Comprehension of prenominal adjective orders.

In two experiments, phrases descrying a referent object contained two prenominal adjectives in either normal or inverted order. The time to identify the position of the referent in a display was a function of both the adjective order and the nortreferent context. If the referent appeared with a nonreferent differing from it only in size or number, the normal order of adjectives facilitated responding. However. if the referent appeared with a nonreferent differing from it only in color, the inverted order of adjectives resulted in faster identification times. These results support a pragmatic communication rule that. when the more discriminating adjectives are ordered earlier in a series, comprehension is facilitated.