Re: Comparison of adjectives (was Re: Reviving an old tradition)

On 5/5/06, Henrik Theiling <theiling@...> wrote:
> Hi!
>
> "David J. Peterson" <dedalvs@...> writes:
> > ... It doesn't look like he mentions
> > languages that use a word like "surpasses/exceeds".  I can't think
> > of a natlang off hand, but it's something like:
> >
> > The man surpasses the boy in girth.
> >...
>
> Mandarin?  Not exactly, but it uses the verb _bi3_ 'to compare':
>
>    Shang4hai3 bi3     Bei3jing1 da4.
>    Shanghai   compare Beijing   large.
>    'Shanghai is larger than Beijing.'
>
>    Ma1ma  zhu3 de fan4 bi3     wo3 de hao3 chi1.
>    Mother cook 's food compare I   's good eat
>    lit. 'Food mother cooks exceeds mine in tastyness.'
>    'Food prepared by my mother tastes better than mine.'
How does it express the superlative? With something like "everything"
in the second "slot"?

I'm reminded of Klingon, which doesn't use a verb of comparison, but
instead a curious construction roughly meaning "A's <adjective> is
many; B's <adjective> is few", e.g.

    jIH qan law' SoH qan puS
    I   old many you old few
    I am older than you

(Idiomatic variations allow you to replace the "be many/be few" with
other opposite verbs, e.g. "be strong/be weak", "be difficult/be
easy", "be high/be low"; the meaning of a comparison is still apparent
due to the unique grammar of the construction.)

Superlatives use {Hoch}, meaning "everyone, all, everything, each", in
the second slot

    jIH qan law' Hoch qan puS
    I   old many all  old few ("My old is many; everyone's old is few"?)
    I am older than everyone

To the best of my knowledge, this only allows you to compare
adjectives -- not, for example, adverbs ("I cook better than you do",
which would probably have to be something like "when we cook, my
skillful is many, your skillful is few"). Also, things such as "I'm
taller than I was last week" are complicated, or comparisons involving
phrases rather than nouns, as in "Taking a taxi is cheaper than
renting a car" / "It's cheaper to take a taxi than to rent a car".
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>