A partitive consists of a quantity word inflected for the whole, an argument phrase for the whole if not pronominal, and the dummy noun DN, in that order.
| [3]-1NP DN-i | "3 of us" |
| [2] Def new [10] book DN-i | "2 of the 10 new books" |
| [1] Dem here P-dog DN-i | "1 of these dogs" |
Superlatives are regularly derived from adjectival verbs by the prefix Sup. Ordinal numbers are regularly derived from cardinal numbers by the prefix Ord.
Superlatives and ordinal numbers use the same semantically partitive syntax. The definite determiner appears first followed by the superlative or ordinal followed by a partitive construction. However, if the determiner of the whole is definite and the cardinality of the whole isn't specified, the superlative or ordinal is used as a modifier to a non-partitive phrase.
| Def Sup-big [1] Dem there [3] dog DN-i | "the biggest of those 3 dogs" |
| Def Sup-big dog-i | "the biggest dog" |
| Def Ord-[1] book-i | "the 1st book" |
There are 2 kinds of degree: exact and inexact, the latter corresponding to words such as "very" and "slightly".
Exact degree of comparison is specified by a noun phrase consisting of a quantity word and a noun denoting a unit of measurement. The noun's index appears as the 3rd argument of the adjective (the 2nd argument is used by a small number of adjectival relations, such as "far").
| PN Tom-i i-Cmp-tall-k PN John-j i-than-j [3] inch-k. |
| "Tom is taller than John by 3 inches." |
Inexact degree marking is pronominal; the suffixes Vry ("very") and Sly ("slightly") replace the adjectival word's degree index.
| hot-Sly | "warm" |
| Cmp-cold-Vry | "a lot colder" |
| Bfr-O-Vry | "long ago" |
Duration, number of iterations, and number of occasions are noun phrases with Adv appearing on the noun in place of the index.
| Def woman speak [3] occasion-Adv. | "The woman spoke 3 times." |
An identity clause generally consists of 2 noun phrases, both definite, demonstrative, or universal. Indexing isn't necessary.
| Dem DN Def house. | "That's the house." |
| PN Tom Def 2S-Ret-see man. | "Tom's the man you saw." |
A definition clause generally consists of 2 noun phrases, one definite, demonstrative, or universal and the other indefinite or existential.
| PN John Exi human. | "John is human." |
An existence clause generally consists of a single noun phrase, which has the appropriate determiner.
| Exi cat. | "Cats exist." |
In any of the above, if either phrase is pronominal, the Cop ("same_entity_as") predicate is used.
| Def state Cop-1S. | "The state is me." |
| Exi woman Cop-2S. | "You're a woman." |
The Cop predicate is also used when a noun or pronominal has to act as a noun modifier.
| Def Cop-1S king command-2S. | "I, the king, command you." |
page started: 2013.Apr.29 Mon
current date: 2013.Apr.30 Tue
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
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