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Today I wanted to say that a book was 'colloquial'. I went to my dictionary
and found:

colloquial adj. 口語の；

Is it correct to just remove の and write:

> この本は口語です。

Or must this word always be used as an adjective? Is there a general rule for
の adjectives?
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2015-10-29T17:43:23.063
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2015-10-30T02:44:12.880
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question
grammar adjectives
Can I make a noun from a の adjective in general?
Yes, it is acceptable. "This book is colloquial" sounds strange to me, since
you are describing a book, but that is how you say it.

の-adjectives modify a noun by using の to link the two words. For example,
「やっぱり」とは口語の言葉です and 「やっぱり」とは口語です both mean the same thing. However, they would
translated as "やっぱり is a colloquial word" and "やっぱり is colloquial"
respectively. The nuance is different, but the meaning is still the same.
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2015-10-29T18:41:06.030
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answer
First, 口語 is a noun, and この本は口語です doesn't make much sense. You usually have to
say "この本は口語で書かれています" or "この本は口語体で書かれています". Likewise, この本は料理の本です is OK but
この本は料理です is not. (If one has to rapidly sort hundreds of books about various
topics, he may just say 「この本は料理、この本は動物、...」, but that's an exception)

Second, you may have to rethink 口語 is the right word, because 口語 (and its
antonym 文語) is an ambiguous term. 口語 may refer to:

  1. The style of Japanese mainly used in modern (casual) conversations, as opposed to the style used typically in official documents and news articles.
  2. Modern Japanese in general, as opposed to [classical Japanese](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/classical-japanese).

For example,

  * 我、その本を読みけり。 : Unequivocally 文語
  * 私はその本を読みました。 : 文語 or 口語 depending on the context
  * 俺、その本読んだよ。 : Unequivocally 口語

In other words, one can say that more than 99.9% of the books newly published
today are in 口語 (in the second sense). This confusion is described
[elsewhere](http://okwave.jp/qa/q4164091/a12511036.html).

If what you want to mean is the first sense (conversational Japanese), the
safer phrases are 話し言葉, 会話のような文体, etc.

> この本は会話のような文体で書かれています。
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2015-10-30T02:34:39.840
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2015-10-30T02:44:12.880
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