Legend: Definitions, Terms, <Text>, «apa», -Tags-, and "Glosses".
A scalar is a verb or quantity word that denotes a scale of comparison and a direction of comparison. The direction of comparison has 3 possibilities; these are labeled positive, negative, and normative. The term normative refers to a range of neutral values, while positive refers to greater values and negative refers to lesser values. Note that scalar (arithmetic) positives and negatives are not the same as polar (logical) positive and negative. Every scale has a positive verb stem and most scales have a negative one and also a normative one (albeit usually derived).
The subject of comparison refers to the entity being compared with respect to the scale of comparison and the standard of comparison refers to what it's compared to. The various scalar functions differ mainly in how the standard of comparison manifests.
A tolerance prefix precedes a modifier prefix; note that not all combinations are valid.
| Affix | Tag | Name | Description or Glosses | Slot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| jin- | Nar | Narrow or Tight | "slightly", "precisely", "by a little" | Tolerance |
| hor- | Wid | Wide or Loose | "very", "roughly", "by a lot" | |
| wai- | Max | Maximal-minimal | "as X as possible" | |
| caa- | SQ | Value Question | "how X?" | Modifier |
| tlan- | Sat | Satisfactive | "X enough", "so X" | |
| xoi- | Exc | Excessive | "too X" | |
| -esko | Sup | Superlative | "the most X" | Postverb |
| -astlo | Norm | Normative | neutral value |
| Affix | Tag | Name | Description or Glosses | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -astl- | Rel | Relative | applies to measurement unit | suffix |
| payo | Than | Comparative | conjunction + verb | word |
The term tolerance refers to how wide or narrow the normative range is.
Numerous adverbs are used in translating tolerance into English. When the scalar verb is normative, narrow tolerance may be translated as "precisely" and wide tolerance as "roughly". When modifying a superlative, narrow tolerance may be translated as "by a little" and wide tolerance as "by a lot". Tolerance is medium if unmarked and no scalar measurement adverbial appears.
Maximal tolerance applies to positive scalars while minimal applies to negative ones. These are both translated as "as X as possible", where X is the scalar root's translation.
A scalar measurement adverbial is either relative, representing the absolute difference between the value of the subject of comparison and that of the standard of comparison, or absolute, depending on the scalar function.
Each measurement adverbial consists of a word denoting a unit of measurement preceded by a quantity specifying the number of units. The word so is used for the quantity "1". If the measurement is relative, the Rel suffix appears in the unit word before the final -i; otherwise, the measurement is absolute.
Scalar measurement phrases preclude tolerance and appear immediately after the scalar verb. Note that some scalars have no possible measurement units.
A measurement question requests a scalar answer (not necessarily an absolute value), as in "how hot?". The question form of the scalar (positive is more common than negative) is used. Wide or narrow tolerance is possible, but not a measurement adverbial.
For a normal scalar, the standard of comparison is always some implicit norm whose value is appropriate to the subject of comparison. A normative scalar indicates that the scalar value is more or less the same as the norm while a positive verb indicates a greater value and a negative verb a lesser value.
Either tolerance or a measurement adverbial is possible; measurement is relative. With a positive or negative scalar, narrow precision may be translated as "slightly" and wide precision as "very".
A manner construction specifies the manner in which an action is performed. Here, the manner is denoted by the scalar verb appearing in the matrix with the action verb appearing in the complement. Note that not all scalars are useful as manner adverbials.
A comparative is an explicit comparison and may be one of equality (using a normative) or inequality (using a positive or negative). The scale of comparison may apply to
A comparative is distinguished from a normal comparison by the presence of a construction whose object denotes the standard of comparison (payo Than may be broken down into a conjunction + a verb; however, these don't occur separately). The subject of the Than construction is the subject of comparison.
Either tolerance or a measurement adverbial is possible. If the comparative is one of inequality, narrow tolerance may be translated as "(by) a little" and wide tolerance as "(by) a lot" (there are other translations).
The subject of comparison's referent may be compared to an earlier or later instance of itself or it may instead be compared to an earlier or later instance of some other entity. The reflexive pronoun Rfx is used as the standard of comparison in the former case. In both cases, either the past or the future tense is prefixed to the standard of comparison.
A satisfactive comparison is used to affirm or question the suitability of the subject of comparison for some actual or potential result, with respect to the scale of comparison while an excessive comparison is used to deny or question the suitability of the subject of comparison for some actual or potential result, with respect to the scale of comparison. The prefix the scalar takes is either Sat for satisfactive or Exc for excessive.
Either tolerance or a relative measurement adverbial is possible.
A superlative determiner construction selects a subset of some whole according to some scale of comparison while an ordinal one selects a subset of some whole according to spatial or temporal position; both kinds are definite. Also, both can be used with or without a partitive verb construction, which is only required when the cardinality of the whole is to be specified.
See the Temporal Morphosyntax chapter for the morphology of ordinal numbers.
A superlative is formed by placing the modifier form of the scalar before an ordinal number, e.g. qozde sombuko "2nd oldest". The ordinal suko "1st" combines with the scalar, as if a suffix: qozdesko "oldest".
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current date: 2023.Mar.27 Mon
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