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

In Silindion, the comparative is -yo, the superlative
-to. The standard of comparison is in the ablative
case.

Adjectives in -ea seem to drop this in the
comparative, but it's really a result of historical
sound changed [-ea-yo > -eeo > -ieo > -io]

Example: pantea > pantio > panteasso (-t- between
vowels becomes -sso) (if the -ea had dropped out, the
result would be: pant-yo > panyo)

The adjective "senea" is irregular, it takes the
endings directly to the root:

 senea > senyo > sendo (the -do is a variant suffix,
not an allomorph, since usually -to added to -n
produces -nto)

The word "nornosto" "first" has two superlative
suffixes: -os + -to. (-os is an archaic ending that is
only found in Silindion in this word)

-elliott

--- Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...> wrote:

> Hallo!
>
> On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 17:22:38 -0400, Jeffrey Jones
> wrote:
>
> > I don't have any translations, but I'm always
> interested in seeing how
> > comparisons are done. Also equatives, superlatives
> etc. I'm trying to
> > figure out how "Delta" does these.
>
> In Old Albic (excerpt from
> http://wiki.frath.net/Old_Albic):
>
> The positive degree is unmarked.  The comparative
> degree is marked with the
> suffix -°r, the superlative degree is marked with
> the suffix -°th.  There is
> also an equative degree (`as ... as'), which is
> marked with the suffix -°ch.
> These forms are the singular OSs; non-singular
> number forms and agentive stems
> are formed from them as shown above. The standard of
> comparison (i.e., the
> entity to which is compared) is in the locative
> case.
>
> Examples: _banach albamal_ `as beautiful as an Elf';
> _banar chvanal_ `more
> beautiful than a dog'; _banath_ `most beautiful'.
>
> ... brought to you by the Weeping Elf
>

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