Legend: Definitions, Terms, <Text>, [IPA], -Tags-, and "Glosses".
Scalar roots are those that form words functioning as scales of comparison. They're mostly translated as adjectives. Scales of comparison typically operate in conjunction the direction of comparison, subject of comparison, standard of comparison, and degree of comparison. In Jan24, these are part morphological and part syntactical.
For the standard of comparison, there are different types: comparison to an explicit referent, to an implicit referent, to an implicit norm, to others in a referent set, and to a result-based value. These relate to what I will call the function attribute: comparative (explicit or implicit), normal, superlative, and satisfactive.
To confuse things, "function" is traditionally called "degree" and "normal" is traditionally called "positive".
The direction of comparison refers to whether the scalar value of the subject of comparison is above, below, or at the scalar value of the standard of comparison. "Above" and "below" may be referred to as comparative while "at" may be referred to as equative. It's useful to also include a directionless or absolute alternative, for scalar content questions (e.g. "how hot?"). Also, some roots (such as dimensional ones) prefer to use absolute values instead of normal ones.
There are 2 kinds of degree of comparison: one involves specifying units and quantities; the other is what I will call the precision attribute. Jan24 distinguishes 4 kinds of precision, whose meaning varies according to function and direction. I will label these kinds tight, medium, loose, and bounded.
For some scalars, such as "open-closed" and "full-empty", normal function forms must have bounded precision.
Scalar stems consist of scalar roots plus affixes for direction, function, and precision.
It hasn't been decided whether there are suppletive stems (for "below") or not.
The order of stem formant suffixes is:
Root-Direction-Function-Precision
| Affix | Tag | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Dir | absolute |
| Abo | above the standard | |
| Equ | at the standard | |
| Bel | below the standard |
| Affix | Tag | Function |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Nrm | normal |
| Cpr | comparative | |
| Sup | superlative | |
| Sat | satisfactive |
| Affix | Tag | Precision |
|---|---|---|
| Tgh | tight | |
| 0 | Med | medium |
| Los | loose | |
| Bnd | bounded |
A degree of comparison phrase consists of a predicate denoting the unit of measurement and a quantity word. Such a phrase is required when translating what are traditionally called "absolute positives" and can't be used with equative direction or bounded precision.
A superlative construction denotes a subset (part) of a set (whole) selected according to some quality. The scale of comparison is marked for the superlative function. There are 2 superlative constructions. In the 1st construction, the whole is denoted by a genitive phrase or pronoun modifying the part, which is denoted by a superlative possibly preceded by a determiner and/or quantity word. For the simpler 2nd one, the superlative predicate appears as the first predicate in a phrase. It can't be used if the whole is to have an explicit determiner or quantity word.
The patient argument of a secondary clause headed by "than/compared to" is used as the explicit standard of comparison. The agent argument of the secondary clause coreferences the subject of comparison, using host agent or host patient. The scale of comparison is marked for the comparative function. It may be the head of the host clause, an adverb, or a quantity word within a phrase.
A satisfactive sentence consists of a satisfactive clause and a result sentence. The result sentence may be a conditional sentence or just the conclusion of one. The satisfactive clause contains a predicate marked for the satisfactive function.
page started: 2015.Feb.06 Fri
current date: 2015.Feb.23 Mon
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
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