Re: Positive - Comparative - Superlative

On Fri, 9 Mar 2001, Scott W. Hlad wrote:

>For example. I play the oboe. There are five oboes in the oboe family. They
>are as follows
>
>oboe-musette
>oboe proper
>oboe d'amore
>cor anglais
>bass oboe.
>
>The oboe-musette is the smallest of the five and the bass oboe is the
>largest. How can I show a unique relationship between the five of them
>without repeating "bigger than the one above it," or "smaller than the one
>below it?" I'd like some succint ways to handle this rather than the "ante"
>method above and the simple three step process.
>
>Anyone?
One way might be to use a numeric system. Pick which end of the
spectrum is "first" and all the rest follow from there. This makes
for an open system in both directions with infinite levels of
comparison. Thus "first oboe" might be the bass, "third oboe"
might be the oboe d'amour.

For certain classes of ranked objects, you might consider making the
"bigger than the one above it" type relationships inherent in the
object's name. I.e., your conlang's word for "english horn"  means
"oboe that's one step smaller than the bass oboe". [If you use the
numeric system, it would also mean "second oboe", where "first oboe"
is the bass.] Mind you, you don't have a literal translation thing
going on. The word could be 'sqlart', and might be translated as "a
type of oboe", but to a speaker of the language, its relationship to
the other four instruments would be transparent. This probably doesn't
make much sense - I guess what I'm getting at is that size comparison
is inherent in the name.

OK. Now, on to oboes:
I have what I think might be an oboe musette. I can't find a good
description of this instrument, nor a picture. Can you describe it
for me? Size, bell shape, key work, key of the instrument, etc? Do
you know how to finger it / have a fingering chart / know where to
get a fingering chart?

Padraic.

>Scott Hlad

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