K'tlê – A Constructed Language

gqe/ Comparisons

This chapter covers all constructions involving comparison.
  1. Overview
  2. Degree of Comparison
  3. Constructions Using Only Basic Forms and Degree Adverbs
    1. Interaction Between Adjacent Consonants
    2. Relative Positives
    3. Absolute Positives
    4. Absolute Superlatives
  4. Satisfactives and Results
  5. Explicit Comparatives
  6. Temporal Comparatives
  7. Selective Superlatives

The affixes that are introduced in this chapter are:

Tag Form Description
-Sup w-i' w-i' Superlative
-Evo -oc -oc Evolutive
-Dev -mo/c -mo̅c Devolutive
-Deg -o' -o' Degree

Other words introduced here are:

Tag Form Gloss Notes
Cmp lak lak "exceed" (with respect to some quality) comparatives
Equ zamok zamok "same as" (with respect to some quality) equatives
Sat ok ok "enough" (with respect to some quality) satisfactives
  zanko' zanko' "the same degree as before" (from zamok-o')

Overview

There are five things that may be involved in comparison:

  1. scale of comparison
  2. subject of comparison
  3. standard of comparison
  4. direction of comparison
  5. degree of comparison

In a specific construction one or more may be implied or completely absent.

The scale of comparison is the element denoting the quality according to which the subject of comparison and the standard of comparison are compared.

Degree of Comparison

The degree of comparison is the element specifying how much the subject and standard differ; there are several ways in which it can be appear:

  1. normal: none specified
  2. general: |zo̅no'| "very" or |ni̅po'| "slightly"
  3. maximal: |zo̅ni̅o'| "as much as possible" or |ni̅pi̅o'| "as little as possible"
  4. specific: This consists of some number, not necessarily precise, followed by a word denoting some unit of measurement (unless the adjective is one of quantity). The degree suffix |-o'| (-Deg) is appended to the unit word, or to the number if there is none.
  5. interrogative: |-o'| (-Deg) is appended to a content question stem.
  6. satisfactive: "to such a degree"
  7. ???: |zanko'| "to the same degree as before"

In addition to the uses of these mentioned in the text below, the first five are sometimes used in explicit comparisons, temporal comparisons, and selective superlatives, specifying the degree of difference. The last may also be used there, but only in primary (finite) clauses.

The degrees of comparison constitute a distinct class of adverbs (or adverbial phrases, in some cases).

Constructions Using Only Basic Forms and Degree Adverbs

Relative Positives

A relative positive uses the basic form of the scale word, with either no degree of comparison specified or with only a general one. The direction of comparison isn't used here either. The standard of comparison is implicit and refers to some norm which depends on the subject of comparison.

Absolute Positives

An absolute positive also use the basic form of the scale word, but with a specific degree of comparison. This construction precludes the use of both the direction of comparison and the standard of comparison.

Absolute Superlatives

Although conventionally called a superlative, an absolute superlative here uses the basic form of the scale word, with the maximal degree of comparison. The direction of comparison isn't used and the standard of comparison is implicit.

Satisfactives and Results

These add the satisfactive degree of comparison to a relative positive construction plus an additional clause specifying an actual or potential result, the verb form in the result clause indicating whether the result is actual or potential.

The satisfactive degree of comparison consists of |ok| (Sat), a root meaning "enough" (with respect to some result), with the degree suffix |-o'| (-Deg); this stem takes either the 3rd person indefinite suffix or the 3rd person definite singular suffix: |nikko'| and |oko'| (there's also an uncommon 3rd person definite plural form |akko'|).

An adverb of manner consisting of the same root and prefixes but with the -Adv suffix can also be used as well, meaning "in a sufficient manner".

If the result referred to is actual, a definite form (|oko'| or |akko'|) must be used, and if it's contrafactual, the indefinite form (|nikko'|) must be used.

The clause containing the form of |ok| is called the satisfactive clause and the other is called the result clause. There are three syntactic variations:

Explicit Comparatives

This section covers comparison of the subject of comparison to some explicit standard of comparison according to the scale of comparison.

The standard of comparison is specified by the prefix argument to one of the secondary forms of certain verbs and may be elaborated by a noun phrase. The particular secondary form used (almost always a depictive) is the one that accords with the role of the subject of comparison in the host clause. The subject of comparison itself as well as the word specifying the scale of comparison appear in the host clause.

The two verbs used in this construction, |lak| and |zamok|, are both relational. The direct forms of |lak| indicate that the subject of comparison exceeds the standard of comparison (i.e. "greater than"), while the inverse forms indicate the reverse (i.e. "less than"). As with most relational verbs, there are no reciprocal forms. Only the direct forms of |zamok| are used, since it's inherently reciprocal. These two roots combine with polarity and inversion as follows:

Tag Form Description
Cmp lak lak Standard < Subject
lacan lacan Standard ≥ Subject
malak malak Standard > Subject
malacan malacan Standard ≤ Subject
Equ zamok zamok Standard = Subject
zancan zancan Standard ≠ Subject

The scale of comparison may appear as a finite form, as a secondary form, or as an adjectival form, with no additional affixes.

|Lak| and |zamok| may be used independently with the scale of comparison left implicit.

Temporal Comparatives

A temporal comparative is where the standard of comparison is implicitly the subject of comparison at an earlier time. For inequalities, K'tlê  uses the Evolutive suffix (-Evo) or the Devolutive suffix (-Dev) on the stem of the adjective specifying the scale of comparison followed by the retrospective aspect suffix.

For equalities, the degree adverb |zanko'| is placed before the adjective.

Selective Superlatives

A selective superlative is like a partitive in that a subset or set of portions is denoted; in this case, those elements which have the highest degree of some property.

There are two types of verbs that have superlative forms. For both of them, the superlative (-Sup) suffix |w-i'| is used*.

* Note: `w' denotes a W-grade stem.

The first type are the type 1 (patientive monovalent) verbs for which degree contrasts. The partitive prefixes are added to these in addition to the superlative suffix and specify the set or whole.

The second type consists of type 4 verbs (transitive divalent) that denote certain mental states, particularly those with degree contrast. These can't take partitive prefixes. Instead, a partitive phrase with the same agreement can be used along with the superlative form to specify the set or whole. These partitive phrases are optional.

page started: 2009.Feb.20 Fri
last modified: 2010.Feb.06 Sat
content and form originated by qiihoskeh

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