in –s or –isch not only refer to a geographical entity, but can also be used to denote the language spoken in a geographical entity. In that case, they are to be interpreted as conversions of these adjectives into neuter nouns, as in het Amerikaansthe American language or het Amsterdamsthe Amsterdam dialect.

When the base form ends in /s/, this segment will disappear before the suffix –s due to degemination, as the following examples in 3 show:

Underlying form	Geographical adjective
/Fries-s/	FriesFrisian
/Canad-ees-s/	CanadeesCanadian

For native toponyms there are also geographical adjectives in –er (with truncation of the stem). This is shown in table 4.

Toponym	Geographical adjectives
Groningen	Groning-sGronings/ Groning-erGroningerGroningen
Assen	Assen-sAssens/ Ass-erAsserAssen
Deventer	Deventer-sDeventers/ Devent-erDeventerDeventer

The adjectives in –er appear to have a more restricted use. They can only be used in atrributive position, and are not inflected in this position, unlike other adjectives that end in /ər/, as shown in table 5.

*Deze koek is Deventer

*Deventer-e koekDeventere koek Deventer cake / lekker-e koeklekkere koekdelicious cake

These adjectives are used in phrases to denote the geographical origin, as in Groninger archievenarchives of Groningen, Asser museummuseum in Assen, and Deventer koekcake produced in Deventer. The corresponding geographical adjectives in –s appear to have a wider use. For instance, they can be converted to nouns in order to denote the language spoken in the geographical region, unlike geographical adjectives in –er (het Gronings/ *Groningerthe Groningen dialect. This restricted usability is a reflex of the historical origin of the –er-adjective as a case form of the toponym. When the geographical adjective receives a property interpretation, the adjective in –er cannot be used. For instance, we find Amsterdamse arrogantieAmsterdam arrogance, but not *Amsterdammer arrogantie.

As shown in table 6, female inhabitant names are formed with these geographical adjectives as bases.

Toponym	Geographical adjective	Female inhabitant
Amerika	Amerikaan	Amerikaans-eAmerikaanseAmerican
Zweed	Zweeds	Zweeds-eZweedseSwedish, N
Amsterdam	Amsterdams	Amsterdams-eAmsterdamseAmsterdam
Egypte	Egyptisch	Egyptisch-eEgyptischeEgyptian

A revealing set of words for the analysis of geographical adjectives as being derived from the inhabitant name, and of female names as being derived from the geographical adjective is the following sequence shown in table 7.

FrieslandFriesland

Fries/friz/Frisian, N

Fries/friz-s/Frisian, A

Friese/friz-s-e/female Frisian

The underlying form of the inhabitant name FriesFrisian ends in /z/, as the plural form is Friezen/frizən/. This stem-final /z/ disappears before the adjectival suffix –s/s/, due to voice assimilation and degemination. Hence, the inflected form of the adjective Fries is Friese, not *Frieze. Similarly, the female inhabitant name is Friese/frisə/, not *Frieze/frizə/.

The restricted usability of adjectives in –er can also observed here, as female names such as *AssereAsser-e are impossible. The suffix –isch is always chosen when the toponym ends in –ië, as shown in the examples in table 8:

Toponym	Geographical adjective
SyriëSyria	Syr-ischSyrischSyrian
GeorgiëGeorgia	Georg-ischGeorgischGeorgian

Geographical adjectives with -s

Geographical adjectives with -isch

Geographical adjectives with -er